Been a tough week

[Noworryjonny]

So I’ve been off a week and I’ve stuck to it, I’ve had a few good days but some very bad days and today is a bad day sadly.

I’ve been at work all week and stayed at work, I’ve been eating and drinking as usual and now 6 weeks into 150mg on sertraline.

Today my stomach kills, really bad cramps and acid reflux.

I can’t say staying off here as done much good, but I certainly wouldn’t say I’ve missed it either.

I just feel very lost at the minute and fed up


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[MJunderway]

Sorry to hear you are struggling at the moment. I saw your other posts as I was combing through the IBS threads last night. I'm on the forum because my IBS kicked up again. I get panicked when symptoms either increase, show up at seemingly random times, etc. I don't know if this would be helpful to you but I do the following to help manage my HA.

I try hard to avoid catastrophic thinking (always ultimate worst case scenario) or magical thinking (this random pain is connected to another random symptom) when I get in a panicked frame of mind. I reserve my visits to the forum only for the times when a new symptom kicks, an old one comes back, or I'm waiting for test results. And I allow myself to look for a certain amount of time and then I leave the site. As long as I stick to those parameters, I can keep my HA fears in check. I used to be obsessed with looking up symptoms and in the past often spent hours at a stretch constantly looking up things online to reassure me.

Finding this forum helped greatly with breaking away from the obsessive googling of symptoms. I can see that there are others who also jump to worst case scenario thinking and it makes me feel less like an ocd weirdo. I also have gotten to a point where I allow myself to accept test results and doctor's opinions (this was not the case for most of my life).

When actual physical symptoms do show up, I keep track of them to see if they are related to stress (physical, mental, or for me, as a woman, hormonal). I do deep breathing everyday as part of a pain derived from stress management technique. I've used deep breathing to help with pain management for about 7 years now and while it's not a miracle cure, it helps me in in so many other ways. I also let my husband and son know when I am not feeling great and they are both pretty supportive.

Do you have strategies in place to keep you from falling too low? Do you recognize when you are headed downwards? Who is the best person in your life that can offer you peace of mind when you aren't doing well? Part of me thinks that people with HA or have somatic forms of anxiety are generally very sensitive people who don't have consistent or solid self-care strategies in place. Even with all that I listed above, I still fall into bad spots at least once a month. But they are way less frequent than they have been in the past and definitely do not last as long.

I hope you are already in a better frame of mind and I hope what I shared above was helpful in some way.

[kah]

Sorry to hear you are struggling at the moment. I saw your other posts as I was combing through the IBS threads last night. I'm on the forum because my IBS kicked up again. I get panicked when symptoms either increase, show up at seemingly random times, etc. I don't know if this would be helpful to you but I do the following to help manage my HA.

I try hard to avoid catastrophic thinking (always ultimate worst case scenario) or magical thinking (this random pain is connected to another random symptom) when I get in a panicked frame of mind. I reserve my visits to the forum only for the times when a new symptom kicks, an old one comes back, or I'm waiting for test results. And I allow myself to look for a certain amount of time and then I leave the site. As long as I stick to those parameters, I can keep my HA fears in check. I used to be obsessed with looking up symptoms and in the past often spent hours at a stretch constantly looking up things online to reassure me.

Finding this forum helped greatly with breaking away from the obsessive googling of symptoms. I can see that there are others who also jump to worst case scenario thinking and it makes me feel less like an ocd weirdo. I also have gotten to a point where I allow myself to accept test results and doctor's opinions (this was not the case for most of my life).

When actual physical symptoms do show up, I keep track of them to see if they are related to stress (physical, mental, or for me, as a woman, hormonal). I do deep breathing everyday as part of a pain derived from stress management technique. I've used deep breathing to help with pain management for about 7 years now and while it's not a miracle cure, it helps me in in so many other ways. I also let my husband and son know when I am not feeling great and they are both pretty supportive.

Do you have strategies in place to keep you from falling too low? Do you recognize when you are headed downwards? Who is the best person in your life that can offer you peace of mind when you aren't doing well? Part of me thinks that people with HA or have somatic forms of anxiety are generally very sensitive people who don't have consistent or solid self-care strategies in place. Even with all that I listed above, I still fall into bad spots at least once a month. But they are way less frequent than they have been in the past and definitely do not last as long.

I hope you are already in a better frame of mind and I hope what I shared above was helpful in some way.

your post is inspiring, such a logical way of dealing with anxiety when it rears its ugly head! I'm going to write down those things you suggest, as I do all of the things you mention especially the magical thinking (never heard it called that before...brilliant!) and I just hope they can help me too. Thanks for sharing, a lot of people will appreciate it xxxx

[MJunderway]

your post is inspiring, such a logical way of dealing with anxiety when it rears its ugly head! I'm going to write down those things you suggest, as I do all of the things you mention especially the magical thinking (never heard it called that before...brilliant!) and I just hope they can help me too. Thanks for sharing, a lot of people will appreciate it xxxx

Thanks Kah! Trust me when I say that it is a work in progress. I've had anxiety and OCD since childhood. It's been a long road and I still regularly struggle but I can see that it is much, much better than before. Can't take credit for magical thinking but it really is a prefect description of OCD thoughts. Our need to make sense of things or to have greater meaning is what makes us amazing creatures but it can go off the rails so easily. Glad my post was of some help!

