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View Full Version : How do you deal with your anxiety when your going through real medical issues



Careful1
29-07-17, 03:13
Firstly, my name is Tanya and I suffered YEARS of terrible health anxiety. When I was 20 years old I started having heart arrythmias that were brushed off as being panic attacks and anxiety. I knew it wasn't right and the constant worry caused me great anxiety. Finally when I was 22 I found a cardio who worked hard at catching my arrythmias and shortly after I was diagnosed with PVCS, PACS, SVTS and NSVT. I tried different medications and when they didn't work I had an EP study done hopeful for ablation. Unfortunately, the Dr wasn't able to provoke NSVT long enough for mapping and so the ablation never happened. I then went about trying to deal with them as they would be with me the rest of my life.
After being misdiagnosed I developed very bad health anxiety and panic attacks. If I had a headache i had brain cancer or an aneurysm. If I had chest pain, I was having a heart attack, if I was having stomach pains it my bowels had ruptured and on and on. I would run from er to er and Dr to Dr. It never ended. It resulted in MANY unneeded ct scans and x rays and other testing. I have had so many ct scans (some needed) but most not that it actually haunts me. I worry all the time that I will get cancer and it's all my fault because of all the radiation I exposed myself to.
I finally realized, I had no happiness in my life, I was on so many meds I was literally a walking zombie. I had 2 small children at the time and they were suffering because of my state. I knew I had yo do something to get my life back. I worked really hard and did all I could to push the anxiety out and I succeded for the most part. I had a good run of almost 7 years of being anxiety free 90 percent of the time. The anxiety sometimes briefly came back when I was going through a real medical problem but I was able to handle it and push it back where it belonged.

Since March I have been a MESS. It started when I found a mass on my left rib area. I had a ct scan and nothing showed in the area but I could feel it and so could my Dr. It's still there even and has gotten bigger and uncomfortable but since it didn't show on the scan it was brushed off. I started to feel in well a short time later.. lightheadness, fatigue, headaches, short tingles in one part of my body at a time, no appetite and getting full uncomfortably so after only 2 bites of food etc. I have 2nd guessed every single symptom I developed putting off the Dr appts thinking maybe it was just my health anxiety had came back. The left side of my face in front of my ear swelled as did behind my left ear and going down the left side of my neck. I waited a whole month before going to the Drs office about it. He said it was lymph nodes and refered me to an ent who has set me up for a ct scan. I am however trying to get them to see if maybe they can see what's going on there without the use of a ct scan. May be an MRI cause I don't want to add anymore ct scans to my list. Because of the lightheadness and the lump on my ribs starting shortly after each other I had 3 ct scans in May. I didn't want the 2 of my brain but I was admitted to hospital for 5 days for the lightheadness causing me to black out and so they were done there, along with a brain MRI.
I started noticing things popping up on my skin which I later found out from my dermatologist were called spider angionomas, broken callipar veins on my face (they have a specific name but I can't recall) severe itching that was causing me to scratch my skin badly and suddenly towards the end of June both palms of my hands turned red all but the middle that he called Palmer erythema. He advised me to go back to my primary for blood work as these things are seen with liver disease. The ct scan i had done in May did say my liver was enlarged at 20cm but they thought it to be something called Riedel's lobe variant elongation of the right lobe as opposed to generalized true hepatomegaly. That same ct scan als9 noted scattered mesentric, retroperitoneal and upper pelvic lymph nodes seen. My Dr didn't see a need for more testing as my CMP from May he said was normal but I pushed for an ultrasound because I can't ignore what the dermatologist told me and these skin things wouldn't be popping up from no where for no reason. My palms are what really freaked me out.
I have had on going pain in my abdomen since my gallbladder was removed in 2010, it's the same kind of pain just less severe. He finally agreed to the ultrasound. I had it done 2 weeks ago and the results were "diffuse increased echogenicity of the liver suggesting hepatocelluar disease likely caused by fatty liver". I have no idea what hepatocelluar disease is exactly and my Dr didn't seem to know either. I refuse to Google it as I know what googling can lead to. I haven't googled symptoms in many years.

