Health Anxiety Feel Like I’m Dying

[toast122]

This is a follow up to my last couple posts. I’ve been feeling very unwell for an entire month now. My symptom progression:

-Headache, muscle aches, fatigue, dizziness/lightheadedness, sore and tight throat that progressed to burning lungs and chest tightness

-Went to ER, told I had pneumonia based on chest x ray, then told it was reviewed by radiologist and I don’t in fact have pneumonia

-Swabbed for COVID, came back negative

-Symptoms continued severely, sore throat, dizziness and gasping for air

-Symptoms progressed, difficulty breathing and chest tightness eased, sore throat became excrutiating

-Tongue and throat started burning as if on fire

-Chills, extreme muscle aches and fatigue set in

-Extreme pain/pressure under left rib and extreme sharp pain in lower right side started

-No appetite through all this

-Diarrhea and nausea/dryheaving

-Waking up with fast beating heart and chest soaked in sweat every morning, with hands and legs numb

-Chest pain in waves throughout the day

-Dry cough, losing voice and persistent throat burning/tightness and burning tongue

-2 more COVID swabs and 2 more chest x rays as well as blood work and mono test through all this, everything clear and results negative

-Symptoms come in waves and change everyday

-No fever throughout this whole thing, only chills

-Can feel my lymph nodes swollen/sore, in throat and stomach

-Finally started antibiotics today as a last resort as doctors can’t figure out what is wrong with me

This is such a hopeless feeling. I have felt like I’m DYING for an entire month. Several ER visits (which is very risky given the pandemic) and nothing found to be wrong (other than the pneumonia scare which didnt end up being pneumonia). 7 ER visits, 2 phone consults with family doctor, phone consult with ENT, blood work, 3 chest x rays, 3 covid tests, mono test- all clear. I am worried that the doctors are missing something like cancer, a serious infection, sepsis, or something else that will kill me.

Everyone I live with is trying to convince me that this is all due to postpartum anxiety and depression (i’m 7 weeks postpartum) which I do have, but I can’t imagine it could make me feel THIS ill for THIS long...especially the symptoms such as severe sore throat and cough. I am on Zoloft for the postpartum anxiety/depression. They also believe it is due to postpartum because not a single person in my household has gotten sick, and I’ve been in very close contact with them- especially my fiance and newborn. I am feeling terribly guilty because feeling unwell has made it very hard to take care of my newborn. I feel like a terrible mother but I can barely function. The smallest amount of physical activity leaves me gasping for air, coughing, and causes my throat and chest to burn. I have never felt anything like this in my life and I am so scared that I will die, leaving my baby without a mom.

I do have a history of health anxiety so no one believes me and thinks I’m exaggerating, but it feels different this time. No amount of deep breathing, antidepressants, or distraction minimizes the feelings. I was in the ER crying begging for relief because I was in so much excrutiating pain. I am taking tylenol, a puffer, and a mouth/throat numbing wash to ease my symptoms. I am also drinking lots of tea, water, gatorade and soup as I can’t handle solids. I am so frightened, don’t know when this will end and I don’t know what to do anymore

[duchess1226]

It very well could be anxiety driven, my panic and anxiety attacks manifest in medical stuff AND my PMDD causes fever, sore throat, etc but I know its because I am about to go on my menstrual cycle so. I have been placed on low dose birth control because I am peri-menopausal, its beginning to help. I am so sorry, I HATE HATE HATE all the feelings you described and I did so many trips to ER in the past few years its embarrassing. Saw cardiologists and everything. Take care!! xoxo