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Hi guys sorry this is going to be long! Health anxiety is taking over my entire and I cant cope. If I could just determine whether this is anxiety or whether I have the serious medical condition ive convinced myself ive got, I could rest a bit. It started in July 2014 I started waking with headaches and feeling lightheaded throughout the day. This was on and off for a couple of weeks then it went away. I noticed my hair shedding in February 2015 and started panicking about it, then I started waking up with headaches again and feeling dizzy and my doctor organised an MRI of my brain after I became FIXATED on having MS. This showed a benign 2mm opacity on the scan and I sunk into an absolute black hole of worry last weekend. It stated on the report that this doesn’t look like MS but I convinced myself it was and honestly felt suicidal last weekend. I saw a neurologist privately two days ago and he looked at the results, examined me and said the abnormality on my brain could have been there since birth and in his opinion has no significance at all. He said that if he scanned all my family members a few of them would probably have these little ‘wiring abnormalities’ and that my symptoms are NOT MS. I felt initial relief at this but as my lightheadedness hasn’t gone away, im now backtracking thinking what if hes got it wrong. He said that my brain cant possibly deal with this much introspection and that im picking up on every little twinge and torturing myself. He said that he sees people actually drive themselves crazy with this sort of thing. My family are at their wits end with me. I just feel weird, spaced out, lightheaded and can hear this constant sound in my head like an electricity sound if that makes sense. I have started obsessing over my movements are getting slower (still thinking about MS). I felt so bad last night, then went for a walk and felt a bit better so surely if I had some neurological disease, I would have constantly bad symptoms.
If I could believe that my symptoms are anxiety related I feel like I could rest. Ive read that lightheadedness/headaches/muscle tension can be due to anxiety and that after a period of sustained stress it can take a while for the symptoms to go away because you’re still in fight of flight mode.? I felt ok this morning but then out of nowhere I started feeling lightheaded and now I have all these horrible thoughts of MS and other diseases. I paid £245 to be told I don’t have MS and im still worrying about it.
Im going to be GP tomorrow to be started on antidepressants and am going to self-refer to counseling. Can health anxiety really cause these problems? I feel like im losing my sense of reality…I cant remember what its like to not be worried about my health which is stupid because rationally, I know that I could go and get ran over tomorrow and I will have wasted so much of my life worrying about stupid stuff. Im going on holiday in two weeks and just want to enjoy it. ive had the best news ever from a professional that I don’t have my number one feared illness but I still feel ill. Its like I cant believe medical professionals, im going loopy!
2 likes, 20 replies
Jayney84
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stephx Jayney84
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Jayney84 stephx
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jim48507 Jayney84
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amy75782 Jayney84
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Jayney84 amy75782
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mrs.wife24531 Jayney84
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Jayney84 mrs.wife24531
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mrs.wife24531 Jayney84
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Rahb01 mrs.wife24531
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I had a bad nightmare and had my first panic attack.felt awful numbness and tingling feeling on my arms and hands..had shallow breathing and breathlessness and ever since then things just spiral down.i have had blood test done and everything seem fine.now i am having sensation i dont know how to describe on my left upper arm to armpit then just scares me.im constantly worry about my heart and im 23 happily married for 2 years with a 1 yr old boy.so i completely understand what youre going through..
littleannie84 Jayney84
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Have you looked in to CBT? I've just started and it's really helping! Xxx
Jayney84 littleannie84
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SJ72698 Jayney84
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Randomly came across this and felt I had to leave you a comment as it sounds pretty much the same as what I have been through recently. I didnt go as far as getting an MRI done but every time I would google how i was feeling it was coming up with MS, Diabetes, etc. I had seen my GP several times, had blood tests etc, which gave me no answers other than 'you are physically fine, all bloods excellent etc' which left me still searching for answers for the way i was feeling, detached, foggy, like i was in a dream, and having panic attacks. I know how you're feeling, like you're losing it. For me, it was the constant introspection and worrying that was keeping me this way. That's all.
I stumbled across a website, and it helped a lot. It was anxiety, plain and simple. i think it helped because it gave me some answers for how i was feeling, no matter how hard it was to accept that there was nothing physically wrong causing these very real physical symptoms (the detachment, panic, etc) just stress and then fatigue.
Instantly I felt more connected and slowly began to accept things and started to get better. I also started lookig after myself better, exercising more, eating better, and meditating. Things were going well but I was occasionally having relapses which were rather disheartening and threatened to trigger the whole cycle off again. I decided I needed extra help and have been atteneding counselling where I have learnt some CBT and additional relaxation techniques, which help if I feel like I am getting a bit anxious.
So, hope this can help in some way. You will get there. You're not going crazy. But I think these are realisations you need to come to yourself and are not as simple as just being told. Try some relaxation techniques, like some guided meditations, it should help I think.
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Jayney84 SJ72698
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amy75782 Jayney84
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