Mid life crisis?
OK I don't know where this is going to go or whether a mid life crisis even exists or if it's a myth. I turned 54 in June and wasn't in the least bothered, at least I mean that it didn't really register. But after some thinking I'm wondering if it would explain why I've developed health anxiety.
My anxiety diagnosis has always been GAD and social. There has often been some depression lurking but not in recent years, especially after being put on a combination of mirtazapine/venlafaxine. But yesterday after navigating Asda on my own I came home, did some housework and started reading the paper where I read about ex-footballer Tony Cottee having a stroke. He's apparently ok but I panicked because I read he is 54 too. So I started obsessing about the same thing happening to me, last week it was throat cancer.
Then I realised that all my episodes of health anxiety have come since I turned 50. Is this a natural progression? Logic would suggest yes, as apparently people with health anxiety often have a pre-existing anxiety disorder, so I've read anyway. Or maybe its a simple case of me having too much time on my hands. The irony is that over the last year I've kept up a brisk walking routine, have lost weight and am probably fitter than I've been in the last 10 years?!
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'It was a wedding ring, destined to be found in a cheap hotel, lost in a kitchen sink, or thrown in a wishing well' - Marillion, Clutching at Straws, 1987