First post. Advice welcome

[MrAnxious]

Always been a worrier. Just the way I am. Never had any problems until I had a panic attack about 12 months ago. Think it was brought on with a situation at work. I felt awful afterwards and it took a couple of months to feel reasonably normal but the damage was done. Since then I've developed health anxiety and my GP has diagnosed me with depression to boot. Re the health anxiety, I seem to have all the classic signs in that I will dwell on the slightest pain or ache and turn it into something fatal. I've thought I was having a heart attack, stroke, sure I've got some form of terminal ailment and the latest thing is that I've got a thoracic aortic aneurysm as I've got pain between my shoulder blades - thanks Google. Had some tests done at the GP's. bloods ok, waiting for heart monitor test as I had palpitations for 2 days. The trouble is that I can't get these maddening thoughts out of my head. They are there all the time. So I'm stuck with the tension headaches, pain in upper back between shoulders, nausea, and occasional numbness is my leg. Thought i was going to pass out today whilst out shopping but managed to fight the feeling. Feel exhausted but have started swimming again and bike riding to see if the exercise helps. Waiting to get CBT referral but not on any meds. Trying some online meditation courses to see if they help but just wanted any advice on how to dispel these thoughts. Wife is supportive but I know she's getting frustrated with me. Hope we can all recover.

[Hidden]

Hi,

Sounds like you are approaching this very maturely, the swimming and bike riding sounds perfect, and the online meditation to.

Here is where you will get to understand how to, as you say " get these maddening thoughts out of my head "

I can tell you now, YOU CANT dont be frightened by this though, although it does sound scary its not really, its the truth.

What we do is accept the thoughts as just our thoughts, a continuous natter going on in the background, we dont react to them by fighting against them or running away from them. We observe them and allow them to do their thing, by not adding anything to them in way of encouragement like fighting or running from them.

And as we do our meditation, which really is accepting everthing and letting go of everything, we slowly notice the thoughts quieten down. It happens slowly and wavers about but it does quieten untill we glimpse perfect peace, something so delicate a little breeze will blow it away.

Then of course you into a whole new ball game of wanting this peace all the time, and we start getting posessive haha, so dont worry about that just meditate because its good for you.

All this worry is something we are genetically born with, it keeps us safe, but when it starts to become posessive, thats when we need to take stock and learn to let it go a little.

As we get all these health worries, we do the same thing,

We facey not fighting with thye thoughts

we accept by not running away

we float through the situation, knowing it may initially rise in intensity but will surely abate if we are patient and

Let time pass.

Wishing you well

Bxxx

[hope_to_help]

Firstly, welcome to the site. It is a big step to tell your story and reach out for help and you should be proud of yourself for that.

My main piece of advice for anyone wanting to dispel the panicked thoughts that come as a result of health anxiety is: Google is not your friend! Google is a brilliant tool and in this day and age it's amazing to know that we have access to all the information we need by just typing in some key words, but whenever anyone types in a symptom into Google it will, naturally, bring up all of the possible causes of the symptom. This is like fuel for worry for people with health anxiety.

I know for a fact, if I'm looking for it, I can find evidence that I have an awful, terminal disease by typing in any 'regular' symptom. Tiredness... sore arms... chest pain. They're all very common ailments but, if you're looking for it, you'll find a reason to be worried. Please consult your GP instead. It is definitely important to check your symptoms but 9 times out of 10 your symptom is something as routine and normal as lack of certain vitamins or exercise.

If you would like to take a look into what Anxiety UK has to offer in terms of therapy, you can follow the link at the bottom of this page. Anxiety UK has a large team of qualified and accredited therapists practising throughout the UK who are able to offer private therapy at significantly reduced rates. Fees range from £12 – £50 per session dependant on client’s income. Therapy can be face-to-face, phone or web-cam. Many of our therapists are also able to offer home visits for those members who have difficulty travelling. Therapies offered are Cognitive behavioural Therapy (CBT), Clinical Hypnotherapy, Counselling, Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). You can find out what therapies are offered in your area at: anxietyuk.org.uk/get-help/t...

[MrAnxious]

Hi, thanks for the supportive replys. I'm trying to get the panic under control but it's the physical aspect that's the main problem at the moment. The last two days have been awful. Constantly feeling nauseous and the uncomfortable feelings between my shoulder blades is driving me up the wall! Feels like muscles tearing all the time. Then because of that, I get stressed then get the lightheadedness. Had very poor sleep as well, waking up every couple of hours feeling sick. One day at a time eh....

[agora]

I've only just realised that this is a commercially driven site!