Health Anxiety

[anxiousinmo]

Hello,

I am new here, but I am not new to anxiety. I have suffered most of my life. The worst of my anxiety peaked in 2017 and I had such debilitating anxiety that I spent a few months of where I couldn't even leave my bed. I was able to overcome that by sheer will power and the help of my family. I still experience anxiety frequently but never anything as severe as what I experienced in 2017. Fast forward to now.

My anxiety has always been health related. I have a severe irrational fear of being in the hospital, taking a ride in an ambulance, seeing a doctor, and having to go the emergency room.

Monday of this last week (6 days ago) I had a dental extraction that resulted in severe bleeding. I had to go to the emergency room twice, take an ambulance ride once, and I was incredibly scared. As you can imagine, my anxiety sky-rocketed. I have been riddled with panic attacks and severe anxiety afraid that its going to happen again among other things. I am fine now, by the way, at least as far as the extraction goes.

I am here mainly for support and reassurance from people who can relate.

Does anyone else's anxiety have the ability to manifest phyiscal symptoms? Let me give a few examples of what I mean. I have really been struggling with the fear that my blood pressure is too high. I went to my GP on Wednesday because my blood pressure has been high (obviously) and she said the high blood pressure is just from the anxiety. My brain cannot seem to accept that and I have a massive fear that my blood pressure will get too high and something will happen. So today I was researching how high blood pressure can go during exercise (up to 250/120, in case your wondering) and I seen something that said if you experience any eye issues that you should go to the hospital immediately. Well shortly after I read that, my eyes started hurting. Another example is when I think I may be having a heart attack my left arm starts hurting. It only hurts after I think about it. Does anyone else experience this? My anxiety seems to cause phyiscal pains and/or symptoms.

 

[Lanchparty7]

Welcome to the boards. And no, you are not alone in this. I‘m in the midst of my worst health anxiety episode ever (several months now) and while I think some of the weird sensations/symptoms I’ve been feeling are anxiety relate,s I’m also convinced there it legit something wrong with me (current fear is heart related). I’ve got major trust issues so I am leery of going to a doctor (need a new primary) and I might have found a good option but even that I have reservations about and have to work more with my therapist before I can get there.

 

[E.B]

I've actually spoke on this in the past...without a doubt 100 percent I can create physical sensation with what I am focused on. You are not alone in that, and that is very normal.

 

[Jonathan123]

Hello,

I am new here, but I am not new to anxiety. I have suffered most of my life. The worst of my anxiety peaked in 2017 and I had such debilitating anxiety that I spent a few months of where I couldn't even leave my bed. I was able to overcome that by sheer will power and the help of my family. I still experience anxiety frequently but never anything as severe as what I experienced in 2017. Fast forward to now.

My anxiety has always been health related. I have a severe irrational fear of being in the hospital, taking a ride in an ambulance, seeing a doctor, and having to go the emergency room.

Monday of this last week (6 days ago) I had a dental extraction that resulted in severe bleeding. I had to go to the emergency room twice, take an ambulance ride once, and I was incredibly scared. As you can imagine, my anxiety sky-rocketed. I have been riddled with panic attacks and severe anxiety afraid that its going to happen again among other things. I am fine now, by the way, at least as far as the extraction goes.

I am here mainly for support and reassurance from people who can relate.

Does anyone else's anxiety have the ability to manifest phyiscal symptoms? Let me give a few examples of what I mean. I have really been struggling with the fear that my blood pressure is too high. I went to my GP on Wednesday because my blood pressure has been high (obviously) and she said the high blood pressure is just from the anxiety. My brain cannot seem to accept that and I have a massive fear that my blood pressure will get too high and something will happen. So today I was researching how high blood pressure can go during exercise (up to 250/120, in case your wondering) and I seen something that said if you experience any eye issues that you should go to the hospital immediately. Well shortly after I read that, my eyes started hurting. Another example is when I think I may be having a heart attack my left arm starts hurting. It only hurts after I think about it. Does anyone else experience this? My anxiety seems to cause phyiscal pains and/or symptoms.

Welcome. A lot of good helpful folk on here, so you have come to the right place. Look up some of the posts on how anxiety can affect us. You will find that you are by no means alone and that so many have the same problem.
STOP looking things up on the web. A big mistake in health anxiety. We plant suggestions in our minds that get blown up out of all proportion. We are not doctors so can't interpret symptoms in the right way. It seems that you have seen the medics and are told you are ok physically. Then it must be anxiety. If you go on reacting to every little pain or discomfort then you are in for a roller coaster ride. Now please don't think I am minimising your suffering, no way. Been there! I suggest that you get the book by Dr. Weekes from Amazon. 'Essential help for your Nerves' it is a compilation of all her writings. There are recordings on YouTube. At the moment you are thinking yourself into anxiety, and all the time you are afraid of something happening you just add fear to fear and so perpetuate the problem. Anxiety feeds on itself, and by being afraid of 'IT' it flourishes. Yes, I do know it can all seem so real. 'Will I ever recover'? Of course you will if you go about it in the right way. From this moment, not tomorrow but now, accept it all without adding more fear. Difficult? Oh yes, but it can be done given the will.

 

[Sweet T]

yes! But maybe it’s more that you are now paying attention to that certain part of your body.

The internet just feeds these fears. I can’t think of a time when searching the internet has helped long term. It might help for a few minutes but I invariably find something scary.

 

[MATD]

Been there more times than I care to admit. In the context of Jonathan’s reply to you, acceptance is what I found to be more helpful than anything. I “got the books”, read them, and put the information into practice persistently ever since. My anxiety has improved significantly. But! It takes time and patience, lots of it! It can and will get better if you give it a chance.