My Story - OCD & Health Anxiety

[corgilover22]

Hello everyone, I have been diagnosed with OCD & wanted to share my story to see if anyone else has had a similar experience to mine. Most recently I have also been dealing with health anxiety as well, constantly thinking that any physical symptom I have that doesn’t feel right is the sign of a serious Illness. This past September I started dealing with a lot of sudden GI related issues that lasted on & off for a month straight, nausea, bloating, lack of appetite, light headedness usually after eating. I went to doctors who did not seem concerned. Luckily they disappeared for about a month but then they all came back around the end of November & I am still dealing with them now. I went back to the doctor and am now seeing a Gastro specialist, have had a ton of different blood work done & everything has come back normal. I’m sure that my OCD is playing a factor in making these symptoms appear worse than they really are. But I’m at the point where it has consumed my life where I just obsess over how I’m feeling every single day & since I don’t have any answers I keep thinking that there really could be something wrong that I’m missing. I also get scared that I’m going to feel like the forever & not be able to find relief. I just don’t understand how this could all be due to anxiety- the nausea and light headedness just come on so suddenly & it triggers my OCD. Can anyone else relate with this??

[corgilover22]

Thank you so much for your reply! It’s a vicious cycle that has gotten to the point where I just sit & ruminate in my feelings and I’m at the point where I am wondering if I am just causing most of these symptoms myself since I can’t stop thinking about them. Luckily I have started to go back to therapy & have an appointment with a psychiatrist in a few weeks to talk about medication options. Trying to keep busy but have been finding myself not having any motivation lately & telling myself that I can’t do what I used to do anymore… even though I can!

[StuckForYears]

I've had health problems that some doctors couldn't diagnose, and it took finding the right doctor, who took one look and knew what was happening. This whole process drove me out of my mind with OCD; I knew OCD wasn't driving the health problem, but the health problem definitely made OCD worse.

I would advise concurrent strategies; try to get treatment for OCD, try switching up your diet to see if that has any effect, and get recommendations from friends of doctors to diagnose/treat the gastrointestinal stuff. Hopefully pursuing both will help untangle what's driving what.

[corgilover22 in reply to StuckForYears]

Thanks for your reply! I totally agree with everything you are saying. For the GI issues at the moment I’ve been taking omeprazole twice a day & a probiotic. It’s been about 3 weeks and haven’t noticed much difference there but am starting to switch up my diet so hoping that helps too. I have been going back to therapy & working with my therapist on OCD whereas in the past I was diagnosed with Panic Disorder so it’s like dealing with a whole new monster now! I also have an appointment with a psychiatrist soon to discuss OCD medication options which I’m open to but have never been on any medication for anxiety before so a bit nervous about it. Hopefully all of these things combined will help. It’s just defeating feeling so physically awful everyday.

[Littleducky5]

I know exactly how you feel and I'm so sorry you're dealing with it!

I've been dealing with major health anxiety for the past year. I had covid in Dec 2020 and only had mild symptoms, but afterwards I developed crazy heart palpitations. So I went to urgent care one day and they did an EKG and told me I needed to be taken to the ER right away because my heart rhythm was off and they needed to rule out a blood clot. That's basically when my anxiety began and made everything a million times worse.

Long story short, I ended up going to the ER and they diagnosed me with premature ventricular contractions which are actually not harmful and pretty common. But I was reading all these stories about people who had mild covid symptoms and then developed heart issues and blood clots, so my anxiety was through the roof which caused my palpitations to get even worse and I ended up going back to the ER FOUR MORE TIMES over the next few months because I swore there was a bigger issue going on. I was in a constant state of anxiety and so irritable because i couldn't relax any time I had the slightest discomfort somewhere in my body.

Over the past year, I've gotten multiple chest x-rays (which I know is so bad because of the radiation!), three CT scans on multiple areas of my body, a ultrasound of my legs because I was convinced I had a blood clot, and two echocardiograms by two different cardiologists just to make sure they came up with the same conclusion 😑😅

I felt exactly like you described. I don't have any good advice for you, but I know that my anxiety surrounding that whole issue did come to an end, probably when my mind moved onto the next thing to obsess over.

