Who worries that a "real" symptom is gonna be mistaken for anxiety?

[Danny_dingle]

Hello all,

I sometimes find it is a good idea to notice which symptoms of mine flare up with my anxiety, then you can usually tell that that is what is causing them, also coming on here and seeing what everyone else suffers with is handy as it reassures you you are not the only one worrying about it, and not the only one suffering with it,

Danny xxx

[hello_mrzebra]

It's definitely a viscous cycle. As an American, I have health coverage but only for things like emergency room visits. When I was in school I would go to the free health clinic for every little thing, and it was always something very innocuous that my anxiety had caused to balloon into something terrible and fatal in my mind.

Now that I can't afford to go to the Dr. for every little thing, I worry about every little thing, then try to convince myself it's just anxiety, and then worry further that by convincing myself whatever I'm worried about is just anxiety-driven, I'm actually ignoring something potentially harmful/fatal and when I finally DO get it checked out they'll say "if only we'd caught this sooner." That of course makes my anxiety even worse, which makes whatever anxiety-driven symptoms I'm having get worse too.

And so it goes.

[deadstarlinz]

I understand the feeling. I dont deal with it though. I just worry and worry and worry. People think I'm crazy.

[Havo]

having anxiety is so confusing and at time an all consuming passion. I too constantly fret over every single ache pain and sensation. it is so hard to see the wood from the trees when your in the throwes of panic. its actually more than panic it is fear, well in my case it is anyway. it begins with a sensation lets say a weakness in your arm, i get this quite often, then i notice that my chest which usually feels tight now feels tighter. i begin to sweat and i notice aches in my back. now the fear begins, this is the big one, this is a heart problem. the moments pass, the anxiety lifts, and life goes on. but life goes on in fear of this happening again. its like you climb a mountain, find safety in a valley only to see another mountain in the distance. it is so hard to let go.

[Going home]

I think the nature of anxiety is that we think every symptom is a real one! Its up to the doctors really to pick up on anything that might be the real thing and not just anxiety.

Anna

[AbbaDionysius]

I can most definitely relate with this particular post. I always worry that my clicking throat/neck pains issue is not anxiety related but something terrible like permanent or progressive damage or illness of somekind.

I believe this is an interesting OCD type of component which plagues many with health related anxieties. This is what makes hypochondria issues so hard to deal with and treat at times...it has so many layers, and besides general anxiety/panic symptoms, it can be so unique to each person who suffers from it.

Being a victim of this problem, my prayers, empathy, and meditations go out to y'all, and I thank you for your support as well. Hugs to all. Namaste.

[Flapj]

I worry about this. I assume every physical symptom I have is anxiety related. I hope I am not missing serious warning signs because of that.