Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: Sick, sick, sick of health anxiety and doctors....

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    95

    Sick, sick, sick of health anxiety and doctors....

    Hello all

    I have a terrible fear of going to the doctors, but made myself in November because I was having a horrible lump in the throat feeling, my voice deepening and weakening and burping up food (sorry). She said it was classic GERD, although I don't have heartburn. To cut a long story short I tried 2 different antacids which helped with the regurgitation but left me with awful upper abdominal pain that still comes and goes. The lump in the throat feeling has moved to right side only, just above my voice box.

    I am fed up because I have been diagnosed with acid reflux with no acid and the stomach pain diagnosed with gallstones despite no right sided pain and pain doesn't follow after fatty foods. I have never had my throat examined. I know HA means you aren't satisfied with a simple basic diagnosis but I think I would accept it if I had symptoms that made sense.

    The Easter holidays are coming up and I want to relax and enjoy them with my children, not be sitting there paralysed with fear because I feel like I'm not being listened to or examined quickly enough.....

    Sorry for the rant, just can't shake the fear this evening.
    Wishing peace of mind to us all
    X

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    741

    Re: Sick, sick, sick of health anxiety and doctors....

    Totally understand where you're coming from. I know that lump in throat issues can be caused by anxiety too. I had a horrible one in my throat for weeks just recently and it made me feel like I was going to be sick or cry. I talked to my counsellor about it and she said that I was probably focussing my attention on it too much and she gave me some CBT techniques to try with it. I have felt a definitely improvement over the last 2 weeks. Is there anyway you could train yourself to stop worrying about the feeling you having in your throat? Like, when you notice it, could you tell yourself that it's anxiety related and not going to hurt you and remind yourself that you have pursued all the right avenues and if it was something else, they would have picked it up? I know how hard it is, but you never know, it might work.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    95

    Re: Sick, sick, sick of health anxiety and doctors....

    Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I would love to be able to put it out of my mind and see if it disappears, my husband would probably tell me to do some housework! It definitely gets worse when I think about it. If it was in the middle I think I could cope with it a bit better but as usual my symptoms don't follow a 'normal' problem.

    I can't believe I have gone from being fine in August to feeling like everything has fallen apart. I guess if it was anything serious I would feel much worse by now!

    Good luck with CBT, it sounds like it is working for you.
    Xx

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Posts
    1,316

    Re: Sick, sick, sick of health anxiety and doctors....

    Quote Originally Posted by Twinsmummy View Post
    Hello all

    I have a terrible fear of going to the doctors, but made myself in November because I was having a horrible lump in the throat feeling, my voice deepening and weakening and burping up food (sorry). She said it was classic GERD, although I don't have heartburn. To cut a long story short I tried 2 different antacids which helped with the regurgitation but left me with awful upper abdominal pain that still comes and goes. The lump in the throat feeling has moved to right side only, just above my voice box.

    I am fed up because I have been diagnosed with acid reflux with no acid and the stomach pain diagnosed with gallstones despite no right sided pain and pain doesn't follow after fatty foods. I have never had my throat examined. I know HA means you aren't satisfied with a simple basic diagnosis but I think I would accept it if I had symptoms that made sense.

    The Easter holidays are coming up and I want to relax and enjoy them with my children, not be sitting there paralysed with fear because I feel like I'm not being listened to or examined quickly enough.....

    Sorry for the rant, just can't shake the fear this evening.
    Wishing peace of mind to us all
    X
    I too have acid reflux but I almost never get heartburn, it's not really a symptom for me! I was surprised with that diagnosis but it was correct. When it flares up I often get that lump in my throat sensation too, it's really unpleasant. Also the burping up food, some stomach pain, wheezing (because the acid gets into my lungs) and heart palpitations.

    I was put on omeprazole (this is a PPI drug that stops your stomach producing much acid) but it still didn't really take away all of my symptoms, so I was sent to the gastro clinic in the hospital.

    There they did a gastroscopy and found I had slight gastritis (inflammation in my stomach), a hiatal hernia (the top of the stomach doesn't quite close properly so it's much easier for acid to get out) and also a h pylori infection which made the reflux & gastritis a lot worse.

    All of these problems are easily managed with some drug treatment and diet and lifestyle changes. Stress/anxiety makes them a lot worse.

    So if you've found that the antacid isn't working for you then go back to your doctor and tell them that. Sometimes an antacid isn't enough to solve the problem.

    You might also want to look at your diet to see if youre eating anything that could make your reflux worse, there's plenty of information about this online if you look around, just google an acid reflux diet.

    Don't be so stressed about going to your doctor, they're there to help you and you deserve to have a proper solution to your problems x

    You might also want to look at some methods to help reduce your anxiety levels, it will really help how you feel. What are you currently doing to help yourself out?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    95

    Re: Sick, sick, sick of health anxiety and doctors....

    Thank you for your reply, I really appreciate it. I guess part of HA is not being able to accept a straight forward diagnosis. I think my GP freaked me out because he said the omezoprole and lansoprazole would have worked if it was acid or an ulcer. He suggested it was something to do with my pancreas - you can imagine what that did to my HA!!

    My method of coping with stress is to sit and dwell on everything, google frantically for answers and either snap at or ignore my family. Guess I should rethink that, lol!

    I am so tired of worrying, but I'm so scared that I will be one of those awful "if only the doctors had put the pieces together first" stories.

    Thank you again for your reply
    X

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Posts
    95

    Re: Sick, sick, sick of health anxiety and doctors....

    I too have recently started having that lump in the throat feeling. It's about a cm or so above where my collar bones would meet and sometimes I have that sore throat feeling like when you're trying not to cry, if that makes sense! I been getting mild chest pains just to the left or right of the middle of my chest and also sore ribs. Does this sound like what you guys have? I have been wondering what it is!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    95

    Re: Sick, sick, sick of health anxiety and doctors....

    Hi Lily

    I believe that tight feeling might be a spasm (see the following link), but I'm not sure what the aching could be. Does your throat get worse as the day goes on or get better when you are distracted, if so it could be the following:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricopharyngeal_spasm

    I hope that helps a bit.
    X

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Can anxiety about being sick actually make you sick?....
    By Aaron_southcoast in forum General Anxiety / Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 29-10-12, 18:48
  2. Sick sick every single time I eat
    By sallad in forum Panic / Panic Attacks
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 22-07-12, 06:22
  3. sick of my health anxiety!
    By louise0501 in forum Health Anxiety
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 22-08-10, 17:06
  4. Replies: 1
    Last Post: 17-03-10, 00:08
  5. sick of health anxiety to do with thyroid cancer
    By benmacan in forum Health Anxiety
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 04-05-08, 13:34

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •