lindzanne
01-05-09, 19:30
Hi, I am new to this site, and I am so happy I found it because I have noticed how positive and supportive everyone here is. Although we are all suffering from the same thing and I bet a lot of us generally feel pretty anxious and awful everyone responds to each other in a really healthy way.
Anyway, I am just looking for advice, maybe some ways that people have coped with this horrible health anxiety on a daily basis.
A little bit about myself-I have had anxiety like this just subtly most of my life, but it never got out of hand until over the last year, I still really feel like I don't know what triggered it, I had a horrible headache for over a week that turned out to be a sinus infection, but I basically just lost it and ended up in the hospital twice with panic attack symptoms and just basically desperately trying to get anyone to validate my fear. It took me three months to recover from this, I couldn't leave the house for a while and just didn't believe anyone who told me I was ok, the funny thing is my anxiety would change, I actually did have a headache but then I would think, well, what if it's leukemia. or lymphoma? I would push on my lymph nodes until they got swollen and painful to see if they were swollen and painful! So rediculous! Once I got over this episode I just moved on and was like, well I'm glad thats over. I never thought it could happen again. Although now I realize that I never stopped being anxious, I was just coping with it. I would look up symptoms of horrible diseases "just to educate myself", just in case. Now I have some unresolved symptoms and my life is spiraling out of control again. I wake up with my heart racing, I ended up in the hospital again because I was so paniced and feeling suicidal my husband dragged me there. I've been to my doctor 5 times, and another doctor, who have both assured me my fears are unfounded, but I just cant believe them. I spend my days alternating between panic that escalates to the point I almost throw up, to rational thinking that just doesn't last. My stomach is a wreck, I don't want to eat at all. I am exhausted. And really really sad, because I am convinced I'm dying and no one is listening.
It seems like a lot of people here feel the same. Does anyone have any advice, just on how to get through the day? Does anyone else have similar stomach problems related to anxiety? Does anyone else ever believe their doctor, or have advice on how to do that? (Of course I have the typical addiction to google and see all sorts of stories of undiagnosed cancers, etc. that doctors took forevor to diagnose, and thinks, THATS ME!)
I would appreciate any advice.
Thanks in advance.
Lindsay
Anyway, I am just looking for advice, maybe some ways that people have coped with this horrible health anxiety on a daily basis.
A little bit about myself-I have had anxiety like this just subtly most of my life, but it never got out of hand until over the last year, I still really feel like I don't know what triggered it, I had a horrible headache for over a week that turned out to be a sinus infection, but I basically just lost it and ended up in the hospital twice with panic attack symptoms and just basically desperately trying to get anyone to validate my fear. It took me three months to recover from this, I couldn't leave the house for a while and just didn't believe anyone who told me I was ok, the funny thing is my anxiety would change, I actually did have a headache but then I would think, well, what if it's leukemia. or lymphoma? I would push on my lymph nodes until they got swollen and painful to see if they were swollen and painful! So rediculous! Once I got over this episode I just moved on and was like, well I'm glad thats over. I never thought it could happen again. Although now I realize that I never stopped being anxious, I was just coping with it. I would look up symptoms of horrible diseases "just to educate myself", just in case. Now I have some unresolved symptoms and my life is spiraling out of control again. I wake up with my heart racing, I ended up in the hospital again because I was so paniced and feeling suicidal my husband dragged me there. I've been to my doctor 5 times, and another doctor, who have both assured me my fears are unfounded, but I just cant believe them. I spend my days alternating between panic that escalates to the point I almost throw up, to rational thinking that just doesn't last. My stomach is a wreck, I don't want to eat at all. I am exhausted. And really really sad, because I am convinced I'm dying and no one is listening.
It seems like a lot of people here feel the same. Does anyone have any advice, just on how to get through the day? Does anyone else have similar stomach problems related to anxiety? Does anyone else ever believe their doctor, or have advice on how to do that? (Of course I have the typical addiction to google and see all sorts of stories of undiagnosed cancers, etc. that doctors took forevor to diagnose, and thinks, THATS ME!)
I would appreciate any advice.
Thanks in advance.
Lindsay