[pulisa]

Sorry to hear you are struggling at the moment. I saw your other posts as I was combing through the IBS threads last night. I'm on the forum because my IBS kicked up again. I get panicked when symptoms either increase, show up at seemingly random times, etc. I don't know if this would be helpful to you but I do the following to help manage my HA.

I try hard to avoid catastrophic thinking (always ultimate worst case scenario) or magical thinking (this random pain is connected to another random symptom) when I get in a panicked frame of mind. I reserve my visits to the forum only for the times when a new symptom kicks, an old one comes back, or I'm waiting for test results. And I allow myself to look for a certain amount of time and then I leave the site. As long as I stick to those parameters, I can keep my HA fears in check. I used to be obsessed with looking up symptoms and in the past often spent hours at a stretch constantly looking up things online to reassure me.

Finding this forum helped greatly with breaking away from the obsessive googling of symptoms. I can see that there are others who also jump to worst case scenario thinking and it makes me feel less like an ocd weirdo. I also have gotten to a point where I allow myself to accept test results and doctor's opinions (this was not the case for most of my life).

When actual physical symptoms do show up, I keep track of them to see if they are related to stress (physical, mental, or for me, as a woman, hormonal). I do deep breathing everyday as part of a pain derived from stress management technique. I've used deep breathing to help with pain management for about 7 years now and while it's not a miracle cure, it helps me in in so many other ways. I also let my husband and son know when I am not feeling great and they are both pretty supportive.

Do you have strategies in place to keep you from falling too low? Do you recognize when you are headed downwards? Who is the best person in your life that can offer you peace of mind when you aren't doing well? Part of me thinks that people with HA or have somatic forms of anxiety are generally very sensitive people who don't have consistent or solid self-care strategies in place. Even with all that I listed above, I still fall into bad spots at least once a month. But they are way less frequent than they have been in the past and definitely do not last as long.

I hope you are already in a better frame of mind and I hope what I shared above was helpful in some way.

You've barely acknowledged this extremely insightful, helpful and hugely kind post from MJ, Jonny. You are still just focusing on yourself and what you still perceive to be sinister symptoms despite them being nothing more than a sign of a benign condition heavily linked to anxiety. You did well not to post but all you are doing now is more of the same....reassurance seeking under the guise of "I'm trying my hardest but this is due to anxiety, right?". If you don't believe your anxiety diagnosis why bother posting on here at all? You aren't accepting anyone's advice/interpretation of your condition.

[Noworryjonny]

Thank you it was helpful, I’m just getting fed up of the worrying about things,

I wish I could accept my test results and docs but it’s so hard too.

My family try to support me as much as possible and I found certain people on here made me feel silly and pathetic but some people like you and carys are brilliant

I was terrified I had crohns but blood tests and stool sample later the doc said no....why can’t I believe it


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[Fishmanpa]

So I’ve been off a week and I’ve stuck to it

You do realize that your profile shows when you're logged on and the last date you were? Kudos for not posting for reassurance though

Positive thoughts

[Noworryjonny]

You do realize that your profile shows when you're logged on and the last date you were? Kudos for not posting for reassurance though

Positive thoughts

Typical you would be the one to post something sarcastic or degrading


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[ankietyjoe]

You do realize that your profile shows when you're logged on and the last date you were? Kudos for not posting for reassurance though

Positive thoughts

Sometimes, it's like you try and be an ass. There was no need for that, and he did refrain from posting, which I applaud.

Jonny, you may find that you not posting here for reassurance has longer lasting benefits than an immediate 'cure' of your issues. Try and remember that you spent a long time practicing bad habits and it takes a long time to reverse those habits. Try and roll with the stomach symptoms, they are part and parcel of an anxiety condition and/or stress. I haven't said anything about this before, but I've had a horrendous bout of IBS the last couple of months due to stress at home. My symptoms include pain, bloating, loose stools, stomach gurgling, nausea and a general sense of 'unease' around the mid section. But, you can just ignore it and get on with things, which is what I have learned to do over the last few years. They're just symptoms, and it's your reaction to them that is the problem, not the symptoms themselves.

[Noworryjonny]

Thanks joe means a lot, they have certainly improved a bit but today it’s the stomach cramps and excess wind like I’m burping like mad, I’m meant to go see Ed Sheehan tomorrow but I’m so anxious


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