I know it's easier said than done, but just try to tell yourself you will be okay no matter what, just to try to bring the anxiety level down. Anxiety does cause physical symptoms, which makes it hard to distinguish what's real and what's not. If your bloodwork has come back normal, then that's great and you should keep reminding yourself that something probably would have shown up if there was something really serious going on.

I hope your symptoms subside, but if you truly feel like there's an issue then you could always get further testing done...

[corgilover22 in reply to Littleducky5]

Thanks for your reply & so sorry you went through all of that!! I have been taking omeprazole for the last 3 weeks and a probiotic but haven’t noticed any improvement yet which makes me nervous. Now Im starting to really focus on my diet & hope that will help as I haven’t been doing a good job with that and I do notice a difference at least mentally when I eat very clean.

[Littleducky5]

I would also try doing what some of the previous posts said about diet and probiotics. Probiotics are amazing!

And yes, anxiety can definitely cause lightheadedness. I remember asking myself all those same questions when I went through it last year and now I can say it was definitely the anxiety!

[pinkcat42]

I can totally relate and sympathize with what you’re going through. I have had OCD for 30 years and two years ago, it started focusing on health after I found out I have a pancreatic cyst, an abdominal aortic aneurysm and a lung nodule. All of these things were found incidentally on an abdominal CT scan because I was having GI issues. It turns out that the things that were found had nothing to do with the GI issues I was having, but finding out I had these things put me in a tailspin. Now every time something weird is going on with my body, I worry it’s something ominous. It’s terrible. I Google too much too and I know it’s not helpful. It’s like no matter what you Google, it will tell you that you could have some life threatening condition. I’ve probably been to the doctor once a month for the past two years about one thing or another. I too have been having nausea and sometimes dizziness for no reason for the past six weeks and just went to the doctor about it too a few days ago. I do notice that when I’m not thinking about it, I’m not noticing it as much, which makes me think it could be caused by the anxiety. My mind always jumps to worst case scenario though, which really is no different than the way my mind reacts to all my OCD themes. My therapist told me that with health anxiety, the guidelines for doctors appointments should be: 1) Symptoms lasting longer than 7-14 days that are worsening, 2) Fever over 101.5 degrees, 3) Bleeding, 4) Vomiting or inability to keep fluids down 5) Pain that interferes with your ability to do your daily routine 6) Otherwise, stick to your annual doctor appointment or guidelines of what your doctor has specifically recommended. I don’t find this easy to do, but I try.

[corgilover22 in reply to pinkcat42]

Thank you for sharing your story. I’m so sorry you went through all of that, I have been reacting the same way! I actually am supposed to have an abdominal ultrasound as well to rule anything else out, but the thought of doing that alone has been giving me so much anxiety & am worried other things will pop up that I will then start to worry about like what you mentioned. Did you ever find out what was causing your GI issues & what has made you feel better? Your therapists comment on health anxiety guidelines is very interesting - helps put things into perspective. I’ve been having these GI issues on & off for the last 2 months, but symptoms haven’t been worsening which I guess is good but don’t seem to be improving & then I start to notice other things which is totally confusing me to think that things might actually be getting worse or it’s my OCD jumping around & obsessing about something else. Ugh!

[corgilover22 in reply to pinkcat42]

And yes I Google everything!!! My therapist is having me work on not doing that as it is a compulsion of mine. So hard to do but she is having me set a timer everytime I feel the urge to google & try to distract myself by doing something else. SO hard!!

