will this ever go away

[Gavin]

Hi I suffer badly from Health Anxiety. A bit of background of me: my father died at 36 of heart attack. For the past 15 years now i never have a day that I feel, well always feel ill pain in top of my back shoulders arms chest also feel sick most of the time and always fatiuge also can be quite short tempered and little patience this thing of dying of heart attack controls my life and stops me from socializing or having fun.

[Thumbelina]

Gavin,

I had a friend (had, because she mooved away far and staretd new life)

I met her in the psychiatric hospital while waiting for the appointment.
I spoke to her first because she looked on the urge to me and we finally chatted away.
We end up going out for coffe and so on.

Her story was that she developed all that we all have after her father passed away literally in her hands 1 week before her wedding while wedding preparations - OF A HEART ATTACK.

She held him while he had his last breath and all other stuff.
She became so severely traumatised, that she had a breakdown and during her attacks she was experiencing all that she saw when her dad was dying in front of her. She told me she was making the same noises, the same body mooves - everything, so literally she was experiencing her dads heart attacks every time - though she never had one. It drove her to the severe clinical depression. She lost most of her weight, and etc. Due to the cultural diferences she was not communicating for many years with any other people with depression or anxieties before we met with her. Her life was literally stuck on the moment of heart attack and she lived it over and over again.
She is a beatiful young lady and she deserved better.

Doctors have beeen pumping her with the tablets and experimenting and not much worked - she couldnt work, she couldnt do anything.

We started to talk on the phone, we started sharing our experiences of dealing with anxiety, depression, lack of appetite and severe disfuction whicle relapses, and through our conversations during some months she started getting out of this circle, she broke free i think. She got married now, left to another country and I hope she is doing great now.

I hope this story will be any use to you.

[marie1974]

Hi Gary and i can understand your anxiety, my nan died unexpectadly 4 yrs ago with bone and stomach cancer and deteriated within weeks and died, i watched her go soo down hill and i knew i wouldnt cope well after her death.

anyway for about a year nearly after, i had terrible thoughts of dieing and having cancer, i thought i couldnt eat and couldnt swallow and anything slightly wrong with me i thought i had cancer.

my only advice to you woul be to try and keep busy and not give yourself to much thinking and worrying time, try and busy youself with things you like doing as well as usual day to day stuff, i am doing this now and its very hard because as well as health anxiety i also suffer general anxiety and i am volunteering in classrooms at school while i do a teaching assistant course and every tiny thing they ask me to do, i panic and feel dizzy and sick and my heart goes funny, but i am doing this because i need to be more confident and try to get over these panics.

also i had cbt for 5 months which helepd me loads and gave me different coping strategys.

hugs and dont give up, you can get past this xx

[Gavin]

Thanks Everyone i know this sounds daft but im glad im not the only because for years now it really felt like that .