How many got HA after a real medical issue?

[ErinKC]

I know a big reason I have HA is because my mother also does, but another huge reason is because I went through an actual medical emergency seven years ago. I don't often think about this since it's been so long and my anxiety takes me on so many twists and turns, but occasionally I get a symptom that reminds me of that time and it all comes flooding back. I start to panic that something else like that will happen again. How do you guys deal with that?

[Halle0587]

Me! I had a hard time conceiving my son, so after a long stent of infertility I had a massive bruise on my left breast during pregnancy for no apparent reason-my doctor was concerned for it to appear randomly, about a fists size, so that scared me that he was concerned, but it was checked out and deamed okay after a three month follow up while still pregnant. While pregnant I had preclampsia starting at 28 weeks. That started my googling and my panicking. I searched endlessly for how to change the diagnosis.
Aside from that I don’t like taking medication because I got pancreatitis after taking acne medicine. Before that triggers anyone, I had pancreatitis once prior to that thanks to a residual gallstone from my gallbladder removal. Apparently having it once makes it a little more sensitive to certain things, so don’t be alarmed.
My mom was also diagnosed with melanoma two months before I found out I was pregnant. So I think that contributes to my HA as well. I’m not going to go into detail of her story because it would trigger people. She’s stage 4 and started at stage 4, and last week officially had her three year scans and is still free of disease, praise God!
So those are the real medical issues that brought me to HA.

As for dealing with it, I’m in counseling. I follow up with my doctor regularly also to touch base in case I need medication for anxiety at some point. My counselor is great, I’ve made a lot of progress in the areas of GAD and OCD, HA is my weakness. Maybe because it’s the newest one? I did fear pancreatitis for the longest time. It actually caused me my first bout of gastritis, currently dealing with my second and doubting the diagnosis. It feels different from the way I remember the first time is the reason why I doubt it, but I’m not the professionals so I have to build trust with them. My doctor has been my GP for 12 years so I have trust in her. She understands my anxiety very well, especially having just had a baby herself. It’s hard I won’t lie, distractions work wonderfully. I find that when I’m distracted I don’t worry much, of at all. Last year we bought a house right before Fall and then the holidays came and I did great the end of the year. Until I panicked about something at the end of December.

[ErinKC]

Thanks! That all sounds really traumatic!

**I'm sure this could be a trigger for some**


For me, it was this massive fibroid I'd had for ages. It was huge, but my doctor said it was only an issue if it bothered me. It totally DID bother me - it was massive (14cm) and made me bloated and gassy and was tender to the touch, but I was so scared of surgery that I just left it. Then one night out of nowhere I started vomiting for hours and had horrible pain in my stomach. It finally got so bad that I called an ambulance and went to the ER. I had to be catheterized because everything was so inflamed I couldn't pee, and that was the worst pain of my life (and I gave birth without meds). Finally, they had to take me to surgery, but they didn't know what was going on because there was just fluid everywhere. They'd mentioned ovarian cancer as a possibility so I was operated on by the head of gynecological oncology. It turned out my fibroid, which had been growing off my uterus on a stalk, had twisted around and become necrotic. There were 2 liters of fluid in my abdomen by the time they operated! After this, I was in the hospital for 9 days because I kept getting fevers that wouldn't go away. I finally got to go home and then I started coughing up blood and rushed to the ER afraid I had a pulmonary embolism. This is when my anxiety kicked in and I ended up back in the ER two more times before the whole ordeal was done. I didn't have a PE, but they never figured out what was causing it and after a scope to look I got terrible pleurisy, which made my whole chest hurt any time I breathed for days. After weeks I finally felt like myself again, and I've had no complications since. But, now I have a horrible fear of throwing up because I know it will trigger my anxiety, and I get some pain behind my belly button now and then, right on this squishy little lump that I think it just a bit of scar tissue from the surgery. But, I make my OBGYN do an ultrasound annually to check my other, smaller fibroids. He thinks I'm a nutcase, but he wasn't my doctor when this happened, so he has no idea how bad it was. Tonight while waiting in line at the grocery store I happened to poke my belly button and had a horrible sharp pain right on the small little lump. It's since gotten better, and I think it was gas related. But, it's brought all this back to me!

It's funny, my bad postpartum anxiety was so far removed from this (I had no health anxiety after this was all over until giving birth 3 years later) that I'm not sure it's ever even come up with my therapist!! The anxiety was so focused on motherhood at the time and then maintenance, that I actually don't recall if I've ever even told her about this surgery. I made an appointment for later in August, so I need to make a note to bring it up!

[Masqued]

**Trigger**

Long story short....
Was worried about a mole, did what everyone else on here does and puts up a post and sees Dr Google. Lost a lot of sleep. Googled for hours to self diagnose.
Finally plucked up courage to go to a Skin Dr and it turned out fine!
Got my yearly skin checks- all fine! HA and mole fears went away.
Stopped in at another Dr randomly for an earache one day and he happened to see my mole I was worried about years ago. Confidently told him it changed to its former shape over 5 years ago. He said he'll take it out and since it will most likely be nothing it is not a pretty mole to be on a lady's decolletage
Wasn't worried about it. Turned up late and casually to my next appointment to have the dressing changed and stitches checked to find out I had been rescheduled for major surgery to remove the skin around the scar to clear the margins of Melamona!!
Well that just set everything off again!

