anyone that suffers with extreme anxiety, have u ever had a problem that turns out to be serious?

[Julieann90]

I’m just wondering how much anxiety actually plays a part in symptoms? especially when they become more in different parts of the body but that are close by e.g

tongue problems, symptoms easing but still there had for over 2 months

now sore throat and white specks on tonsils

ear pain that comes and goes but right not is hurting

neck pain that comes and goes.
Thanks

 

[Izthewiz]

I can share something that relates to this.
I use to have bad Anxiety and around 15 months ago I awoke with severe pain in my Pelvic area and frequent urge to urinate.
I went to the ER they diagnosed it as prostatitis and sent me on my way with antibiotics.
After a week nothing changed.
Went back to the ER was sent for a CT scan and all came back clear from there referred to urology and they found nothing but pelvic floor dysfunction.
Pelvic floor Dysfunction can be caused by high Anxiety as it causes the Pelvic floor to become overly tight do to stress and Anxiety.
After 15 months I'm almost 95% better.
It's a must to get Anxiety in check.
I use to fear death not anymore, there is things worse than dying like pelvic floor Dysfunction I didn't sleep for 3 days do to frequent urination every 5 minutes.

 

[Julieann90]

I can share something that relates to this.
I use to have bad Anxiety and around 15 months ago I awoke with severe pain in my Pelvic area and frequent urge to urinate.
I went to the ER they diagnosed it as prostatitis and sent me on my way with antibiotics.
After a week nothing changed.
Went back to the ER was sent for a CT scan and all came back clear from there referred to urology and they found nothing but pelvic floor dysfunction.
Pelvic floor Dysfunction can be caused by high Anxiety as it causes the Pelvic floor to become overly tight do to stress and Anxiety.
After 15 months I'm almost 95% better.
It's a must to get Anxiety in check.
I use to fear death not anymore, there is things worse than dying like pelvic floor Dysfunction I didn't sleep for 3 days do to frequent urination every 5 minutes.

Thankyou for sharing that. I just worry that my issues are just being brushed off as anxiety.. if that makes sense and there will truly be something seriously wrong. A couple of years ago if I had a sore throat it would have just been a sore throat, now because I have that with white specks, weird sensation on my tongue etc I’m adamant something serious is wrong and that nobody is taking me seriously even though I have seen the dentist and doctors

 

[chickentender]

Everyone will have something actually wrong at some point, that's just part of life. What helps me is having a GP I trust who actually listens to me and takes the time to figure out if something is anxiety or is more serious. I also remind myself of all the many, many, MANY times I thought something was seriously wrong and how in the overwhelming majority of cases, whatever it was was not serious, my anxiety just made it feel very much worse. I agree that the most important thing is getting a handle on your anxiety which will reduce the amount of little things that go wrong in your day to day life- ex rashes, stomach pains, reflux, etc etc etc from stress. And, it will also make it easier for you to be able to know when there's a real issue and when it's not a serious thing, but more likely your anxiety getting the best of you.

 

[Fraser]

Thankyou for sharing that. I just worry that my issues are just being brushed off as anxiety.. if that makes sense and there will truly be something seriously wrong. A couple of years ago if I had a sore throat it would have just been a sore throat, now because I have that with white specks, weird sensation on my tongue etc I’m adamant something serious is wrong and that nobody is taking me seriously even though I have seen the dentist and doctors

A hypochondriac is just as likely to get a serious illness as anyone else. What you did is you went to health care professionals about your symptoms, they told you those symptoms do not suggest a serious illness (looking at them, they don't look like they do to me either). The question now is why don't you believe them. Why do you think it is a serious illness where they don't? Do you have a pattern of this thinking and behaviour?

If you have health anxiety, you will want to get better as it causes a great deal of stress. I'd suggest that you try to pivot from googling your symptoms to googling health anxiety and try to focus your thoughts on getting better in that regard. Also, try printing out the attached sheet and actually filling it out (not just thinking the answers internally). Start making this a practice.

Also, check out these videos:

 

[Julieann90]

Everyone will have something actually wrong at some point, that's just part of life. What helps me is having a GP I trust who actually listens to me and takes the time to figure out if something is anxiety or is more serious. I also remind myself of all the many, many, MANY times I thought something was seriously wrong and how in the overwhelming majority of cases, whatever it was was not serious, my anxiety just made it feel very much worse. I agree that the most important thing is getting a handle on your anxiety which will reduce the amount of little things that go wrong in your day to day life- ex rashes, stomach pains, reflux, etc etc etc from stress. And, it will also make it easier for you to be able to know when there's a real issue and when it's not a serious thing, but more likely your anxiety getting the best of you.

A hypochondriac is just as likely to get a serious illness as anyone else. What you did is you went to health care professionals about your symptoms, they told you those symptoms do not suggest a serious illness (looking at them, they don't look like they do to me either). The question now is why don't you believe them. Why do you think it is a serious illness where they don't? Do you have a pattern of this thinking and behaviour?

If you have health anxiety, you will want to get better as it causes a great deal of stress. I'd suggest that you try to pivot from googling your symptoms to googling health anxiety and try to focus your thoughts on getting better in that regard. Also, try printing out the attached sheet and actually filling it out (not just thinking the answers internally). Start making this a practice.