In the last 2 weeks a few more symptoms have appeared. Very bad pains in my bones and joints (I have never had pains like these), feeling like something is biting me like a sand flea bite but nothing is there and I can not tolerate the heat. Not even my beloved heating pad. I get very hot even though I'm sitting in air conditioning esp during sleep. My headaches are strange in that sitting or laying down make them worse. I'm so tired all the time, I have no energy. It's hard to gather enough energy to get up and cook dinner and I just have a general feeling of unwellness. I can't even pick up my 3 year old because I haven't the energy and it's painful.

I am becoming very anxious and had my first panic attack yesterday in 5 years. I'm afraid something is terribly wrong with me. I know anxiety, I remember how it felt but I didn't feel like this. I had the numbness and tingles during panic attacks but the tingles I get now are different and not during panic attacks or periods of anxiety. I got the dizzness during panic attacks that feels nothing like the lightheadness I have been having. All the other symptoms i currently have, I have never had before with my anxiety. When I get up in the morning my body hurts and gets worse at the day goes by. I have never had joint or bone pain before now.

I feel like I'm gonna lose my sanity. I am at this point consumed with worry, everyday that goes by, I feel worse and worse and it's starting to cause me great anxiety.

I know this post is long but I feel very much alone with no one to talk to, no one who understands what I'm going through. All the stuff I have been through in my life, I have never ever felt this afraid.. not even with my heart problems. I'm so afraid I'm gonna die and leave my kids motherless...

Please, any advice from someone/someone's that have been through similar??

heyitsmeyou
29-07-17, 12:03
Hmmm. I'm not really sure what I can say that will be of any use to you, or how to even explain how I cope. I too have a fatty and enlarged liver. I also have a low grade and stable brain tumour.

Tonight, I just got back home with my wife after drinks at a pub and a concert and had a blast. However, if it were two years ago, it would have been a different story. I suffered extreme, prolonged anxiety after my brain tumour diagnosis and woundnt leave the house. As time went by, slowly I began taking back my life. With help from my wife, medication and the doctors. I still get anxious and health things still pop up that make me worry (actually one right now), but I've come to realize something. Growing up, I've always feared of growing old. Now, I see how selfish I was. I'm only 31, but even 31 years on this planet, living, breathing, being life itself... is a privilege denied to many... I know I have serious health problems at the moment, but there are those who have it far worse than I do. That's how I get by. I'm not saying don't worry about yourself or your health. I'm not saying "get over it because it could be worse". I'm saying just try to live life as happily as you can, and work hard on getting your health under control. It is all you can do. Your not going to die from a fatty liver anytime soon and your kids won't be motherless.

Careful1
29-07-17, 18:44
It's not the fatty liver I'm concerned with its the hepatocelluar disease. I'm booked to see a gastro and a liver specialist to figure out in my case what this hepatocelluar disease means. What worries me worse is it could be cancer. The swollen lymph nodes behind my ear and left side of my neck worry me because I was diagnosed in 2011 with a 9mm Paratiod gland tumor... I suppose I worry it turned cancer and spread.
Or may be this lump on the left side of my ribs isn't so innocent and is cancer or perhaps I just have a tumor on my liver. They way my palms turned red (Palmer erythema) overnight it would deff fit. These are the things running through my mind and I try to get through but it's like every day I wake up my body feels worse and worse.. I will try to find joy though in the people and things that make me happy.

I am sorry to hear of your brain tumor. Is it benign? My younger brother has 3 since he was about 4 years old and he is 3 years younger then me so he is 31 now. His are a very very rare type called repairtive giant cell granuloma. He has had so many surgeries and when we were younger he lived over a year in the Ronald mc donald house. They tried to remove them but because of location they weren't able but they were able to somehow get them to stop growing. He has been legally blind since very young and it seems to get worse as time goes by but with very thick glasses he is able to see a little. He has been having bad headaches but we are having a very hard time finding a nuero for him. There was 1 nuero here in the US who was very knowledgeable but has since retired. We will hopefully find someone willing to treat him. I don't personally know how it feels to be told you have w brain tumor but I know what my brother has been through his whole life so I can imagine. I know I was scared out of my mind when they told me I had one in my Paratiod gland, left out of the ent office hysterical. In order to find out what kind it is my entire gland would need to be removed so I decided to watch it instead. Now I find myself wishing I would have just gotten it removed. I am hoping for good news when my cat scan is done. I am hoping these lymph nodes that are causing my neck swelling for over a month now are harmless and I am hoping that tumor has no grown.

