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Author Topic: Gone beyond health anxiety....full blown terror  (Read 20537 times)

CLKD

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Re: Gone beyond health anxiety....full blown terror
« Reply #30 on: February 12, 2016, 07:31:23 PM »

OK:

deep breathing - altogether  ;)

Sharp breath in through the nose, wait for 2 counts; release breath slowly as possible from the mouth.  Repeat 3 times.  Rest.

10 mins. every hour.
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coldethyl

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Re: Gone beyond health anxiety....full blown terror
« Reply #31 on: February 12, 2016, 07:41:53 PM »

Yes, it wasn't what I was expecting as they usually rush you but I will definitely see her again.

Coldethyl, I have read that book, it is good but I've read them all now I think so you would think I would be cured by now  :-\ x

Ok - this isn't meant as a criticism as it is what I say to myself too- you've read them, but have you really done what they suggest? I'm guilty of reading them and thinking that makes sense , then not doing it, or not recognising myself and my actions in the pages. There isn't a cure I don't believe, but ways of making it not the focus of your every waking moment- after all, you do need to see a doctor sometime so you can't just ignore health issues. At the minute, following it going up when I had a bad reaction to the Lutsral, I am worried about my BP- so much so I took myself to GP several weeks ago to be told to stop taking it at home as it was making me worse. So far I've kept to that but it is hard- it feels unsafe, dangerous even and the voice in my head tells me once would be ok and then I'd be happy. So I distract myself, I tell myself if I am worried I can get GP to check it when I have my check in soon and so on. It hasn't stopped it popping into my head, but I can dismiss it more easily.
I think what you need is some very good CBT therapy that focuses on changing not only your thoughts( as my therapist agreed with me that for OCD type thinking which is at heart of HA, challenging and examining thoughts can just focus us too much on them) but your behaviours like googling, or looking at health related sites etc. That way, you are putting into practice all the stuff in those books and telling the bit of your brain that is fixated on health issues that it isn't a big deal. Also CKLd's suggestion of making sure you practice relaxtion techniques daily is a good one- I've really found Mindfulness useful. x
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Justjules

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Re: Gone beyond health anxiety....full blown terror
« Reply #32 on: February 13, 2016, 09:06:13 AM »

Thanks Coldethyl. Everything you say makes absolute sense. I really am going to try this time because I really am at the end of my rope with this thing. Feel really quite ill now with it so that's worrying me but I know it will be because I have been in such a state this last few days so need to put into practice what you are saying and distract myself as hard as it is. Yes, it is a form of OCD. I also know I need to stay off google and the health sites but I would miss this forum as it has helped so much but then probably because I am seeking reassurance all the time. x
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wombat62

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Re: Gone beyond health anxiety....full blown terror
« Reply #33 on: February 13, 2016, 09:13:44 AM »

The good thing is that you've recognised it and want to do something about it. I know how ill you are probably feeling, I was like that when my fob test came back positive, felt worse than the gallstone attacks. Then the surgeon I saw for the stones, who is also a bowel specialist wasn't at all worried but I'd had two awful weeks in between! I'm still nervous about next week as you just never know but I've had lots to keep me busy but it's always the first thing you think of on waking up.

I think this forum is awesome, it's just nice to know you aren't alone and someone always seems to have been there and got the t-shirt. Take care and I hope you can get help and feel more relaxed and then the pain subsides.
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CLKD

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Re: Gone beyond health anxiety....full blown terror
« Reply #34 on: February 13, 2016, 06:47:56 PM »

Because it's written down doesn't make it possible to over-come however much the author tells us it is! otherwise we wouldn't require books, counselling etc.  ::)

How's 2-day been?
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Justjules

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Re: Gone beyond health anxiety....full blown terror
« Reply #35 on: February 14, 2016, 12:08:29 PM »

Sorry CKLD, yesterday wasn't too bad but still very anxious and can't eat. Tried to do housework today but couldn't. Woke up very panicky this morning. Seriously thinking of not carrying on with this Sertraline. Went on Patient UK earlier and looked it all up and this drug sounds downright dangerous the way it can mess you up for months and some people still aren't right on them after a few years. Would rather be as I was before than suffer like this every day. I am scared to carry on in the hope that week 6 or 7 is suddenly going to be great and then have to try and come off them. Wish the Drs realised what these drugs do to you...can't be right.
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countrybumpkin

