Close to going crazy with this health anxiety! Grr!!

[Bljanise]

At the moment I feel like I'm dying, I'm mearly convinced or I think my husband wants to smother me from bothering him. It seems everytime I have a stressful situation I get new symptoms that pop up a WEEK later and it sends me to the er, multiple tests and doctors just to wind up with the same answer, anxiety. Well it feels awfully real!! My dad coded in CCU but survived, and then two weeks later my mom dies of flesh eating bacteria. This started a month ago... now for two weeks I started with nausea, then it turned into this heaviness when I breathe, went to my doctor said it was stress and had a follow up woth my cardiolologist from the last time I had "anxiety", and he said stress. Then after I start getting these squeezing pressures across my upper chest just under my neck that comes and goes and is now more persistent. But my chest is sore to touch and if I tense myself on purpose I can almost recreate the squeezing sensation. Then I stsrted belching and feel heartburn but I made the mistake of Dr Google. Now my arm and beck and whole darn body hurt and just feels tense. I have had just about every test you can think of in the past uear since his health anxiety began. Here goes the squeeZing again!! Does anyone feel this too??!!

[Lyns1411]

I get a tight chest and a choking sensation like my throat is really tight. Ive been fine all day and now this tightness has just come on for no reason

[Bljanise in reply to Lyns1411]

Ive been told it's reflux and stress but it feels real enough. It's been bothering me all day and night lately.

[johncraig]

Bljanise...i'm far from being an expert but it sounds like health anxiety to me but that shouldn't put you off from seeing a Doctor when you have these feelings as everything can't be simply put down as being "anxiety"

part of my anxiety triggers is worrying about my own and my families heath but over time i've realised that the aches and pains the colds and sniffles are all just minor ailments which with time go away and i don't let them increase my anxiety but if i feel there is something a bit more worrying going on i visit my Doctor and put my mind a rest....john

[Lyns1411]

Yeah I convince myself there's something seriously wrong with me and google things which makes it ten times worse. Certain foods trigger my anxiety off to like too much chocolate and things but problem

Is I've got a really sweet tooth so it's hard to miss it out completely! Just wish we could feel normal again and live a normal life instead of feeling like utter crap all the time.

[Bljanise in reply to Lyns1411]

Yes, exactly! Coffee calms me but it is a trigger. Its just horrible. We're still alive though!!

[Lyns1411]

Yeah we are alive but not living life happy like we should be. We never know how we are going to feel from one day to the next. The smallest things can trigger our anxiety off. I've been prescribed antidepressants off docs but being an anxious person I'm too anxious to take the tablets

[Bljanise in reply to Lyns1411]

That's very true. Im afraid Im forgetting who i am. I just want to wake up and go about my day without worrying when ill feel "something" or what's next?! I tried different meds but they made me sick. My doctor recently gave me something to help me stay asleep, but I'm too scared it'll make me drowsy to the point I'll fight it and panic or whatever. Sigh.

[johncraig in reply to Lyns1411]

don't be frightened to try them...you can always come back off them if you feel they are not doing you any good.

medication helped my depression a lot but it's the anxiety i'm struggling with more but will try most things to ease this bloody awful illness

I hid away from everything at one point which only made things much worse I'm far from cured but I'm not going back to the way i was...put your trust in the professionals it may just help...John

[Lyns1411]

What meds did they give u to try? I worry about side effects too much so that stops me taking the tablet. I just don't want to have a feeling of being spaced out or anything

[Bljanise in reply to Lyns1411]

I tried zoloft and lexapro before but I was given klonopin for this issue, I am scared to try it.

[Lyns1411 in reply to Bljanise]

They have given me sertraline nd I've had them for bout 8months but I'm being referred for counselling too. I'm thinking of trying hypnotherapy as it has good results on anxiety

[blackcat64013]

Hi Bljanise and forum members.

I think we are all talking in a roundabout way of psychosomatic symptoms.

Psychosomatic means mind (psyche) and body (soma). A psychosomatic disorder is a disease which involves both mind and body.

The word psychosomatic refers to physical symptoms that occur for psychological reasons, that is anxiety / stress.

Psychosomatic disorders are conditions in which a person suffers from significant physical symptoms – causing real distress and disability which cannot be explained by medical tests or physical examination e.g. chest pain may be caused by stress. Those people who do not understand the concept properly will often say "it's all in your head" while ignoring the fact there are real symptoms.

The best treatment is a type of talking therapy call cognitive behavior therapy often shortened to CBT.

There are lots of references online to both psychosomatic symptoms and CBT. Just don't overthink the subject LOL

[Sway]

Bless you, this is how I often feel. I have an anxiety condition and it took years but I have it under control now. I had cbt three times until I was in the right place to put it into practice. It made a huge difference. I've also tried medication and at the time that was right too. Now I'm able to use steps to divert away so I don't get to panic attack states.

Best advice, be honest with yourself. If you can't do this yourself then get some support. Record in a dedicated diary so you can see your reality. I.e. I used to think I had occasional issues but when I wrote down i saw it was all the time. Know yourself, what helps and what hurts? Then practice at getting it right. (If you practice then this allows for mistakes-don't beat urself up) be you're own best friend, what advice would you give your buddy then apply it to yourself.

If your symptoms anxiety, reflux or something else are getting in the way of your normal daily life then they need attention. Talk it over with your doc and if you don't feel reassured ask for a second opinion. Regardless of cause of symptoms you should feel reassured.

Take care

C x

[Sway]

You can also get some really decent work book style stuff off the web, try moodjuice for instance

[Bljanise]

Thank you all so much! I actually went to a therapy appointment today and she told me I need to let this anxiety produce productive energy in the form of exercise, crafts, etc. If I could get over the fear of dropping dead from exercising.... lol anyway, but I haven't been sleeping either, all of this seems nonstop torture. My doctor gave me a small dose of clonazapam to take at night, I havent taken it because Im scared of the side effects or whatnot. But sleep is the biggest thing so i guess Ill try it....before my husband force feeds it to me at least.