[pinkcat42]

I totally can relate about anxiety surrounding medical tests. Every time I have to have a test done now, even if it’s just bloodwork, it gives me terrible anxiety, especially waiting for the results. I’m always worried I’m going to be surprised by something again or find out something I wasn’t expecting and then get freaked out. My therapist told me though just because something is unexpected, doesn’t mean it’s dangerous. I’ve been trying to keep that in perspective. I never found out what caused the original GI issue that caused me to have the CT scan done. Whatever it was went away within a couple weeks. The current nausea stuff I’ve been experiencing is still being investigated. My doctor wants me to do a two-week glucose monitor to see if there’s any correlation between the nausea and low blood sugar. I’ve already had bloodwork done not long ago and I’m not diabetic, but he wants to rule out hypoglycemia. I have a feeling it’s not that. He also said we could do an ultrasound on my gallbladder depending on what the results are of the glucose monitor. I don’t think it’s that either since I’m not having abdominal pain and I think most people usually do with gallbladder issues. It seems like 99% of the time when I’m worried about a symptom, no one ever figures it out and more often than not, it ends up eventually going away. Or maybe it goes away because I find something else to worry about that trumps it. Lol. Good idea about the timer when tempted to Google something! I should try that too!! I also know what you mean about continually noticing new symptoms and then wondering if it’s OCD or whether you’re really physically getting worse. I am exactly the same way. It seems like random weird symptoms pop up all the time…on any given day I never know what I’m going to end up worrying about. And then I think, is this new symptom related to the other symptoms that I’ve been worrying about? Or is anxiety causing this? My mom told me she thinks that most people have weird things that happen with their bodies all the time but they just don’t worry about every little thing. She said she thinks because of my OCD, I am hyper aware of my body and what goes on with it, where as other people just wouldn’t think much of it or even notice it. I think if you’ve been experiencing bothersome symptoms for two months, then it doesn’t hurt to check it out for peace of mind. But once you’ve had all the tests that the doctors think are appropriate, and if all the results are normal, then maybe take a leap of faith and trust that the anxiety might be the source of the symptoms. My therapist basically told me to find a doctor I trust, make sure I ask all my questions and get answers that I am satisfied with, and then take his word for it. Believe me, I find it super challenging too and am always worried the doctors are going to miss something. But maybe that’s the OCD talking.

[corgilover22 in reply to pinkcat42]

Literally everything you just wrote sounds like my brain talking to me!! I think being diagnosed with OCD has at least given me some sort of answer in the way that I’m thinking isn’t correct. Wish I could think like a normal person & not let every little thing freak me out!! Good luck with the nausea, let me know what they think. I had also brought that up to my doctor and she mentioned checking the gallbladder too, but I’m not having any pain there at all. But you’re right, once I stop obsessing about a symptom and move on to the next it seems to disappear. But I always just want to why they were even happening in the first place!!

[Bothisgood]

I used to OBSESS over STDs in my late teens. I had a constant pain for months that I convinced myself was an STD. I talked to my gyn about it several times. I brought it up to my primary and she had a talk with me and said listen, there is nothing wrong here. Next day the pain was gone. My point is that anxiety can cause real physical pain. You talked to your doctor, you're seeing a specialist, you've gotten multiple professional opinions. Getting that professional opinion is what always helped me. Having a doctor who listens and who you can trust is important. But anxiety for real can be a physical pain, the example I used is just one I've experienced. And the anxiety of having no resolution definitely exacerbates things. But you did the right thing going to a specialist. You can always get a second opinion and if those opinions agree hopefully that can bring you some relief.

[barbararl in reply to Bothisgood]

reading these comments make me feel like i'm not alone with this health anxiety which can be overpowering; as i get older (in my 70s) i am constantly finding some symptom needing confirmation of nothing serious; it does occur more often when stress is very high; sometimes i think i am afraid to identify the source of the stress, which may be worse than the medical symptom. either way, both are paralyzing & take a toll on my well-being; it would probably be helpful to journal what is bothering me/what am i worried about/what is the worse case scenario; also a reminder that a characteristic of ocd is not trusting one's own judgment; someone else may minimize a muscle spasm or at least vow not to worry unless it lasts a week; i just wish my brain didn't respond to these situations in such a destructive way!