Yvaine
27-12-17, 22:28
Okay first I want to start off by saying this is probably under the wrong topic section but I feel like I need to post this under this section so people suffering can read this (assuming they won't be reading under success stories)
I am sure everyone is fearful over something different than what I was but hopefully this story can help you see the light at the end of your tunnel.
I never suffered from health anxiety up until probably the last weeks of my pregnancy, when I was in line at the grocery store getting ready to pay for my groceries, when I noticed I was going to pass out. I quickly ran and sat down on some chairs they had near the Starbucks in the store. I got a hold of my parents who were near by with my uncle who is a retired fire fighter EMT. They quickly came to where I was and my uncle was checking my pulse when he came to the conclusion I needed an ambulance. When they arrived, they hooked me up to an EKG and checked all my vitals along with my blood sugar. My blood sugar was EXTREMELY low so I has given and IV. Off to the hospital I went. I basically got a lecture saying how I needed to eat more frequently. I never thought anything would come from it seeing as how I never had blood sugar issues before. This fear carried throughout the rest of my pregnancy where I couldn't wake up in the morning without feeling like I has going to pass out. My blood sugar levels were fine. It was all now a fear and my body was mimicking it.
After I had my baby I had seriously bad calf pain and Google had told me it was a blood clot and it was going to break loose and travel to my lungs and kill me any minute. In a panic I rushed to the ER where they also agreed i was in the timeframe of a higher risk and did an ultrasound. No blood clot. Next day my other calf was hurting. Off to the ER I went. No blood clot. Google was telling me that doctors can miss these things so off to a vascular specialist I went. No blood clot. That wasn't good enough for me. I went to a different vascular specialist as well. No blood clot. I must have had over 9 ultrasounds done on my legs with all my different trips. You tell me what are the odds of me FIRST getting one then the odds of them MISSING them NINE times? I think when I looked it up to begin with the odds of getting a blood clot after a baby (natural delivery) was like 1 in 7,000. Do you see how ridiculous this was? I am not saying my fear wasn't real because at the time I KNEW I had one. However, my fear was not logical at all. Turned out my leg pain was just because my alignment was off... physical therapy is fixing it. Nothing life threatening at all.
You think I would have learned my lesson the first fear.
I then decided to look up radiation exposure with CT scans. I have had 3 abdominal CT scans in my life all with and without contrast along with numerous chest x-rays, abdominal, dental you name it. Google told me my risk for cancer had increased! Great now a fear I cannot put away because I will be wondering the rest of my life if I will develope cancer. I let this ruin a few of my weeks before realizing there's nothing I can do about it. As a matter of fact there is nothing anyone can do about anything that will happen in life. Cancer alone is high risk in general and the fact of the matter is I didn't increase my risk much(or even at all because it really isn't proven). My additional cancer risk from all my tests is 0.830272%...
1 in 120 chance. Which with someone with health anxiety would freak out over like I did but In reality (or said another way) a 99.169728% chance of having no effects from all of my tests. I needed to first stop and realize these tests SAVE LIVES. I was just choosing to look towards negativity.
Have you heard of the saying "fool me once shame on you, but fool me twice shame on me"
You think I would have learned from my googling the first time. I spent half a year of my baby's life living in fear. It has GOT to stop. I am not going to spend my life living in fear anymore. I am not put on this earth to fear, but to enjoy life. Whatever you may be going through in your life I just want to tell you that your anxiety plays a HUGE roll on your health. If you read symptoms of things online you will start convincing yourself that you have it and just may start to feel those symptoms when in reality you are fine! Let me first start off by saying a common headache Google will tell you it's a brain tumor. You don't have that.
Listen to your doctors. They spent their lives studying medical things that people who post on Google have no knowledge over. WebMD is NOT your doctor.
Also you need to ask yourself what are the odds of your symptoms leaning more towards something common instead of something rare? (For example: headache or brain tumor?) Stop beating yourselves up. Besides wouldn't you much rather live a short happy life than a long miserable fearful life?
I will say that I started Prozac and after 5 days had an allergic reaction and had to stop. With that said, I am stronger than my fear and take it as a sign I can overcome this myself.
Like my husband has always told me "ignorance is bliss"
It's so true. If you do not know about it you won't worry about it. Live your life! Be thankful for your health and if you are concerned about something, go get checked without googling then trust your doctor when they say everything is Okay!
Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
~Matthew 6:27
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
~Matthew 6:34
Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.
