RVP
05-01-22, 19:33
Hi all, I have a lot I want to talk about but I will try and keep it short and succinct.
Brief history, I have suffered from health anxiety for roughly 11/12 years now and it was brought on by suffering testicular cancer when I was 16. The HA didn't actually start a few years after when I used to go to my Drs for check ups. I guess the start of this was high BP.
Since then I have gone to uni where I suffered HA quite bad, but nothing that stopped me from attending classes or doing exams.
Generally my HA has been on and off over these years and when I think I've seen the last of it then BAM something happens to me and I go down a quick spiral.
Recently however, during the pandemic I have been suffering from more general/social anxiety when leaving the house, again something that was likely to happen to a lot of people due to the nature of our brains and how it's already been programmed to fear a certain type of anxiety.
The turning point for me was driving at 6pm (so it was dark) to pick up my wife from work I suffered a full blown panic attack whilst on a dual carriageway so had no where to stop and just had to ride it out and keep going.. this was by far one of the worst attacks I have had. Ever since that day, when I get into my car now, or go out into social situations I really struggle. I struggle to focus on my breathing and when I am focusing, I feel like I can't breath properly. This is happened on a number of occasions now where I have had panic attacks again in the car, or panic attacks in shops. I even had a panic attack at home where I called the ambulance (something which I haven't done for about 7 years) this was a really low point in my anxiety life because I feel like I've hit rock bottom and I'm back to square one. I could write so much more, but this is the jist of it. I'm scared to drive, especially at night (even though I absolutely love cars and love driving) and now I panic when I'm in a social situation. My wife asks if I want to go cinema or to a restaurant, the first thing I think is, "will I have a panic attack?" "what will I do if I do start feeling anxious" my breathing goes funny and my heart beats so fast it feels like it's going to stop.
So far, I have not reached out for any professional help apart from when I was in University and health anxiety wasn't a known thing so the help was very limited. I have now reached out to Vitaminds, which was recommended to me by my wife and I'm on a long waiting list. (almost a year)
I also reached out to my Dr, who has prescribed me with Sertraline, which I have not taken, because I'm scared of the side effects after reading other peoples experiences on here.
Right now, my life is a bit of a mess, I have a fantastic job that I started in May, but I can't even give it 110% because of my anxiety, what was just health anxiety has now turned into general anxiety and I'm really struggling.
Brief history, I have suffered from health anxiety for roughly 11/12 years now and it was brought on by suffering testicular cancer when I was 16. The HA didn't actually start a few years after when I used to go to my Drs for check ups. I guess the start of this was high BP.
Since then I have gone to uni where I suffered HA quite bad, but nothing that stopped me from attending classes or doing exams.
Generally my HA has been on and off over these years and when I think I've seen the last of it then BAM something happens to me and I go down a quick spiral.
Recently however, during the pandemic I have been suffering from more general/social anxiety when leaving the house, again something that was likely to happen to a lot of people due to the nature of our brains and how it's already been programmed to fear a certain type of anxiety.
The turning point for me was driving at 6pm (so it was dark) to pick up my wife from work I suffered a full blown panic attack whilst on a dual carriageway so had no where to stop and just had to ride it out and keep going.. this was by far one of the worst attacks I have had. Ever since that day, when I get into my car now, or go out into social situations I really struggle. I struggle to focus on my breathing and when I am focusing, I feel like I can't breath properly. This is happened on a number of occasions now where I have had panic attacks again in the car, or panic attacks in shops. I even had a panic attack at home where I called the ambulance (something which I haven't done for about 7 years) this was a really low point in my anxiety life because I feel like I've hit rock bottom and I'm back to square one. I could write so much more, but this is the jist of it. I'm scared to drive, especially at night (even though I absolutely love cars and love driving) and now I panic when I'm in a social situation. My wife asks if I want to go cinema or to a restaurant, the first thing I think is, "will I have a panic attack?" "what will I do if I do start feeling anxious" my breathing goes funny and my heart beats so fast it feels like it's going to stop.
So far, I have not reached out for any professional help apart from when I was in University and health anxiety wasn't a known thing so the help was very limited. I have now reached out to Vitaminds, which was recommended to me by my wife and I'm on a long waiting list. (almost a year)
I also reached out to my Dr, who has prescribed me with Sertraline, which I have not taken, because I'm scared of the side effects after reading other peoples experiences on here.
Right now, my life is a bit of a mess, I have a fantastic job that I started in May, but I can't even give it 110% because of my anxiety, what was just health anxiety has now turned into general anxiety and I'm really struggling.