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[loonarider]

Hey ladies,

So, yep, I've just about had it up to here with the health anxiety. I never used to be like this, but ever since the peri symptoms started, the impending doom begun and it's been a dumpster fire since ((3.5 years). Every niggle in my body sends me into panic mode. "Do I have a clot in my chest, heart disease, throat cancer"...You name it, I have it.

So today I was busy studying (a mature student), and I inhaled and a sharp pain pierced the centre of my chest. This went on for an hour, where I was afraid to breathe in. I tried to rationalise this (since I lifted heavy weights a few days before) to muscular pain - but then this wasn't enouogh, me being me so I called NHS 111 service and a doctor called back. Conveniently, the pain had subsided by that time.

After I explained everything I had felt, he said that he didn't feel it was clot in my chest or heart issues, however afterr I'd mentioned a history of clots on my mums side, he said Id need to go to A and E for a blood test to rule it out. Of course, that sent me into panic mode.

I didn't go to the hospital because it's far away and I'm too busy, plus the pain has subsided. But now I cant help thinking I might die any moment now. My health anxiety is saying that the clot just broke up and moved, hence the pains subsiding, and the other part of me is like I lifted pretty heavy weights the other day and this is just a muscle pull in my chest. Of course, google also pulled up shoulder pain and dizziness as a symptom of pulmonary embolism...so yep, I'm a mess and this health anxiety is really ruining my life where everything I feel is followed by trepidation.

I have had so many hospital visits in the past and it all ended up being anxiety.

I need to be reassured. I mean the doctor mentioned the hospital because I mentioned a history of blood clots in the family. Wish I never did now -  sometimes ignorance is bliss.

[marge]

So sorry you’re going through this Loonarider, health anxiety is a nightmare. I’m in the middle of an episode at the mo; started with sore neck (probably poor posture, l’m crouched over a computer all day), but in my mind l’ve got some awful disease and am not long for this world. My OH had a sharp chest pain the other evening (right hand side), but didn’t panic at all, just said it was a muscle twinge and it went after an hour or so.  I had visions of rushing him to hospital!! Sorry l’m no help, but you are not alone in all this madness.

[loonarider]

Oh dear,know EXACTLY how you feel,this is me too and many other women on here, I don't know how many dr visits I've had,blood tests,X-rays,MRIs,you name it,I've had it done. We do have a thread on here......what have you diagnosed yourself with? It's on the funny side of menopause,have a look,you really aren't on your own x

I need to find this thread!  Laughing at myself would make me feel so much better. In fact, your post had that effect. Its just all so silly, but also so real unfortuantely. And yes I'm always diagnosing myself - I should be a doctor by now!

[loonarider]

So sorry you’re going through this Loonarider, health anxiety is a nightmare. I’m in the middle of an episode at the mo; started with sore neck (probably poor posture, l’m crouched over a computer all day), but in my mind l’ve got some awful disease and am not long for this world. My OH had a sharp chest pain the other evening (right hand side), but didn’t panic at all, just said it was a muscle twinge and it went after an hour or so.  I had visions of rushing him to hospital!! Sorry l’m no help, but you are not alone in all this madness.

I hope you feel better soon! It really sucks! Gone are the days where I wasn't so tuned in and focused on every twitch, niggle...

The only thing that distracts me is a glass of wine and a good comedy - so that's what I'll do - but of course there's only so much wine you can drink before it becomes a health issue...oh!, there I go again! When will it all end?? I'm hoping the hrt regimen I've started will rid me of this soon 

[Curlygirl]

Loonarider I am exactly the same, so you are definitely not alone. Been feeling this way since July last year

It’s just awful. Just creeps up on you and one day your find yourself with this anxiety and every little thing is something serious

It’s so exhausting. Some days are worse than others for me, but most days bring something and I feel anxious and on edge all day every day

I can’t pinpoint exactly when it started but was around the time my periods starting changing last summer

I never knew anxiety was a peri symptom until joining MM

I’m sure it’s what disrupts my sleep too. I wake up in the early hours in such a panic sometimes and don’t even know why

[Cara999]

This is me also, I've had so many things wrong with me lately.. .all blown out of proportion, the slightest thing and in your own head turns terminal....you have to laugh really 🤣 glad im not alone xx

[holidaylover]

