Good morning, hope you had a nice weekend. Since college I've always had a little health anxiety (AIDS, cancer, etc.) which has kept with me throughout my life (I'm 50). Also, each year I get a physical which usually turns out OK (some high cholesterol, etc) and I have my yearly tomorrow morning which always brings out a lot of anxiety in me. It's not some much the exam its doing the blood work before and waiting for the results.
So here's where I'm at now. About a month ago I was driving around and just having pains in my chest this went on for a week or so and I finally just stopped in a walk in clinic and said, what the hell is wrong me me. They took me in and did chest x rays and some other tests and a D dimer test which all came back negative which was a relief at the time (or so I thought). The MD came in and literally told me that I had GAD and that can cause pain anywhere on the body, including the chest. I was surpirsed that she was able to diagnose this so quickly. She suggested taking some medication and game me Lorazepan (sp?) for anxiety attacks. I took a few but they didn't seem to do anything for me so I stopped. I do drink alcohol which seems to alleviate my anxiety but when I wake up, it's back again with a vengeance (I've read extensively on this so I know all about it.)
I've found it really tough to get out of bed in the morning (especially after drinking) and it's odd, when I'm not thinking about my chest, it's not that bad. When I start to think about it I go down a hole and just want to die. I'm just really at a low point and could use some help in digging out of this hole. I figured when the doc told me it was stress that it would just go away but it hasn't.
Here's my questions and I'll take any feedback from you all and thank you in advance.
1) I have a pretty stressful job and 3 children (mostly younger) that are active to say the least. Can the stress from the job, kids, etc. make this pain in my chest and just have it stay there? I even got a massage and that didn't do anything to alleve the pain.
2) Other than CBT how do you move on from health anxiety as I seem to go from one body part to the next? For example, I wasted a year of my life thinking I had ALS and even going to a neuro to rule it out. In the past the haze has just kind of lifted but its always there waiting for the next bump or pain.
Thanks for any help or maybe pointing out the obvious that I'm missing to help me out.
So here's where I'm at now. About a month ago I was driving around and just having pains in my chest this went on for a week or so and I finally just stopped in a walk in clinic and said, what the hell is wrong me me. They took me in and did chest x rays and some other tests and a D dimer test which all came back negative which was a relief at the time (or so I thought). The MD came in and literally told me that I had GAD and that can cause pain anywhere on the body, including the chest. I was surpirsed that she was able to diagnose this so quickly. She suggested taking some medication and game me Lorazepan (sp?) for anxiety attacks. I took a few but they didn't seem to do anything for me so I stopped. I do drink alcohol which seems to alleviate my anxiety but when I wake up, it's back again with a vengeance (I've read extensively on this so I know all about it.)
I've found it really tough to get out of bed in the morning (especially after drinking) and it's odd, when I'm not thinking about my chest, it's not that bad. When I start to think about it I go down a hole and just want to die. I'm just really at a low point and could use some help in digging out of this hole. I figured when the doc told me it was stress that it would just go away but it hasn't.
Here's my questions and I'll take any feedback from you all and thank you in advance.
1) I have a pretty stressful job and 3 children (mostly younger) that are active to say the least. Can the stress from the job, kids, etc. make this pain in my chest and just have it stay there? I even got a massage and that didn't do anything to alleve the pain.
2) Other than CBT how do you move on from health anxiety as I seem to go from one body part to the next? For example, I wasted a year of my life thinking I had ALS and even going to a neuro to rule it out. In the past the haze has just kind of lifted but its always there waiting for the next bump or pain.
Thanks for any help or maybe pointing out the obvious that I'm missing to help me out.