Can't stop thinking about my health anxiety

Posted , 5 users are following.

To make a long story short I have been convinced that I have a brain tumor for like a month so I have seen a neurologist 2 times now and he said that my neurological exam looked pristine both times and he doesn't feel an MRI is warranted. I am still not convinced because I get muscle spasms in my face sometimes by my lip and chin. It scares me a lot and I cannot stop thinking about my health. I am not convinced that I'm okay. What should I do? How accurate are those exams? Please help

1 like, 12 replies

12 Replies

  • Posted

    If your doctor saw any signs that something was wrong he would've ordered the MRI. When they do neurological exams they look for certain things, like Eye movement, strength, speech, mental ability,( like making sense when you talk),and balance etc.

     if you have been concerned for a month you would have had a lot worse symptoms by now if you had a tumor. 

     anxiety can definitely cause muscle spasms in your face and lip.  I have had the mmuscle spasms 

     in fact, I get those in my arms legs, face when I am feeling anxious. They are very common with anxiety. 

     what you were doing is allowing negative thinking to take you over to the point of developing  muscle spasms. You're convincing your mind that your fears are true so your body is responding. What you need to do is reverse that. I'd like to share with you some of  The things that have helped me and others on this site to overcome negative thinking. 

     1.  what I did was first of all speak with a counselor. They see this on a daily basis and have the tools to help you manage this. Anxiety and stress is difficult to manage on our own and it really helps to talk to someone else. I keep going even when I start to feel  better because it's like a lifeline for me. Find a counselor you feel comfortable with. Some counselors will use CBT which is cognitive behavioral therapy. That helps you see the anxiety for what it is and it helps you manage it. 

    Remember....FEAR  stands for false evidence appearing real.   Which means sometimes when we have symptoms we think they are related to some terrifying disease, when in reality the odds are much higher that they are not.   Our minds  will go to the negative if we let it, so we must be in control.

    Don't let fear take you over! Be a fighter for yourself! 

     2.   Secondly, I go to Google or YouTube and look up hypnosis for  clearing subconscious negativity. . You don't actually get hypnotized. It's just a great meditation for  eliminating negative thoughts.  I put in my earbuds and lie down and listen to them. They teach us to separate our thoughts that are negative from ourselves. This is something I think could really benefit you!! They completely  calm down my brain and body to the point where I almost feel like I'm floating. This is such a great thing to do for your brain and overall health. I do this a couple times a day  specially when I'm laying down to sleep. There are many to choose from just pick the ones that you like. There's also positive affirmation ones that are helpful too.

     it will just calm everything down when you  are having an acute anxiety attack 

    3.   Stay active! The worst thing you can do is sit around and think too much about all this. It will bring on more anxiety. As well as the symptoms. When I exercise my body completely calms down and the symptoms often go completely away. 

    4.   Stay social! This helps keep your mind off your worries. The less you are alone the better at least until you manage your anxiety. Just do things that you enjoy. 

    5. When  feeling anxious or anytime you'd like, do deep breathing. Breathing through your nose for about five seconds and make sure your stomach rises. Then exhale through your lips as though you're blowing out a candle slowly for another five seconds. Do this as many times a day as you need to. It helps if you're lying down but you can also do  it's sitting. 

    6.  Eat healthy! Stay away from processed foods especially sugar. Sugar has an inflammatory response including in the brain. This will just increase your anxiety and can possibly bring on depression. 

    As horrible as anxiety symptoms are, they CANNOT  hurt or kill you!   I have had them for many many years on and off and now I pretty much ignore them but I do try to stay as healthy as possible and do those five things I listed above. The meditation audios really are excellent please try them and do them often !

     You will be fine  once you get this under a little control.  You will have a long great life and you deserve peace and happiness.

     when a negative thought enters your mind don't try to fight it off. Instead acknowledge it, and imagine it floating off on a dark cloud. Thoughts are not part of you, they are separate. 

     I hope this helped you a little bit at least. 

