Help I'm going insane Please help

[orbs36]

Hello All,

This is my first post, i've been a member a sometime now. I usually search and read the forums and i get some reassurance from all you brave and wonderful people. Im a 29 year male and I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder a little over a year. Today I woke up with a strange pain in my abdomen. Right below my belly button area and just above my pelvic area. The pain is dull but i have had it all day long. My stomach feels like its all over the place. IT HAS BEEN DRIVING ME INSANE! My mind has been racing all day long and i cant get it under control. In my head the pain is associated with stomach cancer, colon cancer or a ruptured bowel. Please help me calm down.

[tiredOfOcd]

Take a breath. You are ok. You don't have any of the things you are worried about. You know how health anxiety works. You know as well as I do it will screw with your bowels.

[Cococj]

Hi,

First please calm down, I know it's hard but when I'm like you are currently just being here on this forum helps me. Take some slow breaths and let's look at your worries, in the cold light of er... night, well it is here, I'm aware it isn't there :)

You've mentioned just one symptom and we've leapt to stomach cancer, colon cancer, ruptured bowel? One symptom for one day doesn't an illness like those make.

Let's deal with cancer first, it's unlikely the first symptom you'd have of cancer is a "dull pain", certainly in the absence of any of the symptoms that can't be explained by your anxiety and certainly not for one day.

Ruptured bowel? Hmmm, dull pain doesn't cover ruptured anything, ruptured pain would be sharp, tearing, nasty pain. Ruptures are acute events, you might have pain but you'd almost certainly feel far more symptoms very shortly afterwards, especially in the case of bowel rupture, so let's put that one to one side too.

I think you've googled one symptom and come up with loads of things it could be and are currently thinking the worst, don't worry we've all done it, the great this though is now you've come here and we can tell you that's a silly thing to do. You're letting your anxiety do the talking and it's just going to make you worse, not better.

I did it myself just now, just to look up the most common causes of pain in that area, not because I had to do so to know what the number one is but because I wanted to see what you were thinking. I came up with gas pains, yeah, everyone gets those at one time or another in their life. That's really common, why can't it be that? Cos your anxiety won't accept the simple explanation, your mind is trying to overthink things. Muscle strain? Course not, anxiety says it's something far worse.

The thing with symptoms is we take one and forget about the others, you've only told us one, so I'll assume it's the only one that's bothering you, everything in the top 10 of things I just looked up for you has other symptoms you'd have had by now too. I'm not running through them all cos that'll just make you worse.

You said you've been diagnosed with anxiety. Are you getting any help for that at the moment? Your racing mind isn't helping you here, the way I get through these blips in my anxiety is to just recall that everytime in the past I've told myself I'm about to die of something horrible I'm still here breathing and typing away, yeah it feels different this time but anxiety makes it feel different, it's not a boring condition, it likes change!

Try to ignore the pain, take some painkillers, don't put your abdominal muscles under stress today, drink plenty of fluids and see how you feel tomorrow. If you still feel bad then make an appointment with your doctor and let him or her help you and give you any tests he might feel you need to reassure you.

Stay well and take care :)

Chris

[orbs36]

Chris,

Thanks so much for the reassurance. You are correct i made the grave mistake of consulting Dr. Google.:doh: As for treatment i was taking Citalopram for about 6 or 7 months. It didn't help me much. I kept on having pretty bad anxiety attacks, so i decided to stop taking it. i have just been trying to cope with the attacks as they come, but i think i will have to go back to my doctor.

Raul D.

[Cococj]

Hi Raul,

No problem, that's what we're all here for, I've been there, in fact I've posted about my own problems recently.

Really I think you need to find something that helps you, I did, it took time, I struggled through for ages, fooled myself into believing I was okay but I really wasn't. Medication isn't for everyone, but there are other things that can help, indeed there are things you can do yourself, it's just a case of finding what works for you.

Citalopram works for some people, myself included, but not for others, but even on medication you are still going to have some bad days, it's a crutch while you deal with the other issues not a cure.

I got some counselling eventually and it's helping, relaxation, exercise, medication, they all add up, the number one reason I got help eventually though is that I felt so bad that I realised that a huge amount of my so called symptoms were from my anxiety, if I had got something physical wrong with me how would I know? The anxiety would mask it. It just confuses the issue. Even people who do suffer with cancer have anxiety and get treated for it. Why? Cos it doesn't help them get well and it does make them feel worse. We just get the symptoms and attribute it to something else.

I hope you find something that works for you and get some time away from you anxiety soon.

Chris