For the past year my health anxiety has been the worst it's ever been. The past few months I was convinced I have pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, and stomach cancer. I was slowly calming down from these fears after seeing my Dr. And having blood work done. Now I am in full on panic again because of my heart . I went for my annual check up with my gynecologist and they said my blood pressure was pretty high and I should schedule an appointment with my Dr. I get home and google high blood pressure and the symptoms, and after reading them I started feeling dizzy and my vision was blurry. I of course think I am going to have a heart attack and end up at the ER. They did a chest X-ray, an ekg , and blood work and said everything was ok. My blood pressure was super high when I went in, but the last reading , while still a little high, was significantly lower then when I went in and when it was checked at my appointment. I am freaking out and positive that I have a serious problem with my heart and high blood pressure. I have noticed that sometimes when I try to fall asleep I feel heart palpitations along with my gerd, and last night I woke up with a bloody nose, which sent me into a full panic since I read that is a symptom of high blood pressure. I have an appointment scheduled on the 13th but I am feeling so anxious and depressed. I thought I was making progress with this. In December I had a check up and everything was great, blood pressure and labs all looked good. I can't believe in under 2 months so much could change.
The problem with health anxiety is that the reassurance that all sufferers seek is absolutely not the answer, even though it seems that it would be. The health obsession aspect is just a presentation of anxiety, so the root anxiety needs to be treated before it will be controlled. Unfortunately the more tests and reassurance you seek, the further it will be from being controlled, your just feeding it by doing that, which is not a criticism - it's just the nature of the problem
Do seek some CBT! It's free and it will hopefully help you to stop these negative thoughts which can unfortunately take over your day to day life. Doctors and hospitals are there to spot any life threatening conditions. They would not let you return home if they thought anything could go wrong &it seems they were happy enough with your test results to let you go please let that be peace of mind
Hi im so sorry you feel this way i have really bad anxiety to and has got worse due to finding out i have gallstones and now have to have surgery to take my gallbladder out. I get a lot of help with my anxiety and even more so now as it has got worse. Do you get help with yours? If you dont maybe you should speak to your doctor so they can help you with your anxiety aswell and tell you where to get more help for your anxiety aswell. I hope this helped a little and i hope you feel better soon and keep me updated from carmella.
I feel this answer is so true! I suffer with health anxiety so bad, but no matter how much they tell me I'm okay, I find another problem within minutes and I'm convinced I'm not! I'm convinced there missing something and the doctors are using anxiety as "diagnosis" when in fact it's something else! I've not started getting tension headaches everyday from morning until night, the only time I done feel my head in a constant cloud is when I'm asleep, so now I think I've got a brain tumour! The amount of stress health anxiety cause is unbelievable, you literally convince yourself your dying. It's so sad 😭
Bless you Kg
Health anxiety is cruel .... Changing the way you think about the symptoms is the way forward... Not easy to do but important as the negative response to every senasation is feeding the anxiety.
I was just the same after a stomach issue which turned out to be gallstones but too late i had already googled my symptoms and i had at least 3 terminal illness according to Dr Google.. So of course you know how that freaks you and puts your body on high alert feeding the anxiety feeding the physical symptoms then the cycle begins.
With a lot of hard work, research , mindful meditation and CBT.. i got it under control... Then when i had a dizzy spell (which i knew was anxiety) i was back to square one thought i had a tumour or having a stroke etc etc.. All tests done and had to start all over again to get back on top.
Now i never google anything to do with health... EVER... I started the meditation etc again and learned that its something i have to do even when well.
I changed my thought pattern .. I know anxiety isnt dangerous and i dealt with it before and i can do it again..
I am positive instead of ngative and listen to positive affirmations daily and nightly again something that you have to keep up.
I dont take my eye off the ball now..
Keep strong and do as much self help as you can anxiety sufférers are strong people.. x You may not feel it but im sure there are plenty of non anxiety sufférers who couldnt cope with all the rubbish anxiety throws at you xx
Thank you all for replying. Sometimes it helps so much just to share my fears with other people who understand what I am feeling.