Need help advice. Health anxiety or what?
Posted , 2 users are following.
Lost both my parents to different cancers so I'm a little bit of a hypochondriac but up until this spring have not been to worried about anything.
I turned 30 this past winter, and am looking to start a family and then bam...
Had a stomach pain that persisted when to the doctors, told I was fine, maybe gastritis, didn't go away went to an urgent car center, blood work was great, stomach exam came back negative sent home with peice of mind.
Next day had a difficult BM, a little blood go back to the ER as I was panicking, they did a rectal exam and a chest ray and ekg and blood work. All negative, I was told probably a virus and a hemmorid. Sent home. Stomach pain goes away but I get a cough, chest is heavy I become insomniatic, I get tension in my back and arms and shoulders. I end up having a panic attack and go to the ER for a heart attack, affair all results clear. Blood, X-ray,ekg, and a d dimmer test. I go see my GP and tell him my story he send me for blood work again, and sets up a CT scan of my abdominal and a colonoscopy for this spring summer. But says he thinks I'm fine and I'm just letting my health anxiety blow up my symptoms.
Cough gets worse, go to an urgent care center, told I have bronchitis and get antibiotics. Half way through 10 days now, cough is gone, chest is improving and arm tension is slowly going away.
But my back is sore at night(tho I recently started chiro).
Now I'm worried I have lung cancer or spinal cancer or whatever.
Do I book another visit with my gp and express my concerns for a chest ct scan on top ofnmy abdominal one? Would 3 different doctors all miss cancer onb3 different x rays
Just really fearful and want to overcome thi
Thanks you
0 likes, 4 replies
Guest steve22887
Posted
Hi steve22887, sorry to hear about your parents. It is only natural to become super vigilant or like you put it 'a little bit of a hypochondriac'. It is good that you followed up and had tests carried out. But if the results came back negative then at some point you have to accept that. Otherwise you might damage your health more e.g. by insisting on more CT scans that expose you to a significant amount of radiation.
Worrying itself has the capacity to cause muscular tension, headaches, and digestive problems. So my advise would be to take it easy and for your back ache try to do some stretches or workout (you might ask your chiro) or you could even consider trying a different mattress.
steve22887
Posted
Cough is gone, but still have moments of breathlessness and back pain.
Should I worry or is this natural after bronchitis?
I am seeing my GP tomorrow as I have a knee referral for a torn minisucus but will touch base with him regarding my breathing difficulties and hopefully he will show me my chest X-ray and help me beleive I am okay. I am aware my tension and breathlessness can all be anxiety related.
Guest steve22887
Posted
It is usually caused by exercise or a chest infection. It is an inflammation of a tendon between ribs. Mostly it causes pain around the sternum but can radiate to the back. In my case, it disappeared after a week or so. I found that gentle massage to the painful area does speed up the recovery.
steve22887 Guest
Posted
My GP checked my breathing lungs are clear, he is baffled by my shortness of breath and since my blood work came back clean and all other tests are normal he beleive it could be generalized anxiety disorder. He gave me a trial of lorazepam but I'm still suspicisous that we are missing something. But I guess I have to give this a shot and see if it'll clear up my shortness of breath. Short of a lung ct scan I can't think of anything else to get.