What we THOUGHT we had excercise. Quite helpful I think.

[ElectricAlice]

Well I saw this on another anxiety forum and I really thought the idea was good. Basically we each list what we thought we had and what was actually the case. It shows us how often we catastrophise.

I'm not quite managing to understand my breast concern, I'm terrfied about that, but here's my list.


Leg pain - thought it was DVT - worry 10/10 - went to A&E twice and DR's 4 times. - it turned out to actually be muscle pain. And as soon as I stopped paying attention to the pain after a week it disappeared.

Pain between shoulder blades - worry 9/10 thought I was going to have a heart attack - turned out to be indigestion and I burped a lot.

Red dots on arms - worried what they were - Worry 6/10 - dr said nothing to worry about and just normal skin pigmentation.

Rapid heart beat & palpitations - worries heart problem - worry 10/10 - had 2 ECGs and my heart listened to by dr. - anxiety causes both these things.


I hope this is somehow helpful. Please post your old worries too, maybe we can all just realise we're ok :)

[MVP123]

When I was first hit by the demon anxiety my main worry was brain tumour, as I had terrible headaches, dizziness, pressure. I went to the docs about 6 times in a few weeks for this and to A and E twice I think. Turned out it was all down to tension and anxiety, but at the time it felt like I was dying! Since my HA has returned in the last month I have had:
E-Coli/Stomach Ulcer-worry 9/10, had black tarry diarrheoa, turned out to be a 24 hour bug and it was black cause I had an iron tablet.
Blood Clot-worry 10/10, muscle in the back of my left calf started hurting, dashed off to the ooh docsn did all the tests, they said it was muscle tension.
Sciatica-worry 8/10, not worried about the sciatica itself, but what is causing it, thinking it is a tumour pressing on a nerve, not had tests or anything but had it for more than 2 years now so imy rational thinking has told me it can't be anything deadly or I would know by now.
Ovarian cancer-worry 10/10, have pressure on my bladder and frequent urination.
Bladder cancer-worry 10/10 same as above. Haven't had any tests for the last 2 worries but had blood tests a couple of weeks ago and was all normal so gotta believe they would have picked something up, I cannot put myself through any more tests, when I have to believe that I have just got a simple bladder irritation which can be caused by dozens of reasons x

[LucyLiz]

my anxiety started with a brain tumor worry, i'll never forget it... started with one faiting episode to numbness in hand, head pressure, twtiches... thought my death was imminent.. just seemed to come from no where. Had an MRI in the end which I thought was the end of it. Since then i've had bone cancer, skin cancer, clots, brain hemorrhage, ovarian cancer, lymphoma (quite a popular choice for my worries as the symptoms are so bloody broad & heart issues (my worst worry)... had a series of tests of late all of which came back normal so trying to manage with a therapist & diazapam for emergencies. rules my life.