My HA journey. How about you?

[Sphincterclench]

I need to purge....

First 40 years of my life I thought I was 10 foot tall and bulletproof. 40 seems to have done something to me and I started having oddball issues, dental issues, weight gain, change in sleeping patterns.

its like some light switch turned on and all of a sudden I realized I was not only mortal but normal, frail and quite possibly dying. I went from one extreme to another.

How I decide now what to take to the GP and what to ignore is basically the impact it has on my life. If its PAIN then certainly we go to the Dr.

BUT.....that's not for all pain.

I get some random pains that if they persist more than a few days (rarely) then we think about going to the Dr but 99% of the time we just ignore those.

I have this lump on my left lower rib cage that extends a little below the ribs and is sausage shaped, I fret over that for about a month before taking it to the Dr and was diagnosed with a "fat pad"....it bothered me more and more and finally got an ultrasound that didn't show anything one way or the other so still don't officially know what it is but 18 months later its the same size and place so I can rationalize that it must not be anything sinister or I would surely have progressed some.

finally after literally just existing for 18 months I went to a psychiatrist, got on some medications and regained some mental control. I have an appointment to start some kind of CBT and see if I can reclaim even more...

but until then, the struggle continues one day at a time.

How about you? how did you end up here?

[Mummybee]

I had kids, that's how I ended up here.
When my baby girl turned one, I developed health anxiety, because I know the worst thing that could happen to them would be loosing me. It physically makes me feel sick thinking of leaving them motherless.
So I struggle from day to day wondering what's killing me. It's been many things so far. I have some real symptoms, but all only since my HA kicked in.
I'm on a constant loop of
"Is this a coincidence and I'm sick because I fear it? Or am I fearful of it because there really is something deadly killing me"
Round and round and round

[Sphincterclench]

Amen.

[Mel_82]

Last year I had a really bad 'bout of palpitations... they lasted about 4 hours and sent me to the doctor.

Ever since then I've been terrified that it will happen again, or that I'm going to develop heart disease or basically just die of heart failure.

I have chest pains often now, probably from anxiety, maybe heartburn. Regardless my health is on my mind every waking hour.
I can't get an appointment with my new family doctor until March 22, so I've used this place to help me remain somewhat sane.