Mark1974
29-03-18, 00:37
Hello one and all,
I have just joined this group to get some support for health anxiety issues that I have had ongoing for several years now, but didn't really realise I had this until my Doctor diagnosed me with it on Tuesday. Not sure it is the right word but I am delighted that I'm not the only one that has to endure an almost daily battle with this.
Looking back I think this started as long ago as 2008 - in July 2007 my Nan passed away at the age of 68 of heart failure, although at the time she was alsosuffering from lymphoma. This was the first time anyone close by to the family had got a terminal disease, and from that moment on I've been wrestling with health anxiety ever since on and off (suffering in silence for the most part, but frequently visiting doctors about 5 or 6 times a year with 'illnesses' that turn out to be nothing (or just in the mind). In about 2010 I suddenly was OK again for a few months, then in late 2011 my Grandad passed away from esophageal cancer, and I was back to square one. It didn't help when I started to get the same 'symptoms' as he had (heartburn, reflux etc) a couple of years later, and I was convinced I was on my way out as well (it turned out in 2016 that I have a hiatus hernia, which itself causes strange symptoms that can worry me sick if I look them up, even though I know its just the hernia!)
I have good days / weeks and bad days / weeks. At the moment I am OK, but know the next health anxiety is likely to be lurking on the horizon, normally triggered by someone I know dying, or someone famous (I also get this around the anniversaries of anyone's death). When I get like this I end up in a bubble, oblivious to everything else going on, and I completely lose interest in everything - my partner finally snapped at this about six weeks ago and told me to 'snap out of it', but its not that simple when depressed!
I finally decided to get this sorted with the Doctor, after watching a programme on BBC1 with Zoë Ball about depression last week, and I took the plunge on Tuesday and saw the Doctor. We discussed all of the above and she diagnosed me with health anxiety, and prescribed a month's worth of 'Sertraline' to start off, and I am going to be assessed by a mental health group in mid-April and go from there.
Sorry to waffle on so much, but that's what I am going through at the moment
Mark
I have just joined this group to get some support for health anxiety issues that I have had ongoing for several years now, but didn't really realise I had this until my Doctor diagnosed me with it on Tuesday. Not sure it is the right word but I am delighted that I'm not the only one that has to endure an almost daily battle with this.
Looking back I think this started as long ago as 2008 - in July 2007 my Nan passed away at the age of 68 of heart failure, although at the time she was alsosuffering from lymphoma. This was the first time anyone close by to the family had got a terminal disease, and from that moment on I've been wrestling with health anxiety ever since on and off (suffering in silence for the most part, but frequently visiting doctors about 5 or 6 times a year with 'illnesses' that turn out to be nothing (or just in the mind). In about 2010 I suddenly was OK again for a few months, then in late 2011 my Grandad passed away from esophageal cancer, and I was back to square one. It didn't help when I started to get the same 'symptoms' as he had (heartburn, reflux etc) a couple of years later, and I was convinced I was on my way out as well (it turned out in 2016 that I have a hiatus hernia, which itself causes strange symptoms that can worry me sick if I look them up, even though I know its just the hernia!)
I have good days / weeks and bad days / weeks. At the moment I am OK, but know the next health anxiety is likely to be lurking on the horizon, normally triggered by someone I know dying, or someone famous (I also get this around the anniversaries of anyone's death). When I get like this I end up in a bubble, oblivious to everything else going on, and I completely lose interest in everything - my partner finally snapped at this about six weeks ago and told me to 'snap out of it', but its not that simple when depressed!
I finally decided to get this sorted with the Doctor, after watching a programme on BBC1 with Zoë Ball about depression last week, and I took the plunge on Tuesday and saw the Doctor. We discussed all of the above and she diagnosed me with health anxiety, and prescribed a month's worth of 'Sertraline' to start off, and I am going to be assessed by a mental health group in mid-April and go from there.
Sorry to waffle on so much, but that's what I am going through at the moment
Mark