What triggered your Health Anxiety?

[70sgirl]

Hi all,

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced my HA was triggered by certain traumatic events that happened to people in my life. I NEVER worried about my health before this time.

For me that dark time was 2.5 years ago. 3 young women I knew very well all got diagnosed with cancer - all within 2 months of each other. Interestingly enough their cancers are the exact cancers I find I've had worries about for myself - those being brain, breast and bowel cancer. I have managed to overcome my brain tumour and breast cancer scares, but now working through my fear of bowel cancer.

What trigger,s if any, have you guys had?

[Agadch]

Hi 70sgirl. I've had general anxiety for as long as I can remember but I was never so anxious about my health. My HA was triggered similarly to yours. An aunt of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer and my grandfather died of lung cancer, both within a couple of months of each other. I think when these things happen to people close to us it makes everything more real and makes you realise that these horrible things can happen to anyone.

[ledzepp94]

Probably the constant nagging symptoms I have and the the imagery my brain comes up with. How were you able to come over the 2 fears?

[70sgirl]

Probably the constant nagging symptoms I have and the the imagery my brain comes up with. How were you able to come over the 2 fears?

I guess just getting tests done, and time both helped a lot.

For the brain tumour scare 2 doctors did tests on me - no scans or anything though. Also research - on the probability of getting a brain tumour at my age (very very low!) - also helped a lot. I often think about what my friends symptoms were and decided my 'symptoms' didn't compare to hers at all.

Re breast cancer - I had a lump so got an ultrasound done and all was fine. That alone nearly erased my fear - but also finding out how successful breast cancer treatments are these days also helped. My friend who had breast cancer is doing very well!

[ledzepp94]

I would think bowel cancer is just as rare...how old are you if you don't mind me asking?

[70sgirl]

Hi 70sgirl. I've had general anxiety for as long as I can remember but I was never so anxious about my health. My HA was triggered similarly to yours. An aunt of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer and my grandfather died of lung cancer, both within a couple of months of each other. I think when these things happen to people close to us it makes everything more real and makes you realise that these horrible things can happen to anyone.

Very interesting indeed that your trigger is so similar to mine. I'm sorry about your grandpa. The loss of a loved one has a huge effect on us and I'm convinced this (the tragic loss of the 2 other women) has also contributed greatly to my anxiety.

---------- Post added at 21:20 ---------- Previous post was at 21:17 ----------

I would think bowel cancer is just as rare...how old are you if you don't mind me asking?

I'm sure you're right - I certainly hope so! I'm 34. My aunt (one of the woman I just talked about) was only 40. However it was definitely in her family.

[Agadch]

Thank you and I'm also very sorry to hear of the loss of those two women, its very unfortunate. I'm glad to hear that your friend with breast cancer is doing so well

[70sgirl]

Thanks, I appreciate it. I keep reminding myself that is WAS unfortunate - the doctors etc diagnosing them were very surprised at their ages etc. A few very rare diagnosis' that just unfortunately all just came at the same time.

[eevee]

For me, I think it's the death of my father. I've always been a worrier in general, but I was never so scared of being sick. Then my dad died of a heart attack, very sudden and caught me (and the whole family) off guard.

Even now it still feels surreal. Like, it's something that doesn't happen to *me*, to *my* family. But it happened. So maybe now I feel like that could happen to **me** too?

Sucks.

[Presto]

Hi I'm new to this forum, I find this all abit daunting but very reassuring that so many others experience this anxiety as well as me. I thought I was going crazy when it all started. My started after the birth of my 3 rd daughter 7 months ago, three days after giving birth I had a funny turn at home with me feeling like I was dying, I kept feeling like I was drifting away, my body started to go stiff and I couldn't move, i was as white as a ghost apparently. I really felt like something awful was happening to me. I sat next to my mum and saw my children and I said you need to help me I can't stay awake, my body was shaking so much I was terrified. I could hear my kids and I could see the panic in the room but I couldn't move or talk very well, I instantly thought I was having a stroke, an ambulance came and he told that my heart rate was extremely high and I need to be calm and breath properly, I started to feel better knowing a medical person was with me and he reassured me he didn't think anything major was happening to me. I was taken to hospital where immediately a team of drs were straight on the case helping me, all these drs in my room was very daunting, I had my 3 day old baby with me whom I was breast feeding, and my mum and parter, they looked panicked and that made me panic more, I was having all these tests done and they told me they wasn't sure if I had had. Stoke or maybe a clot on the brain which can happen very rarely after giving birth, never in my life had I expected any of this to happen, I was suppose to be enjoying my new baby. I had a cat scan and couldn't breast feed after because of the dye they put in my body, I was taken to the stroke ward where I had my own room and my baby and partner could stay with me. Being there made me feel anxious. I couldn't eat sleep, felt like I was flying kept shaking, the drs were fantastic at reassuring me and the nurses kept a close eye on me the whole time, my results came that night and I was given the all clear, they couldn't find anything wrong with me however they wanted to keep me and keep an eye on me for a couple of days. It was a complete ordeal, the man next door to me was dying and he cried out in the night all the time, It petrified me, I thought so awful for the poor man but hearing him made me worse, after two nights and my heart rate gone down and my sugar levels back to normal levels I could go home, I was relieved and so happy but shaken to the core that things could've been so different. I was seen by a neuro surgeon who gave me an examination and couldn't find any cause as to why this all happened, she looked at all my scans in detail which showed nothing. Her explain action was that my body was very tired from having a long labour, I hadn't slept much and eAten much was caused my body to feel exhausted, I was going to faint but instead I panicked and sent my body into shock which caused me neurological symptoms. It all sounds like that was the case but the aftermath of it all has left me today with terrible health anxiety, at the beginnings thought I had something seriously wrong with me, I googled every symptom and of course that made me worse, I checked my body every day looking in the mirror, the more stressed I got the more physical symptoms I got and it just kept spirally more and more out if control. it escalated more and more and I become someone I didn't recognise, I didn't believe anyone that this was anxiety and I become a very upset and angry person, it wasn't until I read about anxiety health anxiety I realised that I was reading a description of myself, for the first time in months I saw what was happening, I went to my drs and that was when I was diagnosed with health anxiety. Sorry I've gone on, I didn't realise I was going to write this much . And thankyou if you read till the end. So that's how it all started for me, and 7 months down the line every day is different and every day i challenge it. With cbt I'm working my way back to being me again,