Health anxiety

[AviaWallen]

Hi to anyone who is reading,

My name is Avia Wallen. I have recently ironically self diagnosed myself with health anxiety. Due to me being 21 partying, drinking and taking drugs has played a big part of my life (unfortuntely) but after a few bad times recently I am now too anxious to leave my house unless its for work. I fear every night that i go to sleep i wont wake up and due to worrying and being under so much stress at the moment i am now experiencing some physical symptoms which are leading me to believe that I either have MS or a brain tumor or some other kind of neurological disorder. I have seeked help through my doctor and just got palmed off with conselling agencies that have a waiting list of 6-12 weeks. Some days I am fine, i wont think about anything physical, i will be able to enjoy my day as if i never suffered from anxiety. Then on a bad day, I am really bad.. I have a constant anxious feeling in my stomach and chest.. I have been experiencing head aches, being off balance, not being able to articulate myself and getting my words muddle up in a sentence, short attention span and cannot concentrate to save my life.. I am unsure wether I generally have something wrong with me or wether it is my anxiety just highlighting all these symptoms because i am worrying about them. I have had blood tests and things done all come back normal. Only thing i have not had yet is an MRI or CT scan.. Which if i am honest i really want just so i can rule out anything and move on. I suffered with this a few years ago, convinced myself i had cervical cancer and was having all the symptoms for it once the gynecologist ruled everything out I was back to my bubbly happy go lucky self within a few weeks. I am just wondering if anyone has any advice for health anxiety suffers? How can i stop myself from wanting to be in the doctors and hospital all the time? How can i get over this? My quality of life is crap at the moment I am scared to do anything i used to love that includes my job, i work in a vets where i have to listen to animals being diagnosed with fatal diseases and tumors which seems to trigger even more anxiety within me. Any advice would be much appreciated thanks!!

[Curious5]

Trust me I know what your going through you aren't alone. Mine came out of no where I was having 5 panic attacks a day and every symptom I thought I was surly dying. I've been to the doctors and hospital so many times it's not even funny. Now I'm never sure if it's anxiety or if I'm really having pains. I thought I had a brain tumor as well but had a ct scan done on my head because I went three days without any sleep and that scared them. My ct scan came back completely normal I've had countless blood tests come back completely normal also. It's hard to get through the day sometimes. I've finally been on something that controls my panic so hopefully you'll get better soon!

[Bumble88]

Hi Avia

After reading an amazing book I bought about anxiety, it says that you should not fight the worries and panics. Let them pass through but instead of fighting them, let them leave and replace them with a rational thought. In your case that would be that you have had tests done by professional people and you are ok. If there was anything wrong - they would have acted on it immediately.

I am saying this in all of my posts but only because it's true and I need to start believing it myself. This is anxiety. It is what anxiety does and it is how it makes us feel. The more you fight the anxious thoughts, the worse they become. We need to try (I know, easier said than done) to dismiss them for irrational and silly thoughts which hold no meaning.

I have just had to pull myself out from a dark place today and I have not done all of the above until I calmed myself down. And even then it is so much easier to say than to actually do. I am struggling myself right now. but I believe you can work to get better too. We just need to see anxiety for what it really is...

I hope you feel better soon xx

[kscott19]

I am having these exact same symptoms!!!!!! And I think all this!! I'm 19 spent the first half of this year partying wth drugs and drink. This is all completely ruining my life. I'm am convinced I'm dying or I'm gonna end up like really disabled. I need this to stop I spend my life in a&e phoning ambulances and visiting my gp