Health anxiety taking over!

Posted , 5 users are following.

Help please! 

I,m in a panic with health anxiety. It's happened again due to prolonged stress. I should see it coming! I'm constantly feeling sick, can't eat and am losing weight. As I equate weight loss with illness....cancer in particular that's where all my thoughts are! I tell myself I've been here often but a wee voice in my head is telling me this time is different! I really am ill! I feel so guilty that I'm putting this on my partner and family. Dreading Christmas and prep needed. All I do is sit and worry!! Does anyone else feel like this and how do you cope with it? I am petrified of doctors and hospitals so can't go for reassurance. What can I do? Thanks in advance. 

1 like, 11 replies

11 Replies

  • Posted

    I'm the same. Doctor says I'm OK yet I don't believe them its so stupid as there the doctors not me but its in my head all the time. 
  • Posted

    Hi Rachel thanks for this but you go to docs. Does that not give you something to hold on to? How do you deal with it? Do you feel sick, can't eat and lose weight? Thanks.
  • Posted

    It helps while your there but soon as u leave and alone ur questioning it. I get where I'm in a anxiety bubble and nothing seems real around me and panic builds and builds 
  • Posted

    Hi you are scared of docs and hospitals in case they say.....yes you have an illness....(which you haven't! )...so you avoid going....you are letting your mind escalate all your symptoms into suh stress and worry that you are making yourself wiorse. the thing is....deep down you know this is all anxiety ...but you cant make yourself believe it. even if you had all the tests done that you could have you would still think they have missed something. can you relate to that?...thats what happened to me. with xmas it is making it worse of course. you have said yourself.....you feel sick and cant eat....so put that with worry so no wonder you are losing weight!!. so you attach that to an illnes...eg cancer...and you think you must have that when really you know you have not been eating.  worry and stress can make you lose weight...even if you think you are eating normally. you are now in a vicious circle. but you cant sit there and worry for the rest of your life...you will worry about worrying!. please make an emergency app with your doctor before xmas.....you will burst into tears probably but thats good...and they will have seen that before...just tell them everything you have said here. mine comes from stress.....and that needs to be addressed to get well again. tablets may help..short term or long term and counselling will defo help even if you have had it before. you will get better as you know but at this moment you do not have to live like this from day to day...please go to your doctors. it is very difficult to do all this on your own. you can try relaxing, meditation breathing etc etc...but will this really make you'normal' again. reading other posts on here helped me a lot. good luck x
    • Posted

      Hi Lucy thanks for this but I really CANT go to docs! This is like asking someone with arachnophobia to hold a tarantula!!  I can relate to what you say. I am a very rational person  usually but not when it comes to this! I KNOW that I am eating less so will lose weight but there's this damned wee voice that tells me different! Over my life I've had every symptom of health anxiety there is to have but this constant nausea and not eating is the pits. Have u experienced this?. 
  • Posted

    Hi i have had the nausea...but not as bad as you i dont think. can the doctor do a home visit?? at least they would be able to give you something for the nausea which i know is horrible....i used to get the 'dizzy' feeling too...that made it worse.no wonder you are not eating. i used to feel so ill.....i even got new carbon monoxide detectors  thinking that that was making me feel so ill! even tho no one else in house did...it makes you think so irrationally too...as i couldnt find out what was wrong with me!.....i had no idea up until a few months ago that anxiety could produce soo many physical symptoms! if you cant speak to arrange a home visit then maybe someone else could ring to try and arrange it for you.  the visit would be to treat in whatever way the things you are going through now....not to send you for loads of tests etc.....to make you feel better and more able to 'cope' every day. x
    • Posted

      Thanks so much Lucy and I do hate to sound so negative! Doctors wherever they are are a no- no for me! I know given my age that I wld be referred to hospital. I'm 66 and had this off and on all my life! If I had a pound for every time I've been like this I could retire to the Bahamas! Thank you for trying. Hope you,re having a better time at mo. 
  • Posted

    i lost my weight before too.and even sometimes when I am in panic part of my life I loose weight again.i never didnt check up for it too coz I think oh it may be cancer n it makes me more nervous for checking it up. try counseling at least u can talk about ur negative thoughts n about those feelings then u will got they r some thoughts that r in ur mind n they dont exist in reality.good luck to you.
    • Posted

      Thank you so much for this. I have seen every psycho ....psychotherapist, psychoananalyst etc in my lifetime of health anxiety. Hasn't stopped episodes though. Asked doc about cbt at one point. Says I just have to accept the way I am as it's part of my nature! I'm in Scotland so can't self refer. I hope you,re in a good place in your life at the moment.
    • Posted

      yea some therapists r not professional it takes time to find a great one.ah I see so you can try some online therapy.google it.
    • Posted

      Thank you so much! I have found like a cbt workbook. I will print it ASAP and give it a try. Thank you again and to everyone who replied. 

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.