~1 Peter 5:7
Anyways I hope this brought some hope to some of you.
I am sure everyone is fearful over something different than what I was but hopefully this story can help you see the light at the end of your tunnel.
I never suffered from health anxiety up until probably the last weeks of my pregnancy, when I was in line at the grocery store getting ready to pay for my groceries, when I noticed I was going to pass out. I quickly ran and sat down on some chairs they had near the Starbucks in the store. I got a hold of my parents who were near by with my uncle who is a retired fire fighter EMT. They quickly came to where I was and my uncle was checking my pulse when he came to the conclusion I needed an ambulance. When they arrived, they hooked me up to an EKG and checked all my vitals along with my blood sugar. My blood sugar was EXTREMELY low so I has given and IV. Off to the hospital I went. I basically got a lecture saying how I needed to eat more frequently. I never thought anything would come from it seeing as how I never had blood sugar issues before. This fear carried throughout the rest of my pregnancy where I couldn't wake up in the morning without feeling like I has going to pass out. My blood sugar levels were fine. It was all now a fear and my body was mimicking it.
After I had my baby I had seriously bad calf pain and Google had told me it was a blood clot and it was going to break loose and travel to my lungs and kill me any minute. In a panic I rushed to the ER where they also agreed i was in the timeframe of a higher risk and did an ultrasound. No blood clot. Next day my other calf was hurting. Off to the ER I went. No blood clot. Google was telling me that doctors can miss these things so off to a vascular specialist I went. No blood clot. That wasn't good enough for me. I went to a different vascular specialist as well. No blood clot. I must have had over 9 ultrasounds done on my legs with all my different trips. You tell me what are the odds of me FIRST getting one then the odds of them MISSING them NINE times? I think when I looked it up to begin with the odds of getting a blood clot after a baby (natural delivery) was like 1 in 7,000. Do you see how ridiculous this was? I am not saying my fear wasn't real because at the time I KNEW I had one. However, my fear was not logical at all. Turned out my leg pain was just because my alignment was off... physical therapy is fixing it. Nothing life threatening at all.
You think I would have learned my lesson the first fear.
I then decided to look up radiation exposure with CT scans. I have had 3 abdominal CT scans in my life all with and without contrast along with numerous chest x-rays, abdominal, dental you name it. Google told me my risk for cancer had increased! Great now a fear I cannot put away because I will be wondering the rest of my life if I will develope cancer. I let this ruin a few of my weeks before realizing there's nothing I can do about it. As a matter of fact there is nothing anyone can do about anything that will happen in life. Cancer alone is high risk in general and the fact of the matter is I didn't increase my risk much(or even at all because it really isn't proven). My additional cancer risk from all my tests is 0.830272%...
1 in 120 chance. Which with someone with health anxiety would freak out over like I did but In reality (or said another way) a 99.169728% chance of having no effects from all of my tests. I needed to first stop and realize these tests SAVE LIVES. I was just choosing to look towards negativity.
Have you heard of the saying "fool me once shame on you, but fool me twice shame on me"
You think I would have learned from my googling the first time. I spent half a year of my baby's life living in fear. It has GOT to stop. I am not going to spend my life living in fear anymore. I am not put on this earth to fear, but to enjoy life. Whatever you may be going through in your life I just want to tell you that your anxiety plays a HUGE roll on your health. If you read symptoms of things online you will start convincing yourself that you have it and just may start to feel those symptoms when in reality you are fine! Let me first start off by saying a common headache Google will tell you it's a brain tumor. You don't have that.
Listen to your doctors. They spent their lives studying medical things that people who post on Google have no knowledge over. WebMD is NOT your doctor.
Also you need to ask yourself what are the odds of your symptoms leaning more towards something common instead of something rare? (For example: headache or brain tumor?) Stop beating yourselves up. Besides wouldn't you much rather live a short happy life than a long miserable fearful life?
I will say that I started Prozac and after 5 days had an allergic reaction and had to stop. With that said, I am stronger than my fear and take it as a sign I can overcome this myself.
Like my husband has always told me "ignorance is bliss"
It's so true. If you do not know about it you won't worry about it. Live your life! Be thankful for your health and if you are concerned about something, go get checked without googling then trust your doctor when they say everything is Okay!
Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
~Matthew 6:27
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
~Matthew 6:34
Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.
~1 Peter 5:7
Anyways I hope this brought some hope to some of you.