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[shawnalynn]

Hi. I have struggled with Health Anxiety ever since I can remember. I think it started sometime in middle school and I'm 29 now. It started out pretty terrible since I had no idea what it was and why I was feeling the things I did. I remember it started out as being dizzy and feeling like I couldn't breathe. Terrifying. Then, it got a lot better because I learned that it was something that wasn't going to hurt me and I'd be fine because it always ended up that way. In 2016 my mom had a stroke and I had a health issue that turned out to be nothing but scared the crap out of me and the health anxiety was worse for a while. After awhile, it went back into hibernation and I was fine until about last year. I took my mom to the ER because we thought she may be having another stroke, she wasn't, thank God, and a lady at work died out of nowhere. My sister also moved far away and everything started to spiral from there. I started having pressure in my head and recently I've been having episodes of feeling like it's hard to breathe and I get dizzy. I'm pretty sure it's anxiety, but it's still hard to deal with. I go to the doctor and they typically say oh it's anxiety and there's nothing wrong, but it doesn't feel that way.

 

[Cuchculan]

Welcome to the forum. Seems all was good up until a lot of things happened at once in your life. That is common. So much going on. Then we begin to spiral downwards. Once a doctor knows you have anxiety, they will always fob things off as just anxiety.

Any roads. We all suffer from one thing or another here. So you are never alone. Just make yourself at home and I hope you enjoy the forum.

 

[Anxiousashley]

Hi. I have struggled with Health Anxiety ever since I can remember. I think it started sometime in middle school and I'm 29 now. It started out pretty terrible since I had no idea what it was and why I was feeling the things I did. I remember it started out as being dizzy and feeling like I couldn't breathe. Terrifying. Then, it got a lot better because I learned that it was something that wasn't going to hurt me and I'd be fine because it always ended up that way. In 2016 my mom had a stroke and I had a health issue that turned out to be nothing but scared the crap out of me and the health anxiety was worse for a while. After awhile, it went back into hibernation and I was fine until about last year. I took my mom to the ER because we thought she may be having another stroke, she wasn't, thank God, and a lady at work died out of nowhere. My sister also moved far away and everything started to spiral from there. I started having pressure in my head and recently I've been having episodes of feeling like it's hard to breathe and I get dizzy. I'm pretty sure it's anxiety, but it's still hard to deal with. I go to the doctor and they typically say oh it's anxiety and there's nothing wrong, but it doesn't feel that way.

I know exactly how you feel! I have a lot of health anxieties and can’t really explain why, since I’ve always been a perfectly healthy person. But when you are an anxious person it’s hard to talk yourself into believing that you are ok when the physical symptoms of anxiety don’t feel ok. I understand what you’re going through, as I struggle with the same things every day!

 

[MainerMikeBrown]

Shawnalynn, I'm glad your mother didn't have another stroke.

Welcome to this forum.

 

[smilingsoul]

Hi Shawnalynn, welcome to our forum! I'm glad your mother is fine as well. My dad is 83, and my mom is 77. Other than brushes with skin cancer (and a carcinoma-in-situ for my mom) they are healthy, for which I'm grateful. Its funny how threats to our loved ones can be more stressful than those of our own. It does make it hard to cope, but sometimes you can surprise yourself with courage and resilience you didn't know you had.