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[androgste]

Hello, I am a 31 year-old father of two and have been dealing with severe anxiety since some Initial physical symptoms of being unhealthy arose 2 months ago. After diagnosing and clearing up my initial health concerns I developed severe anxiety due to the fear I had some sort of debilitating illness. This seemed to cause my anxiety to snowball and began to manifest itself with more physical symptoms. I have since started medication and it seems to be helping. I just wanted to get on here to help talk to people who are struggling with the same symptoms/issues. Look forward to offering support and talking to whomever may need it.

[JAYnLA]

The series of events that you describe is SO common and I'm sure others will agree. Since it's early days for you, I suggest finding the audiobooks by Dr. Claire Weekes - they gave me a foundation for the recovery I'm still working on. Welcome!

[androgste in reply to JAYnLA]

Thank you for the quick response. I am so happy I found this website with people that understand the plight of anxiety.

[JAYnLA in reply to androgste]

We certainly do and we're glad you're here.

[Jeff1943]

androgste, sorry to hear of your troubles, as you are on prescribed medication you must have been checked and your doctor considers it's anxiety. JAYnLA is absolutely right: what you describe is classic health anxiety.

Sensitised nerves are brilliant impersonators. They can mimic just about everything that is genuine illness and it's hard to tell the difference.

I think that worry about your original physical illness may have caused you anxiety and this is what has made your nervous system over sensitive. Hence the feeling that you have some debilitating illness.

You have discovered how this can turn into a vicious circle with anxiety (and the fear that accompanies it) causing further sensitivity of your nerves causing more symptoms causing more anxiety and round it goes. So many of us here have had exactly the same experience.

It's good that you have found medication that is helpful. When we have family and work responsibilities medication brings respite and allows us to carry on. But medication can't be relied upon to bring lasting recovery as the bad feelings can return when eventually the medication stops.

JAYnLA also gave you good advice when referring to the self-help techniques of Doctor Claire Weekes who during her lifetime devised and advocated the Acceptance method for recovery of anxiety disorders and the depression that sometime accompanies it.

I suggest that you should first accept completely that your symptoms are due to your nerves playing up. Your doctor has no doubt reassured you on this point, if not confirm it with him or her.

Do not harbour any false beliefs that the symptoms are due to real illness, I've already mentioned how good tired nerves are at mimicking real organic illness.

Next, no matter how uncomfortable the symptoms or the bad feelings, you should accept them for the time being and not fight them. Fighting will cause more stress and tension which causes further nervous sensitivity. So utterly accept all your symptoms for the moment safe in the reassurance that they are fake illness. So there is no need to add second fear to the first flash of fear you may feel. Through acceptance you can break that chain of anxiety causing nervous sensitivity causing more symptoms causing more anxiety. This way lies recovery.

JAYnLA has mentioned that you will find the audiobooks of Claire Weekes helpful, I believe these are only available on Amazon in the United States. I would suggest that you read Weekes' short first book in which she explains Acceptance. In the U.S. it is titled 'Hope and help for your nerves' but if you are lucky enough to live in the U.K.😊 the same book is titled 'Self help for your nerves'. Both books available new or used from Amazon. There is also a YouTube video titled 'Peace from nervous suffering' featuring Claire Weekes that runs for over an hour. If you do decide to read Weekes' book, don't be influenced by the fact that Claire Weekes was active during the second half if the 20th century and some if the social contexts may seem archaic to modern minds but this doesn't affect the efficacy of her method to bring recovery.

Either way, I hope that with time you recover your quiet mind.

[kborge]

Pretty much sums up the past 7 months for me...man, has it sucked.