Do your HA worries constantly change?

[Ella_Jayne]

I started worrying about my heart, then my lungs then clots, brain tumours etc. Why is it that with health anxiety the problem just keeps changing.

At the moment I'm worried about my head but just a couple of weeks ago I was convinced I would die of a heart problem.

Anyone get this as well? Any ideas as to why this happens and how to break the cycle?

[skippy66]

Yes I'm exactly the same, I think the key is to not try and control your own health coz you can't,

think of it as being a back seat passenger in a car. You want to drive yourself, but it's impossible. Now you could fret about every little twist and turn on the road, or you could just accept that you can't influence the journey, sit back, relax and take in the view.

[Catalyst]

Mine change from one day to the next it seems sometimes! I have HA about cancers mainly, but which type changes all the time. Other things worry me too though. For example, I've been worried about having an aortic aneurysm this week. A few weeks ago, it was lymphoma. Then today, I've had eye pain & headaches and started worrying about brain tumours! :shrug:

Actually, the scope of my different HAs sort of helps me to realise how irrational I'm being. I haven't found anything to break the cycle myself I'm afraid, apart from just trying to talk myself around. This site helps though!

[Jyellowhat]

Hi
My HA is exactly the same, one wk its cancer the next its brain tumor. I can go 2/3 months and be HA free but it never lasts. My only saving grace is that i sleep well and i think to myself that if i had a serious issue or pain it would hurt at night time as well as day light hrs. But i do know that i have this for life and i have to accept it. But then i,m not a bad person and it is what makes me me so it can,t be all bad.
Also knowing that we are not alone with this illness helps a great deal.
x x x

[Lauz]

It is just the nature of HA.
Once you get over one thing you get hooked on another.
That's why I believe it is so important to work on your though patterned etc as I have been doing this lately and it has made all the difference, I am having days where I forget that I am going through all of this!!!
As soon as you think of something come into ur head about ur HA at the time, block it. Sing out loud, anything to take ur mind off it. The more you do this the easier it will be :)

[crazyhayz]

great response from Jyellowhat! If anything was seriously wrong, u wouldnt just feel it thrioughout the day, ud be literally UNABLE to sleep, or lacking sleep severely because of the 'condition' whatever it may be. I dont think u have anything wrong with u 1 bit, apart from HA like the rest of us lol. Dont worry hun, try CBT (amazing) and medication (Citalopram i find best but different from person to person), and definitelyhave to accept this is something u have to accept and live with until u are recovered. I have acepted it now which is why im much better, im 90 perecent there id say. I went shopping yesteerday and when i got in 2 hours later i thought sudenly 'omg i didnt get anxious atall!' it just never came into my mind!! Even when u THINK u arent thinking about anxiety, u ARE subconciously. The mind plays tricks remember! lol! And yes, things change coz u look for them lol, and u jump to conclusion when u get any kind of pains or funn feeling, again thats the HA lol.... its a vicious circle hun. And u WILL get better :) xxxx

[Anxiety Jim]

Hi my HA is always about having a heart attack / heart disease, does this mean that i am not suffering health anxiety because it doesn't change??? :S

[ShazAtko]

Yet again I feel so normal reading this! I worry about having a heart attack, brain tumour, stroke, breast cancer..........it changes on a daily basis! If I have a chest pain, it's my heart, a head pain, it's a stroke, forget a word, it's a tumour.

[Typer]

Mainly heart and the fear is brought on by heart palpitations. Oh and stroke I do worry about that a bit.

[Valka]

Oh god yes, it always has another trick up its sleeve, so to speak ... I'll get over one thing and then when I get stressed and anxious, something else will pop up and I'll become obsessed with that. Argh! I feel like it's constantly coming at me from different angles, although I'm doing okay at the moment.

[janet]

Thought I was alone in worrying about heart attacks and every time I go dizzy [which is frequent]Im convinced Im having a stroke.

[biscuitlover]

This sounds exactly like me. I always seem to forget what my worry was the week before unless I write it down, and when i read it a week on it seems so silly. Last week I was worried about a metallic taste in my mouth and then from no where it went when i started worrying about the pain in my chest when i walk. Now im involved in the worry of chest pain, the metallic taste worry has gone. Just shows how you mind focuses attentions and makes things worse. I'm not sure what the answer is though, everything i've tried doesn't work :wacko:

[blondie47]

I've dreamed up having: heart problems, AIDS, lung cancer, brain cancer, Lyme disease, bone cancer and cancer of the esophogus. I've reluctantly gone and had tests for all of these things over the years and everything came up clear. However, all that worry has taken its toll on me.

I've had kidney stones. When I had them, I knew it. There was no mistaking the pain I had from a real problem than the ones I dream of. I took myself to the doctor with no hesitation, unlike usual when I would have stressed over going for weeks and months.

Yet here I sit in the cold light of morning worried sick that I have pancreatic cancer. I haven't lost any weight, and 90 percent of pancreatic patients lose weight, but I've convinced myself I'm one of the 10 percent who hasn't. I'm having a scan done on Thursday which I don't know if I can go to because I'm so scared of hearing my life is ending. Its an awful, vicious circle. I would do anything to be free of it, but at 48 years old, I doubt I ever will. I do have months at a time where I'm free of it but it always seems to come back.

[DoogieJ]

My life time of health anxiety can be traced as

Menengitis > Heart problems > MND > Heart Problems > IBS > Acid Reflux > Aortic Aneurysm > Heart Problems > Progressive Bulbar Palsy > Heart Problems

I only seem to worry about one thing, and while I'm doing that the others fade away, but then one gets better so the others fight for a place.

[Clair]

I can't believe that I'm not alone in this... just yesterday i had a brain tumor, was going to have a heart attack, and had a DVT and clots in my lungs. When I went to bed I suddenly had breast cancer as I was sure I had some numbness in my left breast.

I think I always know deep down that it is my anxiety making think these things and that they aren't true but it's still scary nonetheless. I need to start living in the present but not sure how.

[penny09]

i agree with everyone i think! just as i feel better, or reassured my current ache or pain is nothing to worry about, i seem to find something new.. its seems neverending..

crazyhayz, you mentioned cbt - im have my first online cbt class in a few weeks, even though i dont think its specifically for health anxiety, do you think it will still help with it...?

thanks
x

[phattgal]

its nice to know im not alone.....im a little fed up of my family etc rolling their eyes whenever i mention i may have an ailment lol......will be interesting to know if an online cbt class does work penny keep me posted if you will. x

[penny09]

hey phattgal - u r certainly not alone! I know the feeling, I feel bad mentioning whats worrying me, but at the same the wanna get it off my chest.. I will do, it can't do any harm anyway! x

[crazyhayz]

yes penny it will hun, definitely. cbt concentrates on any type of anxiety. good luck x