Hi loonarider, you're most definitely not alone with your worries.  I'm sitting here at the moment with pains in my left shoulder and down into my arm, so I'm immediately thinking heart attack, but I was at the doctors (again) yesterday and mentioned it and he didn't even lift his head.  I'm having bother with constant heart palpitations (daily since last April) and this has sent my health anxiety way way into overdrive.  I'm still waiting on the results of a 24hr heart monitor done in July!!  But I've had other tests and the doctor said there is nothing wrong with my heart and is convinced it is anxiety.  I also am suffering constant indigestion/acid relux so, as you can imagine, I'm thinking some sort of cancer.  I'm waiting for an endoscopy. I've been down this path so many times with various symptoms - tingly legs which disappeared once my periods stopped (I thought I had MS so went for tests for that).  I've suffered agorophobia with panic attacks and was convinced I had some horrid terminal disease (but after more tests was diagnosed with hyperventilation syndrome and General Anxiety).  This forum has been a godsend to me when at times I have felt the doctors were not taking me seriously.  It's a comfort to know we are not alone in all this, and by even reading other similar stories can help ease some of our symptoms, even if it is only for a little while, or until the next symptom comes along!  And yip, best medicine is a nice glass of wine and feel good telly.  (And I always tell myself if it really was something serious, then the wine wouldn't make the symptom go away).  Take care x

[loonarider]

Loonarider I am exactly the same, so you are definitely not alone. Been feeling this way since July last year

It’s just awful. Just creeps up on you and one day your find yourself with this anxiety and every little thing is something serious

It’s so exhausting. Some days are worse than others for me, but most days bring something and I feel anxious and on edge all day every day

I can’t pinpoint exactly when it started but was around the time my periods starting changing last summer

I never knew anxiety was a peri symptom until joining MM

I’m sure it’s what disrupts my sleep too. I wake up in the early hours in such a panic sometimes and don’t even know why

So sorry to hear that Curlygirl,

I hope these horrible symptoms subside for a lot of us. It can be debilitating to the point it ruins your quality of life.

[loonarider]

This is me also, I've had so many things wrong with me lately.. .all blown out of proportion, the slightest thing and in your own head turns terminal....you have to laugh really 🤣 glad im not alone xx

Sane here. That's probably the only thing that keeps me sane, knowing I'm not the only one experiencing this x

[loonarider]

I've bumped the thread for you loonrider. I KNOW it's NOT a funny situation to be in but sometimes when you can see just how many people suffer from this,it makes you feel less alone. Our brains are very powerful and trying to control them is next to impossible at times 

Totally agree. Hope you're well x

[Curlygirl]

Loonarider oh I do hope that it subsides for us all ❤️

[loonarider]

Hi loonarider, you're most definitely not alone with your worries.  I'm sitting here at the moment with pains in my left shoulder and down into my arm, so I'm immediately thinking heart attack, but I was at the doctors (again) yesterday and mentioned it and he didn't even lift his head.  I'm having bother with constant heart palpitations (daily since last April) and this has sent my health anxiety way way into overdrive.  I'm still waiting on the results of a 24hr heart monitor done in July!!  But I've had other tests and the doctor said there is nothing wrong with my heart and is convinced it is anxiety.  I also am suffering constant indigestion/acid relux so, as you can imagine, I'm thinking some sort of cancer.  I'm waiting for an endoscopy. I've been down this path so many times with various symptoms - tingly legs which disappeared once my periods stopped (I thought I had MS so went for tests for that).  I've suffered agorophobia with panic attacks and was convinced I had some horrid terminal disease (but after more tests was diagnosed with hyperventilation syndrome and General Anxiety).  This forum has been a godsend to me when at times I have felt the doctors were not taking me seriously.  It's a comfort to know we are not alone in all this, and by even reading other similar stories can help ease some of our symptoms, even if it is only for a little while, or until the next symptom comes along!  And yip, best medicine is a nice glass of wine and feel good telly.  (And I always tell myself if it really was something serious, then the wine wouldn't make the symptom go away).  Take care x

Oh so sorry,

You've been dealing with a lot and I can relate to most of it. My doctor had also diagnosed me with hyperventilation syndrome, but the breathing issues I've been experiencing aren't like what I usually get with my anxiety and panic attacks.

This is all day, all night and it feels like when I inhale there is a slight obstruction/disruption there that is felt and not like a lump, just like there's a piece of flesh closing and then opening .

It's so difficult to describe. My partner and step-kids sometimes ask me what's wrong? An I OK. My partner said I sound asthmatic, but wouldn't the breathing issues be on the exhale too?
 
Anyway, it's well weird and so aggravating and makes me not breathe naturally like I should. I can't event remember when I last breathed like it wasn't forced.

I was so concerned about it (started in September), I tried to get my GP to refer me to an ENT to check my throat, but she said she didn't think it was anything serious.

I don't know if I can accept that, it's really odd, it doesn't feel like short of breath it just feels like an obstruction to inhale. So scary especially at night.

I'm speaking to my doc again tomorrow about it. Try and get a referral.

