Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[coldethyl]

Daft question,but I'm curious to know just how unwell feeling anxious makes us feel. I suffer from panic disorder and health anxiety and since hitting the peri it's escalated exponentially so that I am finding it hard to accept that all the weird aches , pains , dizziness, sinus troubles, burning hives, feelings of unreality and weepiness are just anxiety and not signs of my imminent demise. There seems to be something new every day and when I put one anxiety to bed( I've just had a run of heart related panic) another takes its place immediately. I always feel unwell these days- sometimes just a niggle, other days I just want to sit in GP's surgery all day and wonder if this is "normal" for anxiety or whether I need to see someone ( again)

[Beckybecks]

I don't have any answers but I do want to let you know you're not alone! 

The only way I would have peace of mind now is to employ my own personal doctor to give me a check up every single day and put my fears to rest.

I never know whether my fears are due to my anxiety or whether they are something I should seek medical advice for.  More often than not when I do decide to see a Doctor I'm told its 'nothing' .
I've begun to realize that my anxiety either exaggerates my symptoms or even causes them. 

What would be a small twinge to one person can feel like a huge and agonizing pain to me.  And at the time it does feel very real.  Most days I just want to crawl  under the blankets And be 'ill' whether I am or not!

[Ju Ju]

Coldethyl, a question. Do you think this is all rooted in the fear of death rather than in the health worries themselves?

[coldethyl]

Coldethyl, a question. Do you think this is all rooted in the fear of death rather than in the health worries themselves?

I think for some people with HA it is - I'm not sure I am afraid of death or dying- what I am afraid of is making a fuss, dealing with medical people and leaving my family unprepared for my not being here. I have a terribly out of proportion sense of responsibility for everything that makes any hint of uncertainty unbearable. I don't know what the answer is, as life is inherently uncertain - starting CBT again with a private therapist this week who also does other sorts of therapy so hoping that helps.

[coldethyl]

I don't have any answers but I do want to let you know you're not alone! 

The only way I would have peace of mind now is to employ my own personal doctor to give me a check up every single day and put my fears to rest.

I never know whether my fears are due to my anxiety or whether they are something I should seek medical advice for.  More often than not when I do decide to see a Doctor I'm told its 'nothing' .
I've begun to realize that my anxiety either exaggerates my symptoms or even causes them. 

What would be a small twinge to one person can feel like a huge and agonizing pain to me.  And at the time it does feel very real.  Most days I just want to crawl  under the blankets And be 'ill' whether I am or not!

sorry you are suffering too. I've struggled with anxiety all my adult life but still found it possible to enjoy things- now it just seems that my life is anxiety. I'm trying to put my CBT stuff into practice but it's hard when all you want to do is run to the doctors at every twinge.

[babyjane]

good morning

I discovered yesterday how unwell anxiety can make you feel. I forgot to take my low dose AD yesterday and didn't realise until I was up in the night at 3am having felt anxious and unwell all day.

This morning I took it at the usual time and now realise they really do work. 

[Rebelyell]

I think anxiety really does make you feel unwell.   I think that I now notice every single niggle or slight pain and concentrate on it - that makes it worse but it is only worse in my mind.    But anxiety certainly causes me to swallow more air -thus leading to heartburn and thence heart worries.  It does upset my digestion - leading to stomach/bowel worries.  It does cause me to clench my jaw - leading to tooth ache/jaw ache worries.  I even had weeks of bladder pain/constant needing to wee which must have been anxiety.

I find distraction the best defence.   I say to myself - if that pain is still bothering me through a night out with friends, then it is serious.  So far it hasn't been.

[coldethyl]

Thank you ladies. I think it is a case that I notice things more because I'm so focused on my body and how I'm feeling. It is easy to attribute the strange feelings to the  anxiety response when I'm actually having a panic attack but much harder to accept the 24/7 aches, pains and niggles that everyday anxiety causes. In the past I'd have severe panics but come down in between a lot but nowadays I feel always at 7 or 8 so am quickly off the panic scale - mr ethyl seems surprised when I am him if I seem anxious as he can't believe that I can't tell myself that I am as I'm constantly fidgeting and wringing my hands even when just sitting down. And of course, there's the constant ' I hope I don't feel x here" so of course I do.
Distraction does help and I try to get out and do stuff even if part of me thinks that if I'm in town and I collapse the ambulance will get to me more quickly than at home!!!

[Justjules]

Coldethyl, this is me exactly as you will see from my constant postings over the last few days. I am so, so sick of myself and this HA. It took me weeks to pluck up the courage to go to the Drs and she has doled out the ADs again but wasn't concerned about my heart worries so now I am fretting that I didn't stress them and forgot to mention waking up with chest ache every day and just because I have had a 'normal' ECG, she is not concerned. I am now thinking should I pay too see a private cardiologist or a full BUPA check....I can't live like this. I too think that I am better collapsing in town and carry aspirin with me!!! I can't relax either...got to be 'alert' at all times....I dread bed time as I think the ambulances will be slower to arrive at night and panicked when the junior Drs mentioned striking!!! My head is seriously messed up. I wish I just got normal aches and pains but chest aches and pains are so scary as its all based on time and whether you get treated quickly enough. I am afraid of suffering and being left in a hospital bed with no staff to look after me. This stems from a real experience 28 years ago so the scars are deep. I really feel for you...this is hell.

