Please help really worried

[Tashabell__]

Hi I'm tasha and I'm 18. I have had really bad anxiety since I can remeber and it's not going away,I literally worry about my health every single day. I am always looking up symptoms on the Internet for rashes,lumps etc,and I convince myself that I am dying. I am so scared I don't want to be like this anymore. This morning I woke up and had a small itchy rash on my back,then I googled symptoms (I already have a cold) and the worst types of stuff we're coming up,then I had a small nose bleed and I convinced myself I'm dying ,I'm literally sat here shaking on the verge of tears I was about to call my mum to come home from work . Can someone please tell me they have felt like this too. I feel really sick I think that's the anxiety making me feel like that but I don't know

[Kainan]

Hi Tasha. so sorry you're feeling this way. you know anxiety is just like any other emotion; the more you feed it, the more it will grow and the more you'll be consumed by it. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. You're only gonna convince yourself you have these symptoms by looking them up online, and one thing leads to another, and before you know it, you're drenched in worry. Surround yourself with happy thoughts and positive affirmations. The way we live is driven by our thoughts. But if it is too overwhelming, it would be a good idea to meet with a psychiatrist and be prescribed with the appropriate anxiety medication.

[Tashabell__ in reply to Kainan]

Thankyou x

[Twinkle333]

It's definitely all anxiety you need to know you're not ill and not going to die I have been where you are many years ago I have had anxiety 20 years and I'm still alive the only thing I'd I've wasted 20 years worrying like you are now what a waste when I could have been having fun, don't waste the next 20 years of you're life hun just know it's all anxiety and it's doing what it does best and that's make you needlessly worry x

[Tashabell__ in reply to Twinkle333]

Thankyou x

[Twinkle333 in reply to Tashabell__]

You're very welcome hun ☺ x

[Hidden]

Hey Tasha I have health anxiety too.. I do that same I check my body everyday for lumps ect.. Always at the doctors with new symptoms! I've tried to stay away from Google coz it makes me worse!! 100% your anxiety!! I'm sat here worrying myself I can't stop shaking feels like I've done a marathon x

[Tashabell__ in reply to Hidden]

Thankyou x

[Hidden]

Hello Tasha. Sorry to learn of your distress. As all the other respondents have said, all of this is being done to you by the anxiety - not because you have any terminal illness. From reading your post it is obvious that you have health anxiety/ocd and sensorimotor obsessions. The converging of these three things is more common than people know, and therefore, the right treatment is not given. Medication has a usefulness, of course, for many people as a method of calming, and for those anxiety sufferers who have a chemical imbalance - thats the minority. All of those three strands mentioned are illnesses which have a psychological basis in the majority of cases, and therefore will require a treatment programme which includes a therapeutic input. Too often the doctor will just reach for the prescription pad without working out a treatment plan which is person-centred, tailored to that persons individual needs.I have worked in psychotherapeutic units for years as a therapist and would never dream of just taking a 'one size fits all ' approach to treatment. Maybe we dont give doctors enough time to do these things - I dont know .

The point is this - if you feel that your treatment in whatever form is not working then you have the right to ask your doctor to look at it again, and perhaps offer alternatives if that is appropriate in your situation. I hope you feel better soon.

Karl

[Tashabell__ in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for the advice