When does it get better?

[maianixon]

So after a spur of really bad health anxiety that started in late February I'm finally doing better. I've now been taking medication for a month and it has slightly helped and I'm finally 'functional'. I'm also thinking about illnessess much much less, I've also been avoiding this forum for a big part because I didn't want to see anything triggering. However, the physical symptoms persist. They are not as bad as they used to be I guess or maybe I handle them better but they are almost constant. It's mostly my vision and weird nerve sensations such as burning skin, cold/warm patches, feeling like my a patch of my skin is wet when it's not. I'm able to handle these most of the time tbh, but obviously they still make me uneasy. My therapist said thats from hyperstimulation of nerves or smth that happens after a long period of strong stress/anxiety and that it's pretty common with people with similar issues.. This actually makes some kind of sense to me. I was just wondering, people who have been through this - how long until your body gets back to normal?
I'm aware there's probably no magic answer to this, I guess it would just be nice to hear someone else's experience. I have actually been doing quite well, I don't feel like I experience a lot of anxiety anymore, but then my heart rate is constantly elevated so I guess that means my body is still constantly in a stress response. I guess it takes a while to calm down considering I was in a constant state of panic the past 4 months as well as I wasn't taking good care of myself the past 2 years. I am just really impatient for these physical symptoms to go away finally and sometimes it seems like there's no end.

[Fishmanpa]

Take a look at this thread (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=197522) as well as read the success stories forum. There are many that have overcome their anxiety as well as many that have learned to manage it effectively.

Positive thoughts

[lofwyr]

I am actually doing pretty well. I have brief episodes, usually resulting from some actual malady or medical issue, but then thanks to some support here, some learned CBT techniques, I usually beat into submission.

Part of what made it better for me was simply accepting anxiety as part of who I am. It won't go away completely. It never has. But once I accepted it, and just let it be a part of who I am, it seems to lessen considerably.

I would say cure is not as good a word for overcoming anxiety in general so much as remission.

[maianixon]

Thanks for your replies.

I'm doing a bit worse today. Yesterday in town I saw a bunch of advertisements around that I guess were supposed to be spreading awarness on MND, but they were very disturbing in terms of what was written on them (I'm not gonna write it here not to trigger anyone else), like they were created to scare people in a way "u can just wake up wih it one day" I guess to gain attention, but it made me very angry how stuff like that is even allowed and I guess it was very triggering for me. While I managed to be okay during the day, in the evening when I'm normally worse I was feeling much worse. I also had nightmares about not being able to stand up, so I'm not feeling great. I have a lot of burning skin and pins and needels that won't go away. My health anxiety is much worse, I'm finding it harder to accept this is just anxiety and keep thinking about MS and how I want to see a neurologist etc. It doesn't help my therapist is on a holiday and won't see her fot 2 weeks which i think is making my anxiety worse too.
Anyway, this is not to seek any reassurance I've had plenty of that I guess I just feel like I need some support right now, it's one of those moments when I'm finding it hard to cope with this and I don't want to spiral down on my progress any more

[cw75]

I am on day 5 of medication so I'm still in the thick of the health anxiety and symptoms. I do have vision issues too and dizziness right now. I was checked out by GP and have inner ear infection. However I feel it's more as usual. I am hoping after my meds start working I won't worry as much and the hypersimulation and body over awareness subsides. Awhile back I was in the same meds for over a year and after 2 months of taking them I hardly ever thought about health stuff and my symptoms were no longer. I'm hoping to get back to that again. Have faith it will get there for you too!

[maianixon]

I have been put on 15mg of Mirtazapine and for the first 10 days I felt like there was some improvement but ever since (So the past 2 weeks) I felt like I'm stuck, it didn't get any more better if anything the past week I've been feeling worse again, not to mention being stuck in this state of hyperstimulatiob is slowly getting to me and making me anxious again