Are these symptoms real?

[simon68]

Hi everybody,

In the last few months I have visited my GP so many times for lots of different ailments.

I have digestion problems, stomach pains, back pain, groin pain, constipation, headaches, tiredness and high blood pressure.

All of the above symptoms have caused me to worry about my health.
I constantly think about cancer, strokes and heart disease. It seems these thoughts take over my mind.

To be fair my GP has been great. I have had scans on my groin and stomach, which found little problems. I have had all the blood tests, FBC, liver, kidney etc. All came back as normal. So why do I feel so bad some days?

Strangely, the only thing I haven't spoken to my GP about is the panic attacks and night time panic. I think this is because he will want me to go on anti depressants and I'm scared of how I will feel once I take them.

Am I making myself feel this way? Is it all Anxiety? Or stress?

Does anybody else feel this way? I don't know what to do next?

Thanks for reading this!

[midgey]

Hi Simon,
Yes, in a short answer, you can make yourself feel this way. I have. Not the same symptoms but others which have been put down to anxiety such as pains in my chest, shortness of breath, headaches, dizziness. I too have had loads of tests, scans and blood tests. They have found a couple of things wrong but nothing life threatening. When we focus on our symptoms it fuels them until we have a panic. As hard as it is can you try some self help by doing relaxation? I have struggled for 2 years with this anxiety and have just started on medication as Ive got to the stage where it has taken over my life. I am having counselling which has helped, maybe you could speak to your GP about this? You may find that your GP is more sympathetic than you think. What have you tried? Michelle :)

[ditzygirl]

Dear Simon

You poor thing. Stress, anxiety and panic will make you feel bad. Your body is in a high state of alert and we are not meant to be like that for long periods of time. Hence the ailments.

Sounds like you have a great GP, go and talk to him/her. They are very used to people like all of us who suffer. They will respect your wish not to take anti depressants too.

However, in my experience and believe me i have plenty of that, antidepressants can be a huge help. The drugs available these days are very different and whilst some of the side effects can be unpleasant the long term benefit far outways not taking them IMO.

Take some time to have a look on here at citalopram, sertraline, prozac, htey are just some to the SSRI's we are using. There are some positive posts and some negative posts. Each drug effects everyone differently.

Taking drugs will never make you anxiety free but they will allow you to manage it, you may also without knowing it be a little depressed. This is a chemical imbalance which can easily be improved with drug help.

In the long term anxiety can be improved by exercise, diet, meditation etc. but you need to be in the right frame of mind to do this and if drugs help you get to that point then maybe worth considering.

Go and discuss your feelings with your GP, even just finally admitting how you are really feeling takes guts, BUT I can't tell you how relieved you will feel when you have shared all this with your GP.

Hope this kinda makes sense and help.

In the meantime we are here for you anytime.

Happy new year to you and your familyxx

[sarah jayne]

wot u describe sounds like what i have and am sill going through over the past year i seem to have had every anxiety symptom, headaches, aches and pains, palpitations, feeling sick, trembling, chest pain, stomach problems, the list goes on.... at the moment im sat here woth a headache and feel very weak and lightheaded, last night i was awake all night feeling sick it seems to be neverending but the best thing i did was start on prozac in june, its helped alot with my anxiety i still have the symptoms but dont feel anxious over them like i used to my doctors brilliant hes even letting m have a 24 hour heart monitor to put my mind at rest.

[simon68]

Many thanks for your replies Midgey, Ditzygirl and Sarah Jayne....
I have read these over and over.

Midgey-the more I think about it the more I think I'm making myself worse! I try to relax but due to work and home life I don't get much opportunity! I'd love to see a counsellor but will I have to pay? :weep:

Ditzygirl-happy new year to you and your family too :) I may have to try the anti depressants at some point. I drive for a living though and I don't need side effects! But I guess I may have to make sacrifices!

Sarah Jayne- horrible symptoms aren't they, especially the palpitations. I had the 24 hour monitor two years ago and it showed to many beats but they said it was normal??!! Was so scary though! Wish I had the courage to start tablets, you rock girl!! I admire you......

take care all of you,

much love!!

[AllInMyHead]

Hi Simon,

I agree with you about not wanting to take anti-depressants. I saw a locum GP just before Christmas because I wasn't sleeping and it was driving me to my wits end. She prescribed diazepam. I put them in the medicine cabinet, ignored them and bought some lavendar oil and soon felt much better. Anyway, my point is, even if they prescribe them, you don't have to take them. You could always seek a second opinion first and decide if you really want to take them.

You should definitely investigate counselling and CBT in your area. You might not even have to go through the GP. I'm in Leeds and I can get CBT for free without a GP referral, but I only found that out after a bit of digging. I started by googling it and took it from there. Otherwise I would speak to your GP because you might not have to pay if you can get a referral.

[midgey]

Hi Simon,


In my area like many, funding for mental health services has been cut drastically so I would need a referral from the GP for CBT and counselling. It is usually limited to 12 sessions for counselling and the CBT course is online. My areas services are supplied by MIND......However, It's not the same in all areas. I pay for my counselling but it is provided by a local christian charity ( you don't have to be christian to access it) and I pay them by direct debit £30 a month. It is usualy much more expensive than that !!

I would also look at self help books.....look on amazon under anxiety. Claire Weeks book is said to be good....I've just ordered the CD so I can put it on my IPod. I've also got about 5 others which vary in their benefit.

There is also a good thing in the Daily Mail over this week from Paul McKenna which is from his book "I can make you happy". There are a few good bits you could access online. I've blu tacked the articles to my kitchen cupboard !!

Mindfulness is also something that is effective...look that up. Its just you need to be really commited to do it every day.

Re: medication. I completely understand what you say about meds. I tried everything before I started believe me. I have been on them for 4 weeks now. I tried herbal stuff, self help books, counselling etc etc......but I found it always comes back and in my case it was worse, so I got to the stage where I actually wanted to take a tablet if it would make it all go away......although I am continuing with all the other stuff above as medication is never a quick fix.

Anyway, all the best and let us know how u are getting on.