1. Community
  2. Mental health
  3. Anxiety Disorders

Health Anxiety

Posted , 105 users are following.

richard69411
richard69411

Good Evening 

26 year old male here working as an occupational therapist. 

Have a question relating to health anxiety, has anyone else experience when reading up on there physical symptoms and reading related symptoms to diseases ect they start to physically experience them also?. 

My physical symptoms are.. 

Pins and needles occasionally in hands and  feet daily. 

Tingling limbs this also includes hands and feet. 

Floaters in both eyes. 

Full body twitching and jerking throughout the day. 

Digestive problem such as excess gas, bloating stomach noises. 

Muscle tension and pain. 

Headaches 

Sharp pain in middle of chest happens throughout the day. 

Heart palpitations, rapid heartbeat where I can feel my pulse constantly in my hands, neck, arms, back of head. 

Docters are pointing to anxiety, had full blood count came back normal. And MRI Head and Neck.

Been offered antidepressants although I don't feel anxious or depressed I do feel constantly edge. 

And feel that I might of develop health anxiety due to the symptoms im experiencing. Thinking I have got MS, ALD, Eye cancer, brain tumour, or rare digestive disease...

I have now started to become fixated on my moles on my body constantly thinking they are changing or develping new ones. I'm starting to feel insane..

I am enrolling in counselling with my first session starting on Wednesday evening to expore and to give rationale towards thought process. 

Thank you for reading commets would be greatly appreciated. 

19 likes, 130 replies

130 Replies

Prev Next
  • mary03830
    mary03830 richard69411

    Posted

    hi richard i feel for you as i am just the same i have every illness going i get something wrong with me im on the net surching and then i have it,i think i have drove my gps mad but i know my own body,all the symptoms you have put i have and more anxiety brings on ibs and ibs brings on anxiety it is a vicious circle,im sat here now with my stomach blown up like a balloon and in pain i get this every day i take hot water bottle to bed to ease the pain,i have learnt with anxiety we worry about our health more,i wake up in the night after dreaming feel as though i cant breath,i have been looking it up tonight now i have everything we shouldnt do it but we only have the net to turn to doctors dont understand all this is real to us.i have blood tests all the time and they come back normal but still search for answers because we think they have missed something in the tests,you say you dont feel anxious we dont think we do but we are all the time and worry all the time we worry over worry,i have had this for years got better with acupuncture then stopped im worse now,i would not wish this on my enemy but if a doctor could have it for a week maybe we wuld be taken serious,i dont know if anyone else wakes up feeling like they cant breath.

    im always here richard having sombody to talk to helps knowing you not on your own mary

  • mary03830
    mary03830 richard69411

    Posted

    forgot to say richard im a young 66 yr old woman so im not stupid or paranoid think doctors   think i am apart from on who sends me for every test going  i have made appointment with my old acupuncturist for tuesday next got to get self help not relying on docs oor taking antidepresants
  • New85
    New85 richard69411

    Posted

    I feel your pain! I really feel like I don't know what's real and what's not anymore, I'm sure the original problem was real but the more time goes on i get more symptoms that could be in my head or could not! It makes it much more difficult to get tithe route of the original problem and docs stop taking you seriously when you keep going back with new things
  • ETomko
    ETomko richard69411

    Posted

    2ETomko is a spam account copied from my own. Does anyone know how to help me/shut it down?
  • Hollymayshipton
    Hollymayshipton richard69411

    Posted

    I have never read a post from someone on here that has exactly the same symptoms as me! I have the floaters and body jolts an twitches etc everything you have said and if I learn about a new illness I'm always convinced I have it ! At the moment it's brain tumor and lymphoma rolleyes I did find some reassurance from a nurse who said that brain tumors always disable or kill within months (lovely I know), I've been having my symptoms for over a year now so I feel slightly better about it but I'm sure tomoro will bring a new illness to worry about ! Take care and good luck with your treatment x
    • richard69411
      richard69411 Hollymayshipton

      Posted

      Hi Hollymayshipton,

      As you might of notice this post is over 9 months ago, haven't posted since. But thought I should reply to your comment.