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Re: Gone beyond health anxiety....full blown terror
« Reply #36 on: February 14, 2016, 01:14:11 PM »

AFter my one try with mitrazapine and having to stop it after 2 weeks I have never tried anything else but i do tend to react to most drugs.
a young friend of mine with HA tried citalopram and she was in an awful state for the 2 weeks before she abandoned it - her anxiety was through the roof, she had almost no sleep.  She had very much wanted this drug to help her and she did not have ha around medication so the effects were from the drug itself.  She decided that the side effects of the drug were much much worse than her normal worry/anxiety/symptoms and she decided she would rather cope with her usual self!
So don't feel bad if you decide to stop this drug.

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Dyan

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Re: Gone beyond health anxiety....full blown terror
« Reply #37 on: February 14, 2016, 02:50:26 PM »

Justjules- not been on here for a while so just caught up with your thread.
I can totally relate to your posts.
I was diagnosed with OCD in 2004 at the age of 43.
It can take on many forms including health anxiety which I had last October.
I was getting bad heartburn everyday and I convinced myself I had stomach cancer,I googled and everything, really frightened myself.
It wasn't until I had seen the doctor and had camera down and got the all clear that I felt better.
I feel for you,I really do.
I'm suffering with OCD again now- negative thoughts going round & round.
Thankfully after my diagnosis, I was put on meds and therapy and I can now manage it but it is so,so,hard. It is a real effort to not get into that cycle and I have to go through the depression and anxiety which is part of the OCD before I come out the other side.
Because my OCD is mainly thoughts and seeking reassurance,no one can see that I have it,so really you could say I'm suffering in silence.
My DH knows I'm not myself at the moment because I have told him,and also that my OCD is there.
There are times when the anxiety gets so bad I want to seek that reassurance to at least feel better but I know that if I start to the cycle will begin again.
I know that seeking will only make me feel better for a little while then the anxiety will start all over again and my DH will also suffer.
Hope this helps in some way.
 :bighug:
Dyan X
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CLKD

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Re: Gone beyond health anxiety....full blown terror
« Reply #38 on: February 14, 2016, 04:54:52 PM »

>wave Dyan< missed you  :-\

However: people don't always react to medication as the drug is designed - beta-blockas for example can have the opposite effects and some ADs make the patient agitated.  I know when Dad was prescribed a blue tablet (names escapes me but it is used as a pre-med.) we had to walk miles for days until it was out of his system.  [Ativan].  He hardly slept for 3 nights ….. and his writing at that time was really fast and spidery.

Doctors are totally aware of how drugs can affect patients although they probably can't 'feel' the effects.  It really is as much Trial and Error for them as it might be for the patient. (what ever the speciality).  Which at a time when the patient wants to feel better it can be very difficult to persevere with side-effects.  I was unable to tolerate various ADs, no way could I persist …………
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Justjules

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Re: Gone beyond health anxiety....full blown terror
« Reply #39 on: February 15, 2016, 09:42:11 AM »

Dyan, thank you for that.  I've been told that HA is a form of OCD and I didn't realise that.  I am really struggling at the moment - I think this is the worst bout I've had and I just can't see an end to it so that's really getting me down.  My ADs aren't doing what I thought they would 6 weeks in so that's also getting me down.  I only have a few diazepam left and Dr said no more after this so that's making me panic as they are the only thing I know that calms me down a bit to be able to cope.  Gosh, why are we all like this - it's like a bloomin epidemic out there without people realising it!
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Briony

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Re: Gone beyond health anxiety....full blown terror
« Reply #40 on: February 15, 2016, 10:32:35 AM »

Justjules, sending you sympathy from another HA sufferer.

For me, it's only been an issue since my hormones went nuts. I think one thing that would have really helped me (and saved numerous scans, MRIs and consultants visits) is if GPs were more aware of the stranger signs of peri menopause.

