ButterflyFret
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- Apr 14, 2024
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Hey All,
My anxiety has turned from GAD (general anxiety disorder) to now specifically health anxiety. Of course, Googling symptoms is my worst enemy. I've gotten much better about not jumping straight to google whenever I notice a new sensation in my body because per usual google says it's a brain tumor or cancer. Lol. I have a shoulder injury (rotator cuff tear) on my left side that causes a lot of different sensations (burning, tingling, etc.) Over the last few days my anxiety has spiked because of these sensations from this shoulder injury. I've had this injury for almost 4 years now and have tried physical therapy, Kenalog shots, pain meds, etc. yet the pain is still there. Over the 4 years there's been a large amount of scar tissue that's been building up that now compresses the nerves in my shoulder, neck and spine which causes a lot of tingling sensations that shoot up my neck, down my spine and is now affecting my left leg as well. The scar tissue has built up so much that I can physically feel and see the difference between my left and right shoulders just below my collar bone. Because I know this is a direct result of my shoulder injury I have no anxiety about this and haven't for quite awhile. My doctor has told me that I will most likely need surgery to hopefully fix or greatly improve my shoulder, but we haven't quite reached that point yet.
A few days ago while scrolling through Instagram reels, a random video popped up and it was about a 35 year old woman who unfortunately found out she has cancer and her doctor just recently told her they're unable to operate on her due to the location of her newest tumor. Her doctor had told her that she is uncurable because of the location of her tumor, but that they would still try and treat the cancer in hopes the tumor will respond positively. She discovered this tumor because she noticed it just below her left collar bone (exact location of where my scar tissue has built up) and that information sent me into a panic attack immediately. I calmed myself down and a couple hours later I hopped onto Facebook and the only videos that were popping up was about people finding out they had cancer and their cancer stories. I don't know what was going on with the algorithm, but at that moment I made the decision to stay away from social media for a few weeks. This happened a few days ago but since then my mind has been reeling with anxiety and I haven't been able to get rid of it.
Does anyone else have health anxiety to this degree? How do you cope with it the best? I've tried counseling, medication, eliminating the social media, exercise, but nothing seems to help it stay away.
My anxiety has turned from GAD (general anxiety disorder) to now specifically health anxiety. Of course, Googling symptoms is my worst enemy. I've gotten much better about not jumping straight to google whenever I notice a new sensation in my body because per usual google says it's a brain tumor or cancer. Lol. I have a shoulder injury (rotator cuff tear) on my left side that causes a lot of different sensations (burning, tingling, etc.) Over the last few days my anxiety has spiked because of these sensations from this shoulder injury. I've had this injury for almost 4 years now and have tried physical therapy, Kenalog shots, pain meds, etc. yet the pain is still there. Over the 4 years there's been a large amount of scar tissue that's been building up that now compresses the nerves in my shoulder, neck and spine which causes a lot of tingling sensations that shoot up my neck, down my spine and is now affecting my left leg as well. The scar tissue has built up so much that I can physically feel and see the difference between my left and right shoulders just below my collar bone. Because I know this is a direct result of my shoulder injury I have no anxiety about this and haven't for quite awhile. My doctor has told me that I will most likely need surgery to hopefully fix or greatly improve my shoulder, but we haven't quite reached that point yet.
A few days ago while scrolling through Instagram reels, a random video popped up and it was about a 35 year old woman who unfortunately found out she has cancer and her doctor just recently told her they're unable to operate on her due to the location of her newest tumor. Her doctor had told her that she is uncurable because of the location of her tumor, but that they would still try and treat the cancer in hopes the tumor will respond positively. She discovered this tumor because she noticed it just below her left collar bone (exact location of where my scar tissue has built up) and that information sent me into a panic attack immediately. I calmed myself down and a couple hours later I hopped onto Facebook and the only videos that were popping up was about people finding out they had cancer and their cancer stories. I don't know what was going on with the algorithm, but at that moment I made the decision to stay away from social media for a few weeks. This happened a few days ago but since then my mind has been reeling with anxiety and I haven't been able to get rid of it.
Does anyone else have health anxiety to this degree? How do you cope with it the best? I've tried counseling, medication, eliminating the social media, exercise, but nothing seems to help it stay away.