    Don't let fear take you over! Be a fighter for yourself. Fear is based on non reality

    • Posted

      Omg this really really helped me a lot. Thank you so much. I just started seeing a therapist a week ago and it's starting to help me. What you said though makes a lot of sense and I believe that what you said will help tremendously. Thank you thank you thank you. I also just started exercising and this is starting to help me as well. Unfortunately right now I am having some reality distortion issues where sometimes real life doesn't feel totally real but other times I don't feel that at all. As my therapist says. It's gonna take some time. Baby steps. Thank you again I cannot stress that enough. God bless you

      -Max Reddick

  • Posted

    Why do you think it is nuerological? This would be more rhematoid from what you described, see a rhematoid doctor. they will be  very though and do all auto immune stuff. Bloods are very through then you will take it from there. Since anxiety disorders are there either way always very important to care for the anxiety asoect as well. I would also say to see a orafascial specialist aka maxillary surgeon they do xrays and will evaluate you for tmj. That should cover everything you have been going through you did exams and nuero,
    • Posted

      I have also had blood work done and a chest x-ray (when I was having palpitations) and I turned in a stool sample and everything came back normal they said which is why they referred me to a therapist and gave me Prozac to take to help take my severe anxiety. Tha k you for your post.
  • Posted

    Hey how are you doing ? I was diagnosed with illness anxiety disorder witch is like the worst one ever , so I deff know how you feel I'm constantly feeling my heart beat and some time it's feels different then others , I have servel ekg's blood works and X-rays , witch all come back normal but yet my heart and chest don't feel right , I constantly find my self short of breath when I'm working or driving it can kick in at any time , it's a very hard thing to live with , I been on meds now for about a month and a half , doctor said it could take up to 3-6 weeks before they make a change , I definitely know how you feel and it's scary all the time , ppl tell me to get over it and it's all in my head , witch I know is true but it feels impossible at times , makes me feel better that I'm not the only one that's going threw this and there's a lot of ppl on are side . I just wanted to let ya know how I feel and what I am going threw to try to make your life a bit easier , Anexity is a real thing and are body's deffenity feel it . I'm here to talk to if you want ! I know how ya feel man it's brutal

    • Posted

      Thank you so much. I am sorry you are going through something similar. It is a terrible feeling and I hope you get better soon. I'm also here to talk. It feels good to know that you are not alone. So thank you. As my therapist says... Baby steps

    • Posted

      Thanks man . And you deff don't have no brain issues , when we got are mine on something it feels like it becomes a part of us , even right not my chest hurts cuz I am so into the fact there's something wrong it's there all the time . It's easy to say forget about it but when your the one that got to forget it's something else , I know how you feel man . And I'm deff here anytime ya wanna chat .

    • Posted

      I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. Yeah I'm trying to tell myself that these symptoms are nothing but you are right. Sometimes it's hard to tell yourself that and believe it because catastrophic thinking begins to be an all day every day thing. It's a bad road to go down and I would advise everyone to stay off of Google and when you catch yourself with the negative thinking, quickly challenge the thought. I know it is super hard because it's still hard for me to this day

    • Posted

      Google had me going to the hospital freaking out like every second or third day , I went there thinking I had lupus , lung cancer , heart disease. Like it's unreal what google tells you man . And I just tell my self believe the tests that I've had done and if there was anything to find they woulda found it by now . I know it's hard cuz the doctors only see the test results if it's not on the test then in there eyes it's not there , but really where the ones living with the pain and aces and weird feelings , along with all the mental things going threw are brains . It's a long and hard journey man and I truly hope we both get better and be able to live are life's like we once did , 2 months ago I would told you we're crazy and anxiety was all in ppls head , now I live with it day in and day out , one day I was fine the next day I was dying just as quick as that . Was unreal how fast is can change

    • Posted

      I couldn't agree more. I always ignored people and had the "get over it" mentality but that all changed once I experienced it for myself

  • Posted

    Try a oral maxiallary surgeon to examine you. Some of this is knowing which socialists to see and for some odd reason a doctor doesnt always know to tell you, they are a lot more familiar with facial issues.
    • Posted

      Im not sure where I would find a person like that and don't know if my insurance would cover a visit like that but thank you, I will look around

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.