Also, check out these videos:

Hello, thankyou for writing this. And talking to me. I don’t know why I don’t believe them. Maybe because I haven’t had a diagnosis of anything. Like why can’t we figure out what is causing all of this. And yes with health anxiety it makes
My head spin and I just google to find other causes but then instantly go back to cancer and I can’t get that thought out of my head. It’s horrible!! I’m constantly looking in the mirror figuring out if there’s something there or if it’s just me! Constantly asking people to look in there aswell to reassure me nothing is wrong. I’m trying so hard to not think about it. I had a really good day the other day and then boom next day it was back again! I just wanna know why I am having these weird tingling sensations and the feeling like I have a lump on the side of my tongue! Yes I have a pattern of this behaviour and have done for about 4 years, different types of cancer and once I’ve been referred and told things are fine I move on! Don’t know why I can’t this time round, maybe because it’s just the word of a doctor and dentist! I don’t know!
Thankyou for sending me those videos il take a look x

 

[Fraser]

I struggled with the same issue for YEARS. Literally I was worried about oral cancer, tonsil cancer and various forms of throat cancer for years. Went to doctors, dentists and two separate ENTs who all told me it was nothing. I would be reassured for a few days and then the cycle would start again. Eventually, years passed and my "symptoms" did not progress.

The good news about health anxiety is that it responds very well to a combination of CBT therapy and mindfulness meditation. Here are a couple of other resources you might find useful.

Overcoming Health Anxiety: Letting Go of Your Fear of Illness: Katherine Owens, Martin Antony: 9781572248380: Books - Amazon.ca

Overcoming Health Anxiety: Letting Go of Your Fear of Illness: Katherine Owens, Martin Antony: 9781572248380: Books - Amazon.ca

www.amazon.ca

and

Health Anxiety And Hypochondria Journal: Journal for Anxiety and Health Anxiety Hypochondria Sufferers With Anxiety and Mood Trackers with Anxiety Symptom Book & Worksheets, Quotes, Mindfulness Exercises, Gratitude Prompts and more.: Amazon.ca: BetterLifeDesigns: Books

Health Anxiety And Hypochondria Journal: Journal for Anxiety and Health Anxiety Hypochondria Sufferers With Anxiety and Mood Trackers with Anxiety Symptom Book & Worksheets, Quotes, Mindfulness Exercises, Gratitude Prompts and more.: Amazon.ca: BetterLifeDesigns: Books

www.amazon.ca

Good luck on your journey toward being free of health anxiety.

 

[Julieann90]

I struggled with the same issue for YEARS. Literally I was worried about oral cancer, tonsil cancer and various forms of throat cancer for years. Went to doctors, dentists and two separate ENTs who all told me it was nothing. I would be reassured for a few days and then the cycle would start again. Eventually, years passed and my "symptoms" did not progress.

The good news about health anxiety is that it responds very well to a combination of CBT therapy and mindfulness meditation. Here are a couple of other resources you might find useful.

Overcoming Health Anxiety: Letting Go of Your Fear of Illness: Katherine Owens, Martin Antony: 9781572248380: Books - Amazon.ca

Overcoming Health Anxiety: Letting Go of Your Fear of Illness: Katherine Owens, Martin Antony: 9781572248380: Books - Amazon.ca

www.amazon.ca

and

Health Anxiety And Hypochondria Journal: Journal for Anxiety and Health Anxiety Hypochondria Sufferers With Anxiety and Mood Trackers with Anxiety Symptom Book & Worksheets, Quotes, Mindfulness Exercises, Gratitude Prompts and more.: Amazon.ca: BetterLifeDesigns: Books

Health Anxiety And Hypochondria Journal: Journal for Anxiety and Health Anxiety Hypochondria Sufferers With Anxiety and Mood Trackers with Anxiety Symptom Book & Worksheets, Quotes, Mindfulness Exercises, Gratitude Prompts and more.: Amazon.ca: BetterLifeDesigns: Books

www.amazon.ca

Good luck on your journey toward being free of health anxiety.

Can I ask what made you think you had oral/tonsil/throat cancer? Do you still have some symptoms now? Or how long did they take to go, my symptoms aren’t worsening if anything they are loads better, just this one symptom that’s bugging me now. I guess I should take that as a good sign that they haven’t got worse but better. But I have been dealing with this for 2 months now and I think I am more frustrated than anything that I don’t know what it is, and because it is still there I am worried that it is something sinister.

 

[Fraser]

Can I ask what made you think you had oral/tonsil/throat cancer? Do you still have some symptoms now? Or how long did they take to go, my symptoms aren’t worsening if anything they are loads better, just this one symptom that’s bugging me now. I guess I should take that as a good sign that they haven’t got worse but better. But I have been dealing with this for 2 months now and I think I am more frustrated than anything that I don’t know what it is, and because it is still there I am worried that it is something sinister.

