Just wanted to say how much I value the advice on this website. I suffer from anxiety occasionally, mainly health anxiety, and I came across the website by chance. I googled Terrified of Dying of Cancer as this is one of my triggers and came across a thread which was eye opening. It was such a relief yet very upsetting to realise I was a hypochondriac, even if I feel my fears are completely justified. Hypochondria seems to be one of these big social jokes that no one takes seriously or they feel comfortable joking about and to have my fears that friends/drs/family weren't taking my health concerns as seriously as I was, was quite upsetting and painful. I also had my first panic attack the other day in A&E (I was actually told to go because I had chest pains which luckily turned out to be gastritis and then collapsed in the que having a very unpleasant attack where my arms seized up and I was in agonising pins and needles) which was a huge shock but it's sort of pushed me in the direction of getting help. I also feel quite guilty now. I don't like the idea of taking health care facilities away from someone who might really need it.
I had therapy last year for anxiety and paranoia which I found very helpful but we didn't dig deep enough to discover my main anxiety trigger, which is now very obviously health related, so this is something I'm looking forward to working on and addressing so I can be mentally healthy again- because no matter how sick I feel it's very unlikely I have or the doctors have missed cancer, diabetes, mnd, angina, stds, thyroid problems and bilharzi. And it's getting pretty damn intrusive worrying about it.
In short I've always been a bit of a worrier, more so after having children, but things got very black after it was found I had severe precancerous cervical cells during a routine smear test which basically scared the poo out of me. My anxiety was further enhanced by the fact I was not HPV positive (which is 99% the cause of precancerous cells) so I felt like a freak who had mysteriously gotten sick and not only did current medical advice not apply to me I felt unpredictable and alone. During this I also had a very invasive wisdom tooth extraction which damaged my throat and I was left in absolute agony for weeks with a massive tear and infection (misdiagnosed as tonsillitis) as nobody took my pain seriously. My dentist actually hugged me when he saw me because he felt so bad for me and it left me essentially not trusting doctors which is further fuel to the fire- not only do I feel like my health is unusual and doesn't demonstrate normal predictable behaviour but I feel like doctors neglect and patronise me.
Some recent health problems have blown up into all sorts of stress-induced symptoms and fears but at least I've acknowledged my health anxiety now and I can begin to move on. I've begun applying coping techniques recommended here along with my own methods and I'm feeling more stable again
Anyway, hope to meet you all soon and deal with these problems in a good way, I also hope I can help others.
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