View Full Version : Aches and pains...worried again
Hi all.
I’ve been doing really well lately and haven’t used the site for over a month or so. I had zero health anxiety even though I had that horrible flu over Christmas. Prior to this I had mentioned about these fluttering feelings in my groin which radiate into my right leg. I have no pain and it comes and goes randomly. The thing is whilst I was ill with the flu lurgy I didn’t have them. They disappeared for about 3 weeks but now they’re back and it’s making me anxious. I haven’t a clue what it could be but keep thinking about all kinds of cancers. When I’m quite calm I know if it was something serious it wouldn’t come and go but I’m in the midst of abit of a panic and I’m freaked out! I was taking multi vitamins and magnesium supps bought from the supermarket and when I was ill in bed I stopped taking them because I was poorly and had no appetite. I’ve just read a post on here about low vitamin d causing aches and bone pains but I don’t understand how it could just be one leg? Any help please x
There's a scale - one side there's "'just' anxiety", on the other "horrible cancer". There's lots of things inbetween. As it heads towards the latter it becomes less and less likely. So just because it isn't anxiety, it doesn't mean it has to be something to worry about.
The fact is an achey leg could just be an achey leg. Maybe it is tension from anxiety, or it could be something as simple and benign as a sprain, a bit of bad posture, or whatever.
What anxiety does is forces your mind to concentrate on something that's a bit achey and dwell on it. You train your mind to see it as a danger and it will pick up on every twinge and ache because you've told your mind to keep an eye on it. Think about a ticking clock in a room - you never notice it normally, but it seems really loud and even annoying if you focus on it.
You may also end up poking, prodding or flexing your leg weird ways to test it, making it hurt more, or you may end up stopping exercising or walking with an affected limp which will make it hurt more too.
I would bet if you went to the doctor's with it (which I'm not necessarily saying you should do) cancer would be amongst the very last things they would think of for an achey leg.
Thanks for your replyaxolotl.
I have poked abit and I've noticed if I lie in a certain position at night I don't really get the aches the next day. The thing is, I don't have anxiety unless I have a pain ache or some kind of symptom. It's bizarre!
The thing is, I don't have anxiety unless I have a pain ache or some kind of symptom.
Anxiety isn't always stuff we're fretting about consciously, but things that are lurking at the back of our minds and causing us stress.
So just because you don't feel anxious, it doesn't mean that everyday stresses aren't having physical effects. The problem is when we then start being anxious our physical symptoms run out of control, because we hyperfocus on what we think of as a danger, and we end up in a spiral where we can't stop worrying because the physical symptoms are alarming us, but we can't get rid of the physical symptoms until we stop worrying.
Doing so can be very difficult, and may require therapy such as CBT if it's persistent, but most of the time once we stop worrying about something it mysteriously goes away.
I had CBT a few years ago and then I was contemplating private therapy. Over xmas when I had this dreaded lurgy cough and flu I wasnt anxious and these aches went away. Maybe your right x
He certainly is! Axolotl's advice is spot on and a great advert for the benefits of working hard with CBT.
So my leg ache is back and I’m obviously panicking. I went on a lovely long walk yesterday and then a very short drive in the car. I wasn’t driving but on the way home I noticed my right leg felt odd like it was going numb. I kept moving it about to increase circulation but it didn’t really do anything. As soon as I got out the car it went away until I lay on the sofa to watch a film and it started again but not as bad. I know it can’t be a dvt because it’s been happening on and off since October and I always worry about cancer but I think I would have got worse or felt something like a lump by now. As someone on here says, cancer doesn’t come and go, so I keep repeating that to myself. I’m wondering if it could be circulatory but my BP if anything is normal to lowish and whilst I’m panicking it will be higher. I don’t drink or smoke but I have a family history of heart disease. I had my cholesterol checked about 3 years and it was 5.6 if I remember correctly which is slightly higher than it should be I know. I’m otherwise healthy apart from my HA! I am almost pre diabetic with an A1C of 41. Of all the other things I’m thinking it could be like low b12, magnesium, vit d or high cholesterol or early diabetes which I know can cause tingling and numbness why am I focused on something more sinister? There a zero family history of cancer or indeed anyth8ng other than heart disease and my grandparents lived into their late 80 s. I’m going on holiday tomorrow and this is another trigger for me. My son is bringing his friend and I’m worried I will embarrass myself by having a meltdown. Does anyone have any similar symptoms x
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