There were a bunch of symptoms. I have one tonsil bigger than the other, I had a kind of one sided nasal drip, I had a rough, patchy feeling in the back of my throat, I have, and continue to have, a strange lump that juts out on one side of my neck when I swallow. But you're focusing on the wrong thing. It wasn't my symptoms that was the problem, it was my reaction to them that was the problem. And it drove me to despair. Literally crying with my face in my hands, believing that I was dying. Unable to properly enjoy anything, for years, because in the back of my mind I was always had the cloud over me. It tainted everything I did. I am now triggered by other things, but the end result is the same. I don't want to keep doing this cycle; I want out. I want to be free of this.

 

[chickentender]

There were a bunch of symptoms. I have one tonsil bigger than the other, I had a kind of one sided nasal drip, I had a rough, patchy feeling in the back of my throat, I have, and continue to have, a strange lump that juts out on one side of my neck when I swallow. But you're focusing on the wrong thing. It wasn't my symptoms that was the problem, it was my reaction to them that was the problem. And it drove me to despair. Literally crying with my face in my hands, believing that I was dying. Unable to properly enjoy anything, for years, because in the back of my mind I was always had the cloud over me. It tainted everything I did. I am now triggered by other things, but the end result is the same. I don't want to keep doing this cycle; I want out. I want to be free of this.

I find that the best way to dull the health anxiety is to tell myself that I am going to try not to care unless something is obviously wrong. Of course, I still have times when it works out better or worse for me, but this is something that helps me.
*Prohibiting myself from non stop checking and analyzing my body also helps a TON.

 

[Fraser]

*Prohibiting myself from non stop checking and analyzing my body also helps a TON.

This is key. "Scanning" is a form of self-check and reassurance that totally lends itself to circular anxious thinking. Cutting it out is crucial for getting better from health anxiety!

 

[Julieann90]

I find that the best way to dull the health anxiety is to tell myself that I am going to try not to care unless something is obviously wrong. Of course, I still have times when it works out better or worse for me, but this is something that helps me.
*Prohibiting myself from non stop checking and analyzing my body also helps a TON.

hello thanks for your kind messages. I have just spoken to the doctor again who has reassured me that after seeing a dentist and a doctor that there really isn’t anything wrong. And that it is psychological! She has booked me into speak with the mental health nurse next Wednesday to talk about my issues and talk about medication, as I was prescribed sertraline some months ago and stupidly read the side effects so never took them. So hopefully I will have some reassurance on the medication too. I was having CBT, but I had to give that up as having the kids at home from school all the time at the moment it’s impossible to concentrate on something like that for myself. Hopefully they will go back to school soon and I can restart those sessions. And of course when I am ready to attempt giving up smoking!

 

[KDenton]

I’ve always had anxiety about cancer, it’s always been my biggest fear.
Throughout my whole adult life I’ve had stomach problems. I’ve always been told it was stress/anxiety and gastritis. Years later the pain was unbearable so I went to the emergency room and did a CT scan and found masses on my ovaries. They said to go see my gyno so I did and he sent me to a gyno oncologist who then sent me for a biopsy because he said it looked like appendix cancer. Turned out that’s what it was. I was diagnosed with stage 4 appendix cancer, had a 10 hour surgery and lost 9 organs. This was 9 months ago and I’m here to tell about it.
Deep down I knew it wasn’t my anxiety but I was brushed off because I was “too young.”
Listen to your body!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Julieann90]

I’ve always had anxiety about cancer, it’s always been my biggest fear.
Throughout my whole adult life I’ve had stomach problems. I’ve always been told it was stress/anxiety and gastritis. Years later the pain was unbearable so I went to the emergency room and did a CT scan and found masses on my ovaries. They said to go see my gyno so I did and he sent me to a gyno oncologist who then sent me for a biopsy because he said it looked like appendix cancer. Turned out that’s what it was. I was diagnosed with stage 4 appendix cancer, had a 10 hour surgery and lost 9 organs. This was 9 months ago and I’m here to tell about it.
Deep down I knew it wasn’t my anxiety but I was brushed off because I was “too young.”
Listen to your body!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hello, sorry to hear about your diagnosis! Hope you are doing well. This is what I keep hearing from the doctors “too young” but I am a smoker. I just keep telling
Myself that my symptoms aren’t getting worse it’s just frustrating that it’s there!! I’m hoping it will clear off soon!

 

[Fraser]

I’ve always had anxiety about cancer, it’s always been my biggest fear.
Throughout my whole adult life I’ve had stomach problems. I’ve always been told it was stress/anxiety and gastritis. Years later the pain was unbearable so I went to the emergency room and did a CT scan and found masses on my ovaries. They said to go see my gyno so I did and he sent me to a gyno oncologist who then sent me for a biopsy because he said it looked like appendix cancer. Turned out that’s what it was. I was diagnosed with stage 4 appendix cancer, had a 10 hour surgery and lost 9 organs. This was 9 months ago and I’m here to tell about it.
Deep down I knew it wasn’t my anxiety but I was brushed off because I was “too young.”
Listen to your body!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis and I am glad that you are recovering. You are right that people should not brush off their symptoms, even hypochondriacs. The problem for many of us is that our bodies are constantly telling us we have cancer because we have lost the ability to properly listen to our bodies.