You don't need Doctor Google to convince you that you have some serious illness, sensitised nerves are quite capable of doing that all on their own. They send us messages that we have bad hearts, organ failure and tumours just about everywhere and the symptoms are just so convincing.
But it's all fake. Muscular tension in the chest can be very painful. Stomach aches so debilitating. Breathlessness frightening. Anxiety takes many forms but it is always still anxiety.
First, you must get a proper diagnosis from a doctor that it is anxiety. Rarely it can be due to thyroid and adrenal gland problems. But even after tests and a medical diagnosis that it's nerves we still aren't completely certain. Such is the power of anxiety to convince us otherwise. It's so good at acting like something genuinely life-threatening it deserves to win an Oscar.
No use hoping it will go away on it's own. Maybe it will, maybe it won't, why leave it to chance? You need to acquaint yourself how anxiety works. This brings an end to bewilderment. Then you need to address the prospects for respite and recovery. Share your symptoms in postings by all means, it's good to know you're not alone. But endlessly reporting on your symptoms won't produce a cure. You need to do something. You need to report on your progress instead.
Anxiety is the perfectly normal reaction of the body to unbearable stress. Recovery is possible no matter how long and how deeply you have suffered.
Once there was an obscure Australian woman doctor who suffered from anxiety. Heaven knows how but she developed a method for respite, relief and recovery of high anxiety. She began to specialise in patients with nervous disorders and her success rate was remarkable. Eventually she wrote down her recovery method in a book titled 'Self help for your nerves' (U.K. edition) or 'Hope and help for your nerves' (U.S. edition). She toured the world to explain her teachings and appeared on television. Other writers produced self-help books based on her method. She wrote 5 more books herself before she died after a lifetime of healing. That was over 25 years ago.
Today her books and digital downloads continue to be sold on Amazon and (pre-owned) on ebay. All these years later her books clocked up almost 1,600 reader reviews on Amazon and 90% rate her either Very Good or Excellent.
Self-help costs nothing except the price of a book and the time spent reading and then acting on what you've learnt.
Panic attacks, health anxiety, agoraphobia and depression are all dealt with in her book.
Just reading it has a calming and reassuring influence.
Never followed anyone on anything before ha ha!! You are teaching me new things, even at my stage of recovery (consider myself recovered). Thank you for all that you share!
Dr Claire weekes a must read!!