      It's been now 1 year and 4 months which this anxiety/ health anxiety started.

      If you need reassurance ect. Just let me know.

      Regards

    • rachel46144
      rachel46144 richard69411

      Posted

      Hi richard

      Do you get numbness all over but still have full movement..i get that and its scary...

  • SkyeBeth
    SkyeBeth richard69411

    Posted

    I have noticed that with people who suffer from anxiety or panic attacks, it is always triggered by some life event, either physical, emotional or chemical (bad reaction to smoking weed for eg) and does not just appear out of the blue.  Although my daughter was born with special needs and I've been her sole carer from dot one, it wasn't until I was rushed to the ER when my daughter was six years of age with a PUJ Obstruction of my left kidney that I started getting panic attacks.  Before then I was comfortable in my mortality and my daughter's future.  My kidney was at that failure stage, another day or two without immediate attention I would have just collapsed. I had signs six months prior to the ER visit that something was seriously wrong wth my left kidney and I just put it down to work stress etc. I had visited the ER the week before the final diagnosis and had been sent home without any ultrasounds or CT Scans being done.  It was put down to a back spasm. So don't always take a Doctors word that you are just suffering from health anxiety.  Get that second opinion, or third.  
  • lexi49218
    lexi49218 richard69411

    Posted

    All the Way down your list upto heart palpitations, could of been written about me. I have every sympton the same. At first I thought it was a cold but over 5months later it is getting harder to do simple tasks such as walking up the stairs. I get so out of breath I get flashes in my eyes and feel like I'm going to faint. Im beginning to get worried now in fact I'm not worried, I'm scared. I know that something is wrong. My whole body is telling me things aren't right. I just wanted to ask if you have had your diagnosis yet. I have to wait 3weeks until I can see my doctor. I hope you're ok and feeling better. Fingers crossed fir us both. Thank you x
  • fadzli59028
    fadzli59028 richard69411

    Posted

    hi Rich.

    same here brother. i have been suffering from health anxiety for 4 months now. been to the docs 5 time. doc didnt think it was serious to even ordered a blood test. the biggest culprit to all this is google. bloody hell. i have been experiencing low back pain with blooted stomach and weird muscles ache whole body. My biggest fear is cancer. one of the doc assured me it was just GERD. he said cancer is a painless disease that you will only feel pain when, in his word, "ready to kick the bucket". i was ok with that assurance but then your mind start telling you, "maybe you are ready to kick the bucket?" and the adventure continues. my housemate been saying im going crazy as i constanly been checking my stomach and other body part for lumps and its exhausting.

    i cant seem to stop. wierd thing is, i cant seem to stop my self from googling and i did just that few days ago on lung cancer and miracously i have flu, low fever and cough. our mind is a powerfull mechanism which it reacts to how we perceive life. i am a very intelligent lad where i graduated first class, been doing fine till recently quit my job with the hopes of starting my own business and it has not been so well hence i guess that what triggers my anxiety.

    i have self dignosed my self of having colon cancer (as i sh*t blood twice 3 months back), lung cancer, MS, spinal tumor, non hodgkins, aortic aneurysm, heart disease, paralyse, pancreatic cancer, liver failure and its driving me nuts once dr google has confirm my worse fear. i somehow find peace in writting this post which is wierd.

    optimistic,

    Fadz

    • raymond50390
      raymond50390 fadzli59028

      Posted

      fadzil

      I couldn't believe what I was reading, I could have written that post, including all the symptoms and fears.

      The only difference is I haven't got a first, I've had this Health Anxiety since I was 23 I am now 57. I was about to come on holiday to Spain, last night I was panicking I had something wrong with my brain and thought I'd have to cancel the holiday. I was able to laugh and feel so relieved reading your post, however HA does wreck my life, literally.

