RMP422
16-07-09, 22:40
Hello all,
I've been at my wits end. I've finally decided that I have developed health anxiety over the past few months. I'm really in a bad way now, and I thought maybe a few encouraging words and a bit of advice might help.
I've always had bad anxiety: when I was a kid, I could never sleep for fear of monsters. In university my health anxiety began: heart palpitations would send me to the physician, feeling like I couldn't breathe, etc.
Now for the past 2 1/2 weeks I've been really struggling. I noticed some strange feelings in my left side: a little twinge in my left-most fingers, my left-most toes. This sent me to the GP and he said these things happen, they usually go away. They didn't. I went back, blood test: clear result. Went back again, got a referral to a neurologist. Spent days tying myself in knots waiting for the neurologist appointment. Neurologist didn't find anything in his examination. He said if I wanted to be absolutely sure I should book an MRI.
Had the MRI today. It was rather unpleasant. I felt a bit strange afterwards, too, almost like my head had been 'cooked'. Oh well. That built up a considerable amount of anxiety. And now I have to wait until MONDAY to get the results. This doesn't seem like a long time but it's really, really wreaking me at the moment.
I'm fine most of the day, I find, and then it gets to evening, and the panic sets in like clock-work. I dread and fidget and worry about every little symptom. I get hot and clammy, depersonalised, spot headaches, tightness in my throat, my eye twitches etc. I'm convinced that I have MS and that my brain is demylinating as I'm sitting there, causing all these symptoms. Or what if I have some sort of vasculitis that's causing all this? Then I worry that my worry is raising my blood-pressure and going to cause myself real trouble. I look at the veins on my arms (I'm quite skinny) and they seem to bulge too much. I look in the mirror and my pupils seem too big! I really go crazy.
What can I do to calm down? What can I do to make it until Monday? I'm planning to visit my GP tomorrow to ask for a perscription to Xanax or Valium or some such thing, just to get me through the evenings, until my therapy can start. If it turns out that I have MS I think I will be able to deal with it better. Please help me now, though!
Sorry for the long first post. You guys have helped a lot already, though.
Best
RMP
I've been at my wits end. I've finally decided that I have developed health anxiety over the past few months. I'm really in a bad way now, and I thought maybe a few encouraging words and a bit of advice might help.
I've always had bad anxiety: when I was a kid, I could never sleep for fear of monsters. In university my health anxiety began: heart palpitations would send me to the physician, feeling like I couldn't breathe, etc.
Now for the past 2 1/2 weeks I've been really struggling. I noticed some strange feelings in my left side: a little twinge in my left-most fingers, my left-most toes. This sent me to the GP and he said these things happen, they usually go away. They didn't. I went back, blood test: clear result. Went back again, got a referral to a neurologist. Spent days tying myself in knots waiting for the neurologist appointment. Neurologist didn't find anything in his examination. He said if I wanted to be absolutely sure I should book an MRI.
Had the MRI today. It was rather unpleasant. I felt a bit strange afterwards, too, almost like my head had been 'cooked'. Oh well. That built up a considerable amount of anxiety. And now I have to wait until MONDAY to get the results. This doesn't seem like a long time but it's really, really wreaking me at the moment.
I'm fine most of the day, I find, and then it gets to evening, and the panic sets in like clock-work. I dread and fidget and worry about every little symptom. I get hot and clammy, depersonalised, spot headaches, tightness in my throat, my eye twitches etc. I'm convinced that I have MS and that my brain is demylinating as I'm sitting there, causing all these symptoms. Or what if I have some sort of vasculitis that's causing all this? Then I worry that my worry is raising my blood-pressure and going to cause myself real trouble. I look at the veins on my arms (I'm quite skinny) and they seem to bulge too much. I look in the mirror and my pupils seem too big! I really go crazy.
What can I do to calm down? What can I do to make it until Monday? I'm planning to visit my GP tomorrow to ask for a perscription to Xanax or Valium or some such thing, just to get me through the evenings, until my therapy can start. If it turns out that I have MS I think I will be able to deal with it better. Please help me now, though!
Sorry for the long first post. You guys have helped a lot already, though.
Best
RMP