Can you describe you symptoms of hyperventilation syndrome? I find these symptoms sometimes really hard to describe and think I sound crazy to my doctor. :/

[KaraShannon]

loonarider

with you on this.  There's a history of heart disease in my family and every chest pain was a potential heart attack.  Last night there was some sort of fight in our street and I was walking past it.  I was already struggling because I'd just stood up from being in the car and I think the progesterone I'm on might be affecting my problems with standing up 'too quick,' making that worse.  Well with the fight starting and me having to walk by them, the adrenalin was going as well, and the two combined I could tell my heart was struggling to keep up. 

I never get that sort of thing and I've recently been tested and told my heart is healthy and no disease, etc, and that was the only time I've had real chest discomfort.  I'm pretty sure it was the type mainly due to 'standing up too quick' and it was just coupled with adrenalin.  As it was I had to stop and they all carried on fighting and arguing and ignored me, lol.

And now all day today I've been weepy because I'm worried I'm so unfit and I'm dying and I have got to the stage where I don't even want to speak to doctors anymore as I'm so worried and don't think they can do anything.  I have other peri symptoms too, I think I have the start of prolapse occurring, strangely at this time of the month along with the dizziness on standing, etc.  Thinking of changing to another progesterone.

So just sharing as I feel I understand where you're coming from.  Something a nurse once told me, there's a difference between possibility and probability.  Possibility is higher than probability.  The doctor did suggest a & e purely because that would be definitive in deciding if there was anything worrying (managing the possibility).  But it's clear he did not suggest it because he thought it would be a clot, he thought it wouldn't be (from your description to him the probability was low)

None of that helps when you're in it.  My anxiety about my heart is just one thing.  I'm weaker, not fit now (the pandemic hasn't helped as people don't walk out as much at night and I did all my walking in the evenings before), I've even noticed my balance isn't what it was.  When I first started HRT I felt so much better I thought I'd arrested all these problems.  But now not so sure I have, or whether anything else will help.

One way I deal with it is to try and do mindfulness, or at least just focus on the here and now and try not to think about what could happen, as it's not helping me right now, lol.

If it helps I've had that pain when you breathe in in the past, a few times, and that was when I was much fitter.  It can also be a little bit of pleurisy from a lung infection, we have a lot of that going around, it's one possibility of many that your lungs might just be reacting to all the infection about, even though you're not infected yourself.  And of course it could be nothing at all, just a skeletal thing that will pass.

Hang in there 

[holidaylover]

Hiya loonarider
I had various unexplained symptoms before I was diagnosed with Hyperventilation Syndrome. It was more a case of after they had ruled other things out, that was what they came up with.  I was sent to a physiotherapist who explained to me that when we 'overbreathe' this can cause all sorts of strange symptoms.  The physiotherapist realised when I was breathing, I was breathing far too fast and from my chest and not from the stomach as we should.  I was given a bit of bumf to read, and I have been looking at it again recently. It states "when we over-breathe we eliminate large quantities of carbon dioxide on every out breath.  This causes a chemical imbalance affecting many of the body's systems.  The results can be extremely unpleasant and frightening, causing us to become anxious.  This can further upset our breathing pattern and a vicious circle develops."  It also explains that we may not be aware that our breathing is wrong, but we may be aware of some, or even all, of the most common symptoms.  The list is " frequent sighing and yawning, feeling breathless, even after relatively  minor exercise, difficulty co-ordinating breathing and talking and/or eating, breathless when anxious or upset, pins and needles in hands/arms/around mouth, palpitations, feeling permantly exhausted and unable to concentrate for no apparent reason, throat symptoms, muscular aches and tension around the neck/shoulders/jaw, bloated feeling in the stomach, light headedness."  The whole of our body can be affected, the vascular system, the digestive system etc.  I suffered a lot with panic attacks, tingling in the body, light headedness, and the physiotherapist picked up my overbreathing almost instantly.  I have a tendency to breathe through my mouth rather than my nose, and when talking when I'm nervous, I talk quickly and sigh a lot.  When I read though the information I have it does make so much sense, but I forget a lot and when I have another symptom I always think the worst.  That's part of anxiety.  Menopause definitely heightened all this for me, it got better for a while, but I'm struggling a bit too, so may be a hormone surge as well.  Hope you get on okay with the doctor.  You could maybe ask about him giving you more information on Hyperventilation Syndrome and breathing techniques.   Take care x

[Kathleen]

Hello ladies.

I understand everyone's anxiety and although I worry a little about my physical health my main worry is my constantly changing emotions and mood swings so I believe I have mental health anxiety. Since becoming post meno I have experienced mood swings which were never a problem before.

My trusty meno book talks about the psychological symptoms as well as the physical ones but knowing the cause doesn't really help does it ladies!

Anyway I wanted to send hugs  and I hope that there are better days ahead for us all.

Take care.

K.