It seems like every other week, just as I start to convince myself a physical symptom is anxiety, that symptom goes away and another one appears.
It all started when I was 17 (I’m 25 now). My heart was “skipping beats”. Went to the doctor and he did an ekg. That night I had a soccer game and my doctor called my dad and had me pulled off the field because he might have saw something that needed to be looked into. Cleared by an echocardiogram the next day. Since then I have had physical symptoms that don’t bother me all too much because I dismiss them as anxiety (pounding heart, muscle twitch,sweaty palms, cold feet, vivid dreams etc.) When I was 21 I went to the hospital thinking I ruptured my spleen and went to the ER and I was dismissed and told I had gas. Since then I have convinced myself of everything you can imagine. Colon cancer, oral cancer, neurological disorders, brain cancer, you name it.
However this past year has been absolute hell with new symptoms. Last fall (when my anxiety tends to be at its worst) I began using an additive to my laundry that I believe caused me to get a rash. This rash appeared both under my nipple and in my armpits. Although I looked into it and saw reviews of others having reactions to the product, I assumed these “bumps” were cancer and that began a downward spiral of cancer scares (lymphoma, colon cancer, testicular cancer etc). It’s been nonstop and exhausting. I just got out of the military which has caused me a lot of stress, and when I was at my most stressed I was getting headaches and nausea. I tried to tell myself it was stress or seasonal migraines. My eyes also became bloodshot (unknown reason, but had an optometry exam 2 weeks before) and upon google review I diagnosed myself with everything from glaucoma to a parasite to other diseases that convinced me I’d lose my vision. That was a few weeks ago. Now my right eye feels “scratched” but is not bloodshot or anything, just a stingy feeling, so the reasonable person in me told myself I probably scratched it taking my contact out since that’s when it started stinging. But me being an idiot I used google again and now I’m convinced I have the infection that will result in vision loss again. I’ll also wake up at 5am and immediately be in a panic, which is different since my anxiety is usually worse at night.
Does anyone else have similar experience? It’s now robbed me of most of my happiness. I know I would feel better if I went and just got checked out but if I did that every time I got a new symptom I would be there every day.
It all started when I was 17 (I’m 25 now). My heart was “skipping beats”. Went to the doctor and he did an ekg. That night I had a soccer game and my doctor called my dad and had me pulled off the field because he might have saw something that needed to be looked into. Cleared by an echocardiogram the next day. Since then I have had physical symptoms that don’t bother me all too much because I dismiss them as anxiety (pounding heart, muscle twitch,sweaty palms, cold feet, vivid dreams etc.) When I was 21 I went to the hospital thinking I ruptured my spleen and went to the ER and I was dismissed and told I had gas. Since then I have convinced myself of everything you can imagine. Colon cancer, oral cancer, neurological disorders, brain cancer, you name it.
However this past year has been absolute hell with new symptoms. Last fall (when my anxiety tends to be at its worst) I began using an additive to my laundry that I believe caused me to get a rash. This rash appeared both under my nipple and in my armpits. Although I looked into it and saw reviews of others having reactions to the product, I assumed these “bumps” were cancer and that began a downward spiral of cancer scares (lymphoma, colon cancer, testicular cancer etc). It’s been nonstop and exhausting. I just got out of the military which has caused me a lot of stress, and when I was at my most stressed I was getting headaches and nausea. I tried to tell myself it was stress or seasonal migraines. My eyes also became bloodshot (unknown reason, but had an optometry exam 2 weeks before) and upon google review I diagnosed myself with everything from glaucoma to a parasite to other diseases that convinced me I’d lose my vision. That was a few weeks ago. Now my right eye feels “scratched” but is not bloodshot or anything, just a stingy feeling, so the reasonable person in me told myself I probably scratched it taking my contact out since that’s when it started stinging. But me being an idiot I used google again and now I’m convinced I have the infection that will result in vision loss again. I’ll also wake up at 5am and immediately be in a panic, which is different since my anxiety is usually worse at night.
Does anyone else have similar experience? It’s now robbed me of most of my happiness. I know I would feel better if I went and just got checked out but if I did that every time I got a new symptom I would be there every day.
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