Hi guys, I'm new here but I would love to help any body who is suffering with anxiety. I have had anxiety for about 8 years now, instead of getting better i fear it is just getting worse. I can say I have been through nearly all kinds of anxiety scares, from thinking i am completely going insane (and have considered signing myself into a mental hospital), to being fully convinced that i am dying of some terminal illness.
Anyways, if anyone is worried I can try and help. You might even be able to help me in the process, win win
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Phteven
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I'm not sure anyone can tell me anything I haven't heard or read already, but I'm always open to meeting other people who struggle with anxiety.
I've been battling health anxiety now for well over a year. Currently locked onto ALS fears and struggling with weakness, twitches, dizziness and feeling off balance.
I hate that I spend every day focused on a disease to which I have a 99.9999 chance of not having.
ME TOO....right now I keep thinking I have pancreatic cancer...because last year I was hopsitalized for VERY bad pancreatitis....for no known reason..I don't drink alcohol or smoke or do drugs...but I got this horrible disease....and was sick for 6 months with it...and now the symptoms are back again the past 2 days...Had an ultrasound today and the TECH would not tell me what she saw....and that always freaks me out even though I know they are not allowed to tell you anything.....UGGGG...I hate waiting...but anyway I am in pain...have a ton of REAL medical issues...bleeding from my butt for over a year...and need surgery for that....have liver disease, heart issues, high blood pressure, low blood pressure., passing out, thyroid disease, adrenal disease, have had gallbladder out, had colon removed, had hysterectomy, no tonsills, etc etc....but the parts that are left have decided to rebel against me too....so I can relate....I have some really scary diseases plus I worry about all the other ones that they have not found yet....like the pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, Cardiomyopathy etc etc....I just want to get off this roller coaster ride and be healthy......
I'm currently struggling with health anxiety. I get huge headaches, my back starts hurting in the centre and my right arm/face starts to hurt a lot. My teeth feel really strange, so worried im going to have a heart attack, even though I got it checked a few weeks ago
Wish I could think that anything could help me right now but I don't know how to feel better on my own. Of course I've suffered mild anxiety/depression before but I've always had family support to help me through. But the past month or so I've suffered from severe anxiety as I feel I've got no one. I go to sleep (if I can) and wake up every morning with a constant fear, and I'm constantly tense. It's starting to impact my work as I can't go on like this much longer. Don't really know what to do. Any advice is greatly appreciated x
Lula, first of all welcome to our forum, you are in good company as almost all people here have felt exactly as you do now and many have recovered their peace of mind and happy outlook and so can you.
I don't know how much you know about how anxiety works its tricks on us as you are new here so I will presume nothing and explain. Anxiety disorder is preceeded by a period of time during which we have been subject to worry and stress. After a while our nervous system starts to complain at the heavy burden we're placing upon it and becomes highly sensitised.
In this over sensitised state our nerves begin to misfire sending out many false symptoms which frequently mimic organic physical illness. They also exaggerate tenfold small fears and worries which we all have - and this extra fear feeds our over sensitised nerves even further and in doing so prolongs and extends our anxiety state.
What has happened to you, Lula, is that your nervous system has become affected in this way, what stresses and worries caused it to happen only you can say. Thus you experience exaggerated fear and first thing in the morning is iften the worst time of day for anxiety and the secondary depression that comes out of anxiety.
Levels of the hormone Cortisol are at their highest at 8a.m. and if not used up in ' fight or fliight' it just sloshes around in our bodies causing anxiety and depression. There is something in Green Tea called Thianine that counteracts this effect of Cortisol so I suggest a large mug of Green Tea (available in every supermarket) is worth drinking first thing when you wake up.
Our main task is to de-sentsitise our nervous systems and this means that we must stop bombarding our nerves with fresh fear every five minutes. So instead of constant introspection and testing our fears and other strange feelings we should do the opposite. We must frame our minds to Accept the bad feelings without fear knowing full well that sensitised nerves can't cause you to die, go insane or physically harm your body in any way.
By Accepting the symptoms of anxiety instead of fighting them we produce less and less fear and gradually our sensitised nervous system returns to normal. When that point is reached all your fears and bad feelings will fade to nothing, you will recover your peace of mind and happy outlook and you will be ready to rebuild your life and move forward.