    • fadzli59028
      fadzli59028 raymond50390

      Posted

      Hi Ray.

      it's great to hear that we are both on the same boat. lol. Best thing is, the annoying part, i keep asking people around me do i look sick, do i have jaundice, i even get my housemate to feel my forehead because i feel feverish, keep going on the weighing scale everyday of fears losing weight as all cancer patients experience and its just exhausting.

      i know i have a low back problem and most probably kidney infection, where low back pain was due to gym 5 years back which i only started to feel it now since im 31, and kidney infection as i dont drink enough fluid on a daily basis, but my mind just wouldnt let me rest and its very tiring. Are you still experiencing body pain and bone pain up until now?

      Fadz

  • Michael6591
    Michael6591 richard69411

    Posted

    I can relate to this, since once when I was a teenager I fainted when reading someone's description of having a heart attack. I hope you have found the counselling useful.
  • joanne26262
    joanne26262 richard69411

    Posted

    Richard - this is similar to your problems.  When I was in my thirties i had urinary problems and underwent uncomfortable tests.  Time went on and when I was 41 (Iam now 71) I had a severe kidney infection and couldn't urinate so had to go to Emergency Room where they catheterized me.  This went on for a few days and eventually it healed etc.  However,  so many years later,  if I have to go to pee too often and it doesn't feel empty, I start fixating on the bladder.  This episode started when I got a uti last week and I'm not even sure if it was that.  I have an overactive bladder.  so i fixate also which causes anxiety.  My family has a generalized anxiety disorder,  So this is where my mind tends to focus.  I'm working on it and there is a good book by Dr Clair Weekes =, an Australian, called Healing and help for your nerves.  I picked it up and noticed I bought it about 15 years ago, so obviously i had episodes since them.  It really bothers me,  but in comparison to what I read,  I am doing well. I know it is only my nerves.
  • melissa143143
    melissa143143 richard69411

    Posted

    Not sure if anyone is still on this thread but I know a majority of my symptoms is a huge anxiety issue. I was in therapy for about 3 years and it helped me so much without realizing it. Now as she is on maternity leave I have a become a huge wreck.

    I was convinced this summer that I had reactive hypoglycemia which is a non-diabetic form. I have been to every doctor..thyroid..gastrointestinal etc. And all keep telling me it's just stress. I get this issue where if I don't eat every 3 hours I feel sick, light headed and get scared that I'm going to faint. It can happen once or several times a day or sometimes none at all. Then u get a weird sensation at the bridge or my nose or back of my head.. A tingling feeling.

    With my anxiety I also get very bad palpitations and sometimes even pains in my chest or under my arms. Does this sound familiar to anyone????; at 29..I feel that I'm too young for this.

    Also frequently using the bathroom or fear that I will have to go once I leave there house.

    I don't want to take medicine...does anyone have any remedies that they use or swear by?

    • New85
      New85 melissa143143

      Posted

      Hi Melissa, I just wandered - if you ended up being actually diagnosed with something else, ie diabeties/thyroid disorder, would you then take medication for that?! It may be 'just' anxiety but it is an illness and its obviously effecting your life. I was 29 when everything started falling apart because of health anxiety and I don't really know where I'd be today if I hadn't given medication a go. I just didn't want to feel scared every day any more - it was starting to seriously effect my work, my relationships. I would have tried anything. It depends how much it's effecting your life I guess, whether or not it's worth it for you. Every case is different. Anyone can get severe anxiety 29, 56, 15 it doesn't matter what age you are but 29 is definitely too young to living in fear of your own body every damn day! Taking medication when your ill should be nothing to be ashamed of. Its 100% everyone's own choice and I'd never judge either way - only you know if it's worth it for YOU - but I just like to share my story to make the point that it IS an option. Nothing else worked for me and I did try everything! Whatever you decided in the end I hope it worked out for you and things have improved since you posted. Good luck to everyone on this feed x
Back to top
Prev Next

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.