I’ve convinced myself I have a brain aneurysm due to health anxiety. Help!
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Hello all! This is my first post ever to a forum. I'm not sure what to expect from this, but I need to vent to someone. I am a 23 year old female who, unfortunately, suffers terribly from health anxiety. I have convinced myself I have had everything from brain tumors to heart conditions, and more recently, a brain aneurysm. I have always had bad headaches for as long as I can remember. In 2018, I had an MRI which was normal. But here recently over the past 6 months, I have had some strange symptoms that worry me as they all came on sudden. I have never had difficulty speaking clearly, but now I mix up words every time I talk. For example, "parked car" becomes "par carked." I also feel like I absolutely cannot control my emotions. I wake up some days just feeling sad for no reason. I have never been an emotional person, but now I cry at the drop of a hat. The slightest things trigger it; a sad scene in a movie, a song, even just a thought, and sometimes it happens for no reason at all. This happens almost daily. Along with my headaches, I have a very sore/achy neck that just came about around 3 months ago. I have been to the chiropractor, nothing helps it. It goes away, or dies down in intensity I should say, for a few days, then flares up hardcore again. The neck pain is almost unbearable. My headaches are usually never "severe," Tylenol usually helps them, but sometimes I do have bad ones. I have been to my GP about this, and they are giving me a referral to a neurologist. However, referrals take time and I am about to drive myself insane with worry. I had CT (without contrast) done 2 months ago, which showed nothing. But if you also suffer from health anxiety, you know that usually doesn't ease your mind. I am convinced there is something bad neurologically wrong with me and I just want my life back. I have a 2 year old daughter and I feel like I can't be the mom she needs me to be right now because of this. I guess I'm just looking for reassurance. Thank you for taking the time to read this novel!
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sasical72 erika66424
Posted
Hi Erika,
A fellow health anxiety sufferer here.
Everything you mention in your post, every symptom is an anxiety symptom. In any case as you know, even if you get tested and reassured it is not a brain aneurism, you will be ok for maybe a few days until you start with other symptoms and get convinced you have some other illness.
The key here is not to chase the symptoms but to treat the anxiety. Easier said than done. Are you getting any help for your anxiety?
For me, the 3 most helpful things are:
Good luck and let me know if you have any questions x
jan34534 erika66424
Posted
Erica it sounds like you suffer from severe health anxiety. Severe health anxiety can cause all the symptoms that you have. I have been there!
At some point you need to remind yourself that your tests were all normal. The CT scan would have definitely shown something if it was there. Nothing is going to develop in the span of two months.
i had every symptom you could think of. Numbness, tingling, floaters in my eyes, weakness, stuttering, tripping on words, muscle twitches, brain fog, vibration feeling in brain, arms and legs, pain in my neck ,, Etc. I thought for sure I had some neurological issue like you do. But all my testing was normal! All due to long-term stress and anxiety.
i also get the terrible neck pain in mine is from stress and anxiety which tightens the muscles. What I do is soak in a hot tub with a towel that is very warm around my neck. It gives a lot of relief. You can also talk to your doctor about neck exercises that are really important in relieving the pain.
when people have severe anxiety they can often jumbled up words or stutter. Believe me that has happened to me many times.
Do you go to counseling? That could be very beneficial for you. You could even do it at home virtually. That’s what I do and it works great.
it got to the point for me where I had to trust the testing that was done and realized that it was my mind that was the biggest enemy to me. The fear. The worry. It was making my life absolutely miserable. It’s not worth it! I wasted years of my life with worry and cannot get back one single day! Please don’t do that to yourself. You suffer from health anxiety. . Your testing is normal. Ask yourself how many more test would make you realize this? At some point it Has to stop. And you have to take charge of your life. your daughter needs you to take care of yourself! She needs you. And the first thing you can do is stop and tell yourself that it’s time to get some support for the anxiety and possibly depression.
i had a choice to make. I either live in fear and feel horrible or I don’t let it defeat me and I move on and live a healthy life for myself and my family. You can do that also! Worry get you absolutely nowhere.
i asked myself what good is it to keep being miserable every single day when I know that all my testing was normal? That was the turning point for me. I am very healthy and I really believe that you are also. Fear stands for false evidence appearing real.
Remember that whatever we think in our mind whether it’s positive or negative, it will grow!! So I had to turn around my thinking. Get help in letting it go! Sometimes we get a negative thought but we don’t have to follow it we can let it go. I do hope you get the support that you need. Do it for yourself and do it for your daughter! Take care