Hi everyone,
I am a 46yo male who has health anxiety issues. It’s been going on for over a year but has gotten really bad since March. I can point to things in my life that contributed to it, moved to another new country last summer (2nd foreign work assignment), father had heart issues last year, mother in law died unexpectedly from aggressive lung cancer, COVID of course, wife having issues with nerve damage in her leg, the list goes on. As I’m sure it does for all of you too.
It started with heart palpitations, which in my case are PAC’s, but led to multiple cardiologist visits and even a visit to the ER this summer while we were visiting the states. So, nearly all of my health anxiety is focused on heart issues.
My biggest problem is that my anxiety manifests as chest pain, tightness in the chest, sometimes neck, arm and back too. It can be mild or more acute and can go on for days. I am seeing a therapist here (Germany) for about 2 months now and it has helped.
I guess to make a long post short, I just wanted to be able to talk to other people to see if their experiences are similar to mine. The doctors say, it’s probably just anxiety. But what I want (hope) to know from talking to other people in my situation is that what I’m experiencing isn’t all that unique. That it’s common to feel the things I’m feeling, the pain, like I’m physically sick. The feeling that I have some ailment the doctors either just missed or haven’t found yet. I’m tired of it.
I feel like I’m finally heading in the right direction, but it seems like it doesn’t take much to trigger two steps back.
Thanks for listening!
Paul
I am a 46yo male who has health anxiety issues. It’s been going on for over a year but has gotten really bad since March. I can point to things in my life that contributed to it, moved to another new country last summer (2nd foreign work assignment), father had heart issues last year, mother in law died unexpectedly from aggressive lung cancer, COVID of course, wife having issues with nerve damage in her leg, the list goes on. As I’m sure it does for all of you too.
It started with heart palpitations, which in my case are PAC’s, but led to multiple cardiologist visits and even a visit to the ER this summer while we were visiting the states. So, nearly all of my health anxiety is focused on heart issues.
My biggest problem is that my anxiety manifests as chest pain, tightness in the chest, sometimes neck, arm and back too. It can be mild or more acute and can go on for days. I am seeing a therapist here (Germany) for about 2 months now and it has helped.
I guess to make a long post short, I just wanted to be able to talk to other people to see if their experiences are similar to mine. The doctors say, it’s probably just anxiety. But what I want (hope) to know from talking to other people in my situation is that what I’m experiencing isn’t all that unique. That it’s common to feel the things I’m feeling, the pain, like I’m physically sick. The feeling that I have some ailment the doctors either just missed or haven’t found yet. I’m tired of it.
I feel like I’m finally heading in the right direction, but it seems like it doesn’t take much to trigger two steps back.
Thanks for listening!
Paul