I too was someone with terrible rib pain and burping who self-diagnosed pancreatic cancer (didnt help that a colleague was diagnosed with it and died two weeks later - it most certainly is one of the cancers with the lowest survival rates). I then developed tingling in my hands at the same time, so decided it was MS! As I type that, I can see how ridiculous it sounds, but at the time it was very real and very terrifying.

Much later on, a neurologist was the first to say 'is it your hormones?'. He'd seen a number of women in my situation - clear MRI but neurological issues who were around (peri) menopausal age. When I had a nerve conduction study, the doctor actually asked if the pain and weird sensations were linked to my menstrual cycle in any way as, anecdotally, he thought there was a link. I now know the rib pain was linked to nerves in my stomach reacting to changes in hormone levels. (In fact, fluctuating estrogen levels affect over 250 bodily functions!). Needless to say, a few blood tests later, it was confirmed that my hormone levels were awry.

What I am getting at is, yes HA seems to be a symptom of (peri) menopause, but if the less obvious physical symptoms were more widely recognised by GPs, as well as checking for the nasties, our doctors could at least consider hormones too. It wasnt until I first joined this forum and realised other woman had similar physical  symptoms (thank you HolidayLover, Sparkle, Dogdoc et al!)that I finally realised I wasnt dying from some random disease; I just had crazy hormones!

B


PS Next time HA strikes, have a quick look at this. I often find it reassuring!  http://www.34-menopause-symptoms.com/perimenopause.htm
« Last Edit: February 15, 2016, 10:35:40 AM by Briony »
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wombat62

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Re: Gone beyond health anxiety....full blown terror
« Reply #41 on: February 15, 2016, 10:46:07 AM »

You're right Briony, I had no idea how much oestrogen affects so many bodily functions until I joined this forum. The thing is GP's just don't realise and annoyingly women ones as well! You would think a middle aged woman would be on the same wavelength but apparently not! I've now swapped to a younger one but she listens and I tell her interesting stuff!

You would think by now they'd all be a bit better clued up on hormones, let's hope the next generation are better understood.

The thing is it's not just peri, I'm post and on HRT but I still get fluctuations. I've recently lost a few kilos, some off my tum and one or two night flushes have come back as I've lost my extra store. For some it seems it will always be like this :(

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Briony

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Re: Gone beyond health anxiety....full blown terror
« Reply #42 on: February 15, 2016, 11:03:23 AM »

Wombat, I agree.
I did mean in menopause too - peri in brackets was my lazy way of writing both together! x
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coldethyl

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Re: Gone beyond health anxiety....full blown terror
« Reply #43 on: February 15, 2016, 01:37:14 PM »

Wombat you might find that the return of hot flushes is linked to weight loss as your fatter abdomen would have been helping to maintain slightly higher oestrogen levels which your body was used to- although it was hot flushes that took me to gp along with raging anxiety they got worse as I lost weight due to bloods turning up diabetes - I was at an even level for a bit then the flushes returned as my cycle lengthened.
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coldethyl

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Re: Gone beyond health anxiety....full blown terror
« Reply #44 on: February 15, 2016, 01:50:59 PM »

Jj , if you really feel much worse on the sertraline it maybe just isn't the medication for you- I know people who swear by it and equally those tormented by it so it really isn't just a case of your anxiety getting the better of you - make an appointment to see gp again and maybe say you'd like to try another type or even nothing- the trouble with HA is that there is always going to be some ache or strange symptom we can latch onto and work up into our dying a terrible death so we have to find ways of switching that intrusive voice off. I had full blown ocd after my son was born and on and off for a few years after that and it was a case of changing my behaviours first and riding out the anxiety that enabled me to see that the voice wasn't my friend at all. Similarly with HA no amount of what seems the logical things to do like reassurance , body scanning and visiting Drs helps- only by not doing our safety behaviours and seeing that we are ok can we start to chip away at it- no one can guarantee that we aren't dying of some as yet diagnosed ailment but we have to live with that uncertainty if we are to live at all- my therapist's masters was about fear of dying and she says that people end up worrying so much about that they are no longer living - I think HA is the same kind of fear- the change throws up so many weird symptoms so it is inevitable we get a bit body focused so we have to work at distraction and looking out rather than being in our heads xx
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