Print

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

[SaraC2773]

Hi

So I suffer from Health Anxiety and have done for most of my life but the menopause has taken it to a whole new level.

I've been worried for years about having some kind of blood cancer, mainly because I have a tendency to bruise/bleed easily.  I have to say my mum is the same but recently I noticed I have been getting so tiny red pin**** dots on my lower legs.  Only a few at a time, like 3 or 4,  then the next they go and sometimes new ones pop up.  Anyway, coupled with the easy bruising and the fact I noticed a bruise on the inside of my finger I had an absolute meltdown on Tuesday evening and rang 111!.

I should say the bruise on the inside of my finger has happened a few times over the years and I think it might be called achenbach syndrome but because I'm focused on bruising I had a panic attack.

The GP at 111 said I probably didn't have anything to worry about and it sounded like I just bruised easily which was a common problem but a FBC and clotting test would rule anything nasty out.

I went to my GP's the next day - I haven't had a blood test in 16 years,  this is how bad the HA is and she said I should have it done. Not because she was worried but to give me peace of mind as she doesn't feel my anxiety will improve with the not knowing. 

So I bit the bullet and had FBC,  Kidney, LFT, Clotting, Thyroid etc and I have been in a panic ever since.  This was done on Wed late morning and she said I could ring yesterday if I wanted but the nurse doing the test said it wouldn't be back until Tuesday next week.

So here I am sitting, waiting for the phone to ring and jumping in the air everytime it does. 

My Dad sadly has Leukemia and my mum reminded me that he had a phone call at 10.30pm in the evening telling him to get to hospital the next morning and he hadn't had his blood test until 3.30pm that day but I am a nervous wreck,  I keep thinking, what if there's something wrong with my liver,  what if my kidneys are packing up.  It's like I'm jumping to every possible worse case scenario.

I hate Health Anxiety,  sorry I just needed to have a vent. 

Does anyone else react this irrationally to health issues?

The GP did say once we have the tests it may be worth looking at HRT as she feels that the menopause is definitely increasing my anxiety and panic attacks.

Thanks for reading and sorry for the vent!

[Itwillpass]

Hello Sara sorry to hear about your Dad, also that you are suffering with health anxiety, I do too & it’s so debilitating  I’m the worlds worse googler & currently suffering with burning back ache & period type cramps so think something sinister is going on. Had my bloods done this week & all fine other than raised white blood cells so that’s set me off worrying again even though the doc said it was probably a virus. I think we just always think the worse don’t we. Hope your bloods come back normal I think they may have phoned you by now if they were not xxx

[Postmeno3]

Could "just" be a B12 deficiency, but you've done well so be proud and hang on in there. You're not your Dad. Try to see that important differentiation? Big hug.
💚

[daska86]

I over react to any symptom which doesn't immediately right itself. Health anxiety has been the bane of my life and I have wasted so much time with worry and depression. I've tried all sorts of things to try and get it under control but it crops up time and time again .

[Lyncola]

I would say before menopause my health anxiety was mild. If a problem came up I saw my doctor if it didn’t go away.
But like you it’s definitely worse since menopause, I’m always at my doctors. Lucky my doctor is wonderful and will listen and explain to me why she doesn’t think it’s what I’m thinking. And if she is concerned will do all the testing that needs to be done. Google is my worst enemy, it’s amazing what ever symptoms I type in there always cancer as one off it could be?

For example from the book Me and My Menopausal Vagina, I convinced myself that my vagina was not normal. And I would wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it. I couldn’t stop myself from looking and thinking I’m not normal. So I made my doctors appointment and explain my worries and asked her to have a look. She did and all is normal 

About this time last year I had to go on antidepressants as my bitch of a sister ( who two years older and menopausal herself) constantly told me that with all my aches and pains I had was cancer.
My doctor was horrified when I told her, she said Lyn with all the blood test and scans we do you are fine. My sister actually stopped talking to me because once again on Facebook she told me I had cancer. I told her what I and my doctor thought of her opinions. She hasn’t had contact with me again and I never want too speak to her again.

I try to stay away from google and just go and see my doctor. She told me no question is too silly and if you don’t ask you don’t know.

 

[SaraC2773]

Thank you everyone for the replies.

Honestly, the last few days have been dreadful and to top it off the night sweats are worse than ever.

I am trying to calm myself down and focus on the fact that they don't tend to hang around if there's anything serious going on but it just feels like the waiting is forever.

Itwillpass my Dad is actually doing ok,  he has a chronic form of Leukemia but they are monitoring him closely and he is on steroids.  At the moment all is well so we are just hoping it stays that way for as long as possible.

Daska,  big hugs  it's awful and like you I've tried many things.  I'm back on CBT again and have a session at 9.00am this morning.  I'm also paying to see a hypnotherapist privately but judging by my levels of anxiousness this week, I don't feel that's working either.  Although I know it doesn't just get better on it's own and I have to put the effort in.  It just feels like with the menopause as well,  it's all a bit too much and overwhelming at the moment.

Lyncola that's so awful,  I can't believe your sister would say that.  I honestly wonder what goes through some peoples mind and why they would feel the need to say such things.  Even if you did think it you wouldn't say it.  Still it sounds like you have an amazing doctor and that is fabulous.  I have to say my HA has got much worse since my GP of over 30 years retired.  I also had a fabulous lady GP at my surgery who I could see about anything and between the two of them they pretty much used to get my HA under control.  I think they were just amazing doctors and I had confidence in everything they said.  That goes a very long way for someone with any kind of anxiety.

Also can I ask does anyone else seem to wake at the same time everynight with a sweat?  I seem to go to sleep fine then literally 1 hour later I'll wake sweating,  go back to sleep and if I'm lucky won't wake again but sometimes I'll wake about 4-5 and then just be awake until the alarm goes off.

Honestly,  I just want to curl up in a little ball and hide away at the moment. 

[Lyncola]

I know that feeling when you want to curl into a ball.
No I don’t get much sweats at all, but since my thyroid operation I go for weeks at a time, twenty minutes after going to bed I feel like I’m choking.
My throat gets very dry and it gets so bad that I feel I can’t breathe. The best thing I can do is cough and I feel better? The worst is when I’m just about asleep and it happens, it’s like I can’t breathe for a second. Had it now for 7 years. It comes for weeks at a time then gets better then comes back.
Nothing to do with menopause for me as I just past two years of menopause.

I don’t sleep much after 4am either