[lofwyr]

The opposite. I was diagnosed out of the blue with a major medical condition, and it put a lot of my HA into perspective. I wouldn't say I am "cured" of HA, but I do feel pretty good overall. Dealing with a real concern strangely put the rest of my worry into perspective.

Worry about the actual zebra riding you down and deal with the real zebra. Ignore the rest of the hoof beats.

[Shadowhawk]

**Trigger**

Long story short....
Was worried about a mole, did what everyone else on here does and puts up a post and sees Dr Google. Lost a lot of sleep. Googled for hours to self diagnose.
Finally plucked up courage to go to a Skin Dr and it turned out fine!
Got my yearly skin checks- all fine! HA and mole fears went away.
Stopped in at another Dr randomly for an earache one day and he happened to see my mole I was worried about years ago. Confidently told him it changed to its former shape over 5 years ago. He said he'll take it out and since it will most likely be nothing it is not a pretty mole to be on a lady's decolletage
Wasn't worried about it. Turned up late and casually to my next appointment to have the dressing changed and stitches checked to find out I had been rescheduled for major surgery to remove the skin around the scar to clear the margins of Melamona!!
Well that just set everything off again!

Well, that just triggered me. sigh.. (I had a small unusual mile that the derm said was ok, but I could take it off if ever bothered me. Looks like I will be taking him up on that , and kicking myself for not just doing it then. Ughhh).

Anyways, for I have had this problem after going to the hospital over heart worries.i found I did have a problem, though not as bad as feared, it reinforced the idea that other worries could be valid too. Been a spiral this whole year. Not fun at all.




And now this damn mole again. I gotta remember to stop reading this site.. doh..

[lucymarie]

Well, that just triggered me. sigh.. (I had a small unusual mile that the derm said was ok, but I could take it off if ever bothered me. Looks like I will be taking him up on that , and kicking myself for not just doing it then. Ughhh).

Anyways, for I have had this problem after going to the hospital over heart worries.i found I did have a problem, though not as bad as feared, it reinforced the idea that other worries could be valid too. Been a spiral this whole year. Not fun at all.




And now this damn mole again. I gotta remember to stop reading this site.. doh..

I'm the same Been panicking myself for months about a mole that the derm told me was benign back in June. I've been fighting the urge to beg them to take it off because I'm convinced they have missed something and everyone keeps telling me it's just my anxiety. Note to self - heed trigger warnings and do not read threads like this in future

[Shadowhawk]

I'm the same Been panicking myself for months about a mole that the derm told me was benign back in June. I've been fighting the urge to beg them to take it off because I'm convinced they have missed something and everyone keeps telling me it's just my anxiety. Note to self - heed trigger warnings and do not read threads like this in future

Ha.. no kidding.

IN my case, i have been wracking myself about it even following the day i saw the derm about it (since he kept looking at it, but when i asked him, he said no, it wasn't melonoma). I had a regular follow up appointment in a month and a half, but i just bumped it to friday, because it really is screwing me up.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

[lucymarie]

Ha.. no kidding.

IN my case, i have been wracking myself about it even following the day i saw the derm about it (since he kept looking at it, but when i asked him, he said no, it wasn't melonoma). I had a regular follow up appointment in a month and a half, but i just bumped it to friday, because it really is screwing me up.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

AH anxiety isn't it a dream But alas you are correct! back to topic.

My HA started in 2016 when some routine blood tests flagged up an issue I hadn't even heard of before (hyperprolactinemia for the curious types among us) and the GP told me I needed a brain scan (without ANY explanation, just dropped the bomb and sent me on my not so merry way). I have a compulsive need to understand things so I went home and googled saw the word tumor (red herring, the little sods are benign and I didn't have one anyway) and the rest as they say - is history. Hi Health Anxiety, nice to meet you

[Shadowhawk]

AH anxiety isn't it a dream But alas you are correct! back to topic.

My HA started in 2016 when some routine blood tests flagged up an issue I hadn't even heard of before (hyperprolactinemia for the curious types among us) and the GP told me I needed a brain scan (without ANY explanation, just dropped the bomb and sent me on my not so merry way). I have a compulsive need to understand things so I went home and googled saw the word tumor (red herring, the little sods are benign and I didn't have one anyway) and the rest as they say - is history. Hi Health Anxiety, nice to meet you

My downhill slid started this year, right when my divorce finalized and the ex moved out. I started CPAP therapy, and thanks to my compulsion to know everything, i looked at my data in detail. Problem was, i saw something that worried me, as if it was (though, it wasn't), could signal heart failure. I agonized and over-analyzed things for three months before i finally got myself to the ER because i really thought that was it. In the end, they determined i had some level of hypertrophy (likely due to my BP and apnea), but was otherwise ok. But this real (though hopefully minor) issue was now in my head..

That was fine, but i kept going over my blood results, and worry persisted. Along with all this worry, i started getting bad stomach pains, gas, etc, which has led me down the path of ultrasounds and colonoscopy, only to be told i had a mild fatty liver.

So while i know i am generally ok, as anxiety over other things continue (my eyes, skin, etc), the pain continues, and it just sucks... all around.