Beta blocker fears health anxiety
Hi there,
Been great reading all your posts and knowing I'm not alone. I developed health anxiety a while ago and it's literally changed my life for the worse, I can't enjoy social events anymore without at least a few moments that I think I am dying,.
My problem is 2 fold...I can identify a lot of my symptoms as health anxiety but I also have GENUINE reasons for fears, I had a hospital admission about 7 years ago (way before I worried about anything!) for a posterial nose bleed, linked to high blood pressure, I am very overweight and drink and smoke....so yeah feel like a stroke waiting to happen! I have tried to make changes but since this anxiety took over my life a year ago these things are harder to give up as they relieve the tension!!
My new gp has been great but despite showing him a weeks worth of scarily high BP results he is convinced it's anxiety related (I have developed a phobia or doctors and being hospitalised and physically shake in his office but these readings were taken at home when calm) he insists that you are never truly calm when suffering from anxiety and is very reluctant to prescribe front line bp meds (after the hospital incident my bp at my surgery a few days later was perfect) but my ankles swell after sitting down all day, go down overnight and not at all at weekends. I told him this and he said it's water retention and nothing to worry about, probably related to the extra weight I'm carrying, and didn't prescribe a diuretic! I have convinced myself I have heart failure. I had a full battery of tests including an ECG liver and kidney function last year and All came back fine, but I do get breathless climbing stairs (another phobia I now have) but could just be normal because I'm out of shape...
Anyway, he said propananol 80mg slow release will help bp
And anxiety, I've had them for a week and too scared to take them. What if my bp is normal when I'm
Not anxious and I send my heart rate too low? Also for my mind a couple of glasses of wine a night has become something I need, please no judgement I know that's not healthy but will I be okay to keep doing that?
Just wondered do you think I should take these and if they will help?
It was interesting at the surgery, I wanted bp meds which he refused, he offered anti anxiety meds which i refused and we ended up on the propanalol 80mg. I am 32 by the way