Wonderful post, Nora....and so very true. You have done so well! This sounds like a platitude but i know how hard it is to get a grip on HA and it's not by coming on here posting symptoms and looking for responses.Originally Posted by NoraB
Hi pb, I feel for you, I really do. Health anxiety took me into a nervous breakdown - and the mind will take you to places you don't ever want to be, trust me. I was like you - hyper focused on every symptom and mistaking the normal functioning of my body to be something life threatening. It was my life for years. I got myself out of this hole by using CBT, learning to breathe properly, educating myself about the stress response (and how normal it is) tweaking my lifestyle and diet, and most importantly, realising that the only time in my life that I was genuinely in trouble (emergency c section due to internal bleeding) I wasn't scared at all. Coming on here asking people what they think is wrong with you might give you a few seconds of comfort, but you're on a spinning wheel my friend, and it's exhausting you. This week it's your chest - one of the most common complaints with anxiety. I was 100% convinced my heart was failing - it certainly felt like it - yet every test I ever had said otherwise. Your body is responding to the thoughts in your head. It's firing out those stress hormones because your brain doesn't know the difference between what's real and what's a thought - your body tenses with the anxiety and this creates painful muscles. Ball your hand into a fist and hold it, and hold it, and hold it. This is what you're doing with your entire body. Understanding how the body works will help you and once you understand how the simple act of breathing deeply (from your abdomen) signals to the brain to stand the fight of flight response down. It's a physical thing, and it works. I won't lie - recovery takes time and a LOT of effort on your part, but nobody can do this for you. It had to be a mental decision on your part that you want to get better, and then you find what works for you and you keep doing it until the time comes when you know you're on the way back. A little tip: when I was at my very worst and sitting up at 3am in the morning - I used to come on here and other forums - checking to see who had the same symptoms as me - then one day I decided to look at the success stories instead and reading the posts of people who had been every bit as ill as me, and had come out the other side. I am very sorry that you're struggling, but there is a way out of this if you are willing to help yourself out.
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