[coldethyl]

Coldethyl, this is me exactly as you will see from my constant postings over the last few days. I am so, so sick of myself and this HA. It took me weeks to pluck up the courage to go to the Drs and she has doled out the ADs again but wasn't concerned about my heart worries so now I am fretting that I didn't stress them and forgot to mention waking up with chest ache every day and just because I have had a 'normal' ECG, she is not concerned. I am now thinking should I pay too see a private cardiologist or a full BUPA check....I can't live like this. I too think that I am better collapsing in town and carry aspirin with me!!! I can't relax either...got to be 'alert' at all times....I dread bed time as I think the ambulances will be slower to arrive at night and panicked when the junior Drs mentioned striking!!! My head is seriously messed up. I wish I just got normal aches and pains but chest aches and pains are so scary as its all based on time and whether you get treated quickly enough. I am afraid of suffering and being left in a hospital bed with no staff to look after me. This stems from a real experience 28 years ago so the scars are deep. I really feel for you...this is hell.

I can relate so much to all of what you say. The only thing I can say is that I think we have to accept that this is anxiety. Yes we have the pains , but it is our anxiety and all the physiological changes that causes in the muscles and nerves that is causing it and not any underlying defect. Today I've a headache and can't turn my head and 22 years ago I'd have been at a and e sure that I had meningitis because that was in the news day in day out. Now I can see that it is much more likely to be tension and the sinus pain I have causing it. Many years ago I ended up in hospital on cardiac ward because my GP was concerned and I had lot of tests and saw the cardiologist and for all of about three days I was certain I was ok, until an acquaintance told me about her husband who had had all the tests and was cleared but then wasn't ok at all... So I guess I am saying that it isn't the tests you need but an elusive certainty that you can't ever have and it would be far better to use BIPA to see a psychologist to get some therapy and support that way, otherwise you risk just shifting from one illness to the next. The menopausal transition is going to keep throwing these sort of things at us and I genuinely think that the only way through it is to keep riding the waves and not let ourselves be pulled under by every weird sensation. My GP suggested I went for more CBT so that is starting this week and I've enrolled on a mindfullness course as well and she has said she will see me every few weeks just to check I'm doing ok. Maybe you could ask your GP for a check in appointment every few weeks until this starts to settle. X

[Justjules]

I lost my response for some reason!

Yes, can see you're right to a point but just reiterates why I can't believe it when Dr says its just anxiety if tests aren't reliable so how can we just 'ignore' symptoms? We are told to go to a&e if we get chest pain. I am exhausted with it all.

[coldethyl]

I lost my response for some reason!

Yes, can see you're right to a point but just reiterates why I can't believe it when Dr says its just anxiety if tests aren't reliable so how can we just 'ignore' symptoms? We are told to go to a&e if we get chest pain. I am exhausted with it all.

I do understand. I've been to a and e so many times with chest pain only to be told it's anxiety. It might not be, and I might drop dead tomorrow from it but I have to start living as if things are ok. Otherwise I actually might as well be dead as what I've been going through these last few months ( and what you sound to be going through too) isn't living. It really isn't easy and all weekend I've wanted to get my bp monitor out ( they told me at hospital that my constant checking was just feeding my anxiety) but I've distracted myself with other things and told myself i can get Gp to check when i go in few weeks. I think we just have to take these small steps even if we don't believe it is all anxiety. In CBT they talk a lot about theory A and theory B, where A is doing what we are doing now, and B is living as if we have an anxiety issue and seeing if things improve by doing that. It won't happen overnight and some days it will feel overwhelming but it is worth just trying to see this as a symptom of a body sensitised by the hormonal fluctuations of the menopausal transition. Yes, we will get the usual meno symptoms and yes, they may be scary and unpleasant but the less we respond to them with fear and more adrenaline, the less they will be so overwhelming. If you feel that only having a full work up will help, arrange one privately but as one of my GPs said to me, any one of us can have a heart attack or stroke at any time and nothing can guarantee it won't happen so it is far better to just get on with living while we are alive. Please think about psychological counselling just to help you calm down a notch or two as you are obviously very distressed by all of this - it is exhausting and I feel like I've run a marathon every day for a week so can empathise with you completely. X

[limpy]

We are told to go to a&e if we get chest pain.

The thing with chest pain is you need to be seen WHEN the pain is happening. Year before last my OH was having chest problems for a couple of months but the ECGs were fine. One day they happened when we were at the GPs for something totally different but they did do an ECG then called an ambulance for him. So JJ, if you can get to the Drs or A&E to get an ECG done then there is a chance of identifying the problem.

[Justjules]

Limpy, went twice while having pains but told normal. Even had bloods done once at the same time and normal.

Coldethyl, thanks. You seem to be at the stage where you can rationalise things which is where I need to be! I am seeing someone privately for some therapy this week.

[coldethyl]

Limpy, went twice while having pains but told normal. Even had bloods done once at the same time and normal.

Coldethyl, thanks. You seem to be at the stage where you can rationalise things which is where I need to be! I am seeing someone privately for some therapy this week.

JJ, I find it far easier to tell someone else what to do than do it myself , so this is a sort of reminder for me too of what needs doing.  Good luck with the therapy. I see mine on Friday so maybe we can compare notes.