heyitsmeyou
29-07-17, 22:36
It's not the fatty liver I'm concerned with its the hepatocelluar disease. I'm booked to see a gastro and a liver specialist to figure out in my case what this hepatocelluar disease means. What worries me worse is it could be cancer. The swollen lymph nodes behind my ear and left side of my neck worry me because I was diagnosed in 2011 with a 9mm Paratiod gland tumor... I suppose I worry it turned cancer and spread.
Or may be this lump on the left side of my ribs isn't so innocent and is cancer or perhaps I just have a tumor on my liver. They way my palms turned red (Palmer erythema) overnight it would deff fit. These are the things running through my mind and I try to get through but it's like every day I wake up my body feels worse and worse.. I will try to find joy though in the people and things that make me happy.

I am sorry to hear of your brain tumor. Is it benign? My younger brother has 3 since he was about 4 years old and he is 3 years younger then me so he is 31 now. His are a very very rare type called repairtive giant cell granuloma. He has had so many surgeries and when we were younger he lived over a year in the Ronald mc donald house. They tried to remove them but because of location they weren't able but they were able to somehow get them to stop growing. He has been legally blind since very young and it seems to get worse as time goes by but with very thick glasses he is able to see a little. He has been having bad headaches but we are having a very hard time finding a nuero for him. There was 1 nuero here in the US who was very knowledgeable but has since retired. We will hopefully find someone willing to treat him. I don't personally know how it feels to be told you have w brain tumor but I know what my brother has been through his whole life so I can imagine. I know I was scared out of my mind when they told me I had one in my Paratiod gland, left out of the ent office hysterical. In order to find out what kind it is my entire gland would need to be removed so I decided to watch it instead. Now I find myself wishing I would have just gotten it removed. I am hoping for good news when my cat scan is done. I am hoping these lymph nodes that are causing my neck swelling for over a month now are harmless and I am hoping that tumor has no grown.


Hepatocelluar disease is just a blanket term of some liver diseases. It can be as simple as just a fatty liver (not cancer). Fatty and enlarged livers have become very common. I don't remember if you mentioned having a liver function test, but if those came back within normal range, I really don't think its super serious and can still be reversed. If the Dr's have cleared that lump on the side of your ribs, that too is good, as they would not **** around with something like liver cancer.

Im sorry about your brother. While my brain tumour is considered to be of the cancerous kind, it has been stable since diagnosis. The Neuro's even use words like "benign" when talking about it. Its most likely been there since early childhood. It is operable and if/when the time comes that it shows to be a problem, we will deal with it then.

You've been scanned and have been reassured by trained medical professionals that what they have seen on the CT isn't serious. I think a cancerous liver tumour would have been very easy to detect. A lot of your symptoms can be a result of prolonged stress and anxiety. Im sure the specialists will give you some peace of mind when you have your appointment and will help you get better :)

Careful1
31-07-17, 00:58
Hepatocelluar disease is just a blanket term of some liver diseases. It can be as simple as just a fatty liver (not cancer). Fatty and enlarged livers have become very common. I don't remember if you mentioned having a liver function test, but if those came back within normal range, I really don't think its super serious and can still be reversed. If the Dr's have cleared that lump on the side of your ribs, that too is good, as they would not **** around with something like liver cancer.

Im sorry about your brother. While my brain tumour is considered to be of the cancerous kind, it has been stable since diagnosis. The Neuro's even use words like "benign" when talking about it. Its most likely been there since early childhood. It is operable and if/when the time comes that it shows to be a problem, we will deal with it then.

You've been scanned and have been reassured by trained medical professionals that what they have seen on the CT isn't serious. I think a cancerous liver tumour would have been very easy to detect. A lot of your symptoms can be a result of prolonged stress and anxiety. Im sure the specialists will give you some peace of mind when you have your appointment and will help you get better :)


Thank you ♡