I'm going through a similar period. Even when I get some decent sleep, I wake up shaky. Some natural remedies I'd suggest.....deep breathing exercise (but you must do it regularly).....and vigorous exercise for 20 minutes. I had read that if you sweat (from exercise) 5 minutes per day it helps release you from fight-or-flight mode (i.e. high anxiety).
Welcome to our world, Phteven. Anxiety can be a cruel master and it is full of trickery not least of which is its ability to mirror all sorts of physical complaints so that we imagine we have all kinds of serious and life-threatening illnesses when in fact it's really just a few shortcircuits in our over stressed nervous system.
Even when told by doctors we have a clean bill of health and a battery of blood tests and scans to prove it, we continue to believe impending doom awaits us and our days are numbered. The problem is too much self-examination, too much obsessive introspection and the extra anxiety this causes ensures the continuing over sensitisation of our nervous system.
With a little luck we may discover the writings of the great masters in treating anxiety disorder and health anxiety like the late Claire Weekes whose four maxims of: Face, Accept, Float and Let time pass have helped three generations to escape the bewilderment and mental distress that anxiety always brings.
Anxiety cannot drive you insane ir inflict some terminal illness upon you, it simply doesn't have the power to do that, but we all have a duty to ourselves to devise a road plan to recover the quiet mind we once had and which we can regain if we have the will.
I have been feeling unwell for over a year now. I suffered a coughing fit at the office and suddenly I thought my throat was getting tight and I was not getting enough air. My colleagues had to call an ambulance but I was told at the emergency services that there was nothing wrong with me. The whole experience was so traumatic that I have never been the same ever since that day. I have been obsessing over my breathing, thinking that it could suddenly stop. I jolt for air when I'm about to fall asleep, as if I had momentarily forgotten how to breath. I feel something stuck behind my sinuses and at the back of my throat and extremely nauseous and off- balance all the time. I have been rushed to the hospital 3 times in the last three months and, apart from a mild GERD and post-nasal drip, nothing has been found to justify all this suffering.
I had never experienced a panic attack before and, even now, I keep thinking that there's no way that something that's in your mind can make you feel as if your body was shutting down completely. I am now scared of eating when I'm alone just in case I choke or I have an anaphylactic shock and I'm scared of taking medicines for the same reason. I'm always on edge and expecting the worst with every single heart beat that feels too fast...or too slow.
This is taking over my whole life and I feel there's nothing I can do about it. I hope that we can find some relief in sharing our experiences.
I feel stressed evertime dont know why ?? I feel like i am dying my heart beat faster everytime i feel afraid and dont know why i feel so afraid i dont know talk with anyone and dont wana see and go to crowd ,noise and i feel like i have cancer and other disease but phyiscal test shows none of symtoms but i got costant pain on back every time
Ok, I am going to list my symptoms, May be if anyone can say "yeah I get that!" It may make you feel calmer:
Aching muscles all over I clouding arms and legs, back,neck, this makes me feel sick.
Fluttery heart and light headedness.
Shortness of breath and light headedness.
Feeling like I can't get a breath
Nausea
Upset stomach
Loss of appetite
Freakjng out about these symptoms when I have to be with people.
I'm sure there's more, but won't spring to mind at the moment.
Things is I have had all of this for a year now. Most times it's debilitating, but I am living with it.With the aid of a few calming tablets, only on a bad day though and an anti sickness tab, also on a bad day. I have had quite a few test xrays, brain scan, bloods etc. But as you all well know that doesn't stop you freaking out when a symptom comes flooding back out of nowhere.
I figure if it was something terrible I would be gone by now.
All this doesn't stop me feeling bad, but as Jeff says , you just gotta accept it!
I've experienced those extreme feelings too. But I'm sure you're aware that when you're having a horrible day, the next day can be far better. That's the uneven, unpredictable nature of anxiety - for me, at least.
Hi phteven, I have been feeling really anxious lately, which is causing me digestive problems. I'm also been showing clinical depression symptoms. I don't understand what should I do because my medicine for digestive problems didn't worked.
Hello!! Glad to hear your personal side. I too have had anxiety, mainly social anxiety. On medication, really has helped w/ it. Still there though. Its like, the medication is only a step, in a long process of dealing with it. Setting small goals, and keeping busy helps a lot. It has token many years, for me to see all this. But, im starting to trust the process more.
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