is it health anxiety if there *are* things physically wrong?...

[bellab]

that might sound a ridiculous question!
for the past three and a half years I have seemed to have gone from being fit , healthy and not really giving a second thought to my health ( save maybe the odd cold or very very rarely a stomach upset... once a year if that) ....to just feeling unwell all the time .....

In the midst of all this I started getting panic attacks/anxiety really badly, just under a year ago, and then really badly early this year....I think its probably all tied in..

there are a couple of things which have been diagnosed, but even my GP agrees not to make me feel *this* unwell , and though they are recurring, they are not actually the things I seem to feel ill with most of the time.... the rest of the time I feel like I constantly have the flu ...am hot/cold, shakey, dizzy , nauseous.... (I know, when I write it out it sounds like anxiety...) ...just feel like I have the flu most of the time

More and more I worry about the amount of time I am unwell, time off work, social life etc... I dont worry so much that "OMG it must be something really bad" but am just frustrated at not being able to find an answer to what it is or why I feel so bad the whole time

I am having counselling...but again , not sure how it can help with this...?? in the past counsellors have looked into the illness being as a "result" of trauma in the past, (which I would say I have resolved and I dont see how it can make me this ill) ...I dont know whether to look at it from the perspective of "this is all health anxiety, I need to stop thinking about it at all", or whether my body is expressing something emotional by being ill....or whether there is something wrong that then needs physical/medical treatments (consultants still looking into that side of it, tho have no idea what it could be...and they have ruled out anything serious (cancer etc..) )

I am writing this I guess as am currently unwell (with something diagnosed!!) but in trying to keep going ("dont give into health anxiety" says my brain) ended up going to visit a friend and feeling so unwell I could barely drive home ..... I think it was largely physical, possibly coupled with panic that I wouldnt be able to get home ....

but I guess I am at a loss with which direction to deal with it from....is this health anxiety? if there are physical things wrong but also stuff they cant pinpoint (drs have in the past put it down to stress as a possibilty) ...does it still fall into that category?

more importantly and to the point...what on earth do I do about it? its not that Im worrying about illnesses that arent there...just feeling ill all the time with no known cause (which makes me think is it emotional/anxiety/stress related?)

thanks in advance for any thoughts...

[Cell block H fan]

Well, I did hear that Health anxiety & Hypochondria are different things.
Health anxiety is when we actually get physical symptoms, but blow them out of proportion.
Hypochondria is when we dont have symptoms, but think we do.
I have definitely had the symptoms of things, then I worry about them being serious.
I also get the moments where I can read about something, in a magazine for example, then start getting that symptom, albeit briefly!
So I probably suffer with both really!
Not sure if that's what you meant, or if I have read your post wrong.
As for the cure, I wish we all knew it, this forum wouldn't be here then though!

[Sazziesaz]

I know exactly what you mean! I always feel ill too! Feels like flu symptons, exactly what you said, this has gone on for what seems like ever, so I just presume it must be down to anxiety etc. I get really fed up with it too! I just try to ignore it and carry on, but some days if I am tired and going through a bad patch then I really begin to worry something is wrong!

[randomworry]

essentially health anxiety is when your anxiety is causing your problems regardless of if your are actually ill or not. for instance someone with something serious like HIV may worry but that worry does not interefere with their life. then again someone else with HIV may be always fearing the worst 'ill be dead next year' type thoughts so the anxiety is causing problems too.

best thing to do is check yourself for actual physical problems but at same time work on emotional problems.

best wishes

[guitarpants]

I'm in the same exact boat as you. Suffering with real physical symptoms that came out of nowhere and for apparently no reason. I'm still mostly undiagnosed. The cause of my symptoms has not yet been discovered, and I've had a very thorough medical workup, over a couple of months.

[bellab]

Thanks for all the replies guys , and for those in the same boat and currently going thru tests/diagnosis etc... good luck!

I guess, like someone said, trying to approach it from both a physical and emotional point of view is probably the best bet (and what I am trying to do!) with the physical issues I Do have (which can be pretty life limiting at times- in terms of quality of life I mean) ...I do tend to worry a lot...not that they are something else/something more serious (tho I did before a diagnosis) but more that "Oh no here we go again?" "will I ever feel well again" "when will life get back to normal" "why am I always ill?" etc.. etcc

Im sure the extra stress cant help ....before all this i wouldve accepted I was ill, rested and waited till I was better.....as it is such a chronic thing now and frequent, I dont feel I have the "luxury" of doing that and that I should keep going.....

I do sometimes worry to myself "what if, all together this is something else? something "bigger" than the drs think it is" ?? (like after all thier qualifications and training they are somehow unable to put the bigger picture together!! )...but most of the time the worry is that Im ill so much/so frequently and the effect it is having on my life- social life, relationships (Im always cancelling things , or feel like I do a lot due to feeling unwell) , work (never had so many sick days in my life!)

as I say, they are still investigating physically, but I dont wanna pin all my hopes on that ..as it may not give me any answers!

thanks a lot guys

[sarah jayne]

I could of written your post myself as im going through exactly the same and have been for 3 years. Its awful ive gone from a happy healthy care free 26 year old to an anxious, constantly ill and constantly in pain 29 year old. It all started after i had my youngest child, i started getting chest pains then started with the panic attacks and since then ive been diagnosed with having 3 slipped disks in my neck ( dont know how i got them) ive got costachondritis, sciatica, almost constant ulcers and abcesses in my mouth, daily headaches and ached and pains and the list goes on..... sorry i cant give you any advice but i just want you to know that you are not on your own, if you ever need a chat then pm me.
Sarah xx

[bellab]

Hi Sarah
sorry you're going thru all this as well!! It does get exhausting , and pretty frustrating for sure! ...sometimes I worry no one else understands, or that people dont believe me (as I often dont look "visibly" unwell or I act like Im fine/bubbly so if Im feeling rotten ppl probably dont notice)

but the constant-ness of it seems unrelenting, and I worry a lot about the impact on my job especially (that Ill get fired or get a bad reference or employers will think badly of me for the amount of time Ive had off )...sometimes I wonder if I just need to get a new job and a "fresh start" ...almost like telling myself not to be ill anymore would work! ....gosh I dont know, I dont think my general anxiety makes things any easier/better...this much stress cant be good for my body...but the anxiety didnt come until 2 + years of dealing with all this...so it doesnt always make sense

I feel like I end up trapped in a viscious circle with it all!..I can relate from feeling like Ive gone from a carefree person to almost like an old woman! even my granny doesnt get ill as much as me and she's almost 90!

hmmm...

[Willow72]

Reading all this makes me feel re-assured. I have been worrying about my health for years which started when my marriage ended and I was panicking about me getting ill and leaving my kids. I was having stomach pains and then had an ultrasound, all fine. they have gone now and now i'm having headaches and a tingly feeling on my scalp. The doctor has said it's anxiety so I thought him telling me that would re-assure me and they would go but they haven't so now I can't help feeling that it must be something else. I try to take a few minutes to relax which can help but I am tense all the time, as soon as I wake up I generally feel OK but then I can't stop thinking about it until inevitably it comes back. I am going back to the doc tomorrow to see if there are any tests he can do.