I have Iatrophobia and dont know where to turn:((((

[looking4answers]

Im am so worried.I just recently found the name of my phobia and found its not uncommon but I cant find any books on it for kindle. This is the fear of Doctors. It really sux to have this fear now as I need doctors more than anything at my age. Im 56 and have anxiety and panic attacks and would almost rather face the panic attacks rather to go to the doctor.

At present I havent had a check up in a year and have so many issues to worry about. Due to my wife having to go to the dentist office I have gotten partially over my fear of dentist. It was ok going thete because it ws her getting attended to and not me but still I was nervous the first three or four times but seemed to be more calm today about it.

I have so many things in question about myself such as an electrical feeling across my back and pain in my groin area that comes and goes and also my eyesite is getting worse and worse . My eyes have trouble adjusting to low light situtations but not bright sunny or total darkness issues. My reading vision is getting terrible so bad that I have to wear reading glasses for anything printed at a ranges of three feet or less.

My neck feels like it has come loose from the spine sometimes and feels like its slipping off the vertabra ,....Why didnt I listen to people telling me to stand up straight and sit up straight ....my posture is terrible and I have a slight hump on my upper back but you cant tell it much when I stand up straight.

Im really intollerant to heat. I get fuzzy headed and feel breathless when out in the heat.I eat right with low salt and good bnutritional things in my diet. I eat a well balanced diet. I dont eat out but every so often and my wife makes delicious home cooked nutricious meals. I dont really eat tnat much and dont indulge in sweets but every now and then and even then very little.

I do smoke which I know is bad but my anxiety would totally make me loose it if I didnt smoke. I worry because I smoke and I worry that I worry about smoking. When we were living at 8500 ft which is a mile and one half above sea level my blood pressure was slightly elevated but now at sea level it should have dropped somewhat.

I take a asprin everyday to keep the blood circulating and exercise at least 30 minutes a day. I keep my mind active by reading and doing reasearch and I have tried and tried to convince myself that it would be no big deal going to the doctors but I cannot convince myself.

Im afraid when I go there they will tell me I have high blood pressure and that will send me into a tailspin and ill freak out. I do have elevated blood pressure when I go because no matter what I do I caanot control my body that goes into mega tightness and panic attack.


I dont know how to stop this,at least all of you that are fearful can run to the doctors over and over to get assurance so much. I caanot do this and am terrified of speculating whats wrong with.me,thus the thosands of post I make here everyday. I want so bad to beat this fear and dont know which wy to turn,if someone has suggestions im ready to listen and look forward to hearing them.

I feel all alone with this phobia. Am I the only one?

[looking4answers]

Please read and help. Im sorry about the length

[Anxious_gal]

the only things that I know of that help with phobias are CBT and hypnotherapy.
I'm not sure if these people would fall into the "doctor" category or not for you.
As we all get older, they will be a high chance that at some point you will need a health check up.

In terms of your vision could you attend an eye test?
Also if the white coat triggers off your phobia you could ring up before hand and explain this and ask that the optician might not wear a white coat for your exam?
They are very good, you get an eye test and they look into your eyes and if you want you can get a glaucoma test and a visual field test.

Are you afraid of the doctor or the actual diagnosis and fear of needing further treatment?

if it's the doctor, you could try and desenitze your self to it....
get your wife to dress up, role play , you can buy a cheap children s toy set, get her to check your heart etc..
then you could try sitting in the waitng room of a hospital, could start of with staying for one minute and then maybe 5, 10 minutes etc..

Having a nice, kind, calm doctor helps too, the ones that actually seem to listen to you and seem to care about you.

[looking4answers]

Mishel,no not actually the doctor but they do make me somewhat nervous to be around. Here is how I forsee my visit to happen. I go in and am really anxious to start with and blood pressure is up a little,the longer I sit there the more my blood pressure rises making me even more nervous and then I see the doctor and they freak because my blood pressure is so high and this scares me even more so its the worst feeling in the world. If I could find a dr that would realise that im anxious and then calm me and talk to me then I might have a chance. I gave this chance to my last doctor that new I was nervous and my blood pressure was 160/90 because I was totally freaking out because they made me wait so long and then they said Oh your bloodbpressure is real high and then the dr came in and told me it was real high too.The worst dr visit I ever had. I have never experienced that level of anxiety. The deal is they were slow for patients.and I didnt come to the office that often so they thought they would scare me into coming more regular thus traumatising me. She wanted to put me on three times the bp meds I was on and the bad thing is ,the only reason i was ever given bp meds is to control my heart rate.I never had high bp. Anyway we bought a high dollar bp machine and my wife took my bp three times a day for three weeks,and as my wife suspected it averaged 130/80 for the whole time. She called the dr's office and let the dr have it.Needless to say I never went back. Also we now live at sea level and im sure my bp is even lower ,so thats what caused this,just mean doctor. Ill give some thought to the dress up thing and the thought of going to a therapist really doesnt scare me but it does make me avtad nervous,but maybe I can,ill try. Thanks so much for chimming in,its greatly appreciated!

[looking4answers]

Hi I was going to tell you I found two books dealing with this and they are on the way. Thanks so much for coming to my aide! Michael