First I have to say that I'm terrified of going to the Dr. That being said, I was suffering from some sinus/allergy garbage, generally runny nose, clogged ear, etc. After a few weeks I noticed the front of my neck was sensitive to the touch. So what did I do? Poke it a lot. and guess what happened it continued to hurt off and on. Then came the panic attacks, (I haven't had them for over a year) so I can't eat much, too nervous, sure I had cancer.
Finally, the other day I stood on the scale and lost 5 lbs, it had been three weeks since I weighted myself. Now I had been trying to loose weight (I am overweight) but I freaked out, crying all the way to work. I called my mom, a nurse of 40 years who explained to me that my fears are unwarranted. She said I was paying too much attention to slight pain and if it was something serious it would not come and go, especially with advil. she also said the more poking i was doing the worse it got. She indicated that it was most probably the end of my sinus/allergies as the weather is breaking and everything is in bloom.
Today it's better most of all the pain is gone. I have ran my fingers pressing all the way up and down my throat a thousand times. This morning I had a dream I found a lump. Tonight I went to bed and felt soreness on the front of my neck when I posed myself a certain way.
The purpose of this post is to hear if anyone else has gone through this. PLEASE DON'T POST THE MY FRIEND DIED OF CANCER JUST LIKE THIS KIND OF THING Cause that will put me over the edge.
Now I'm obessed with the scale, I have to see that I'm gaining or maintaining weight. But I can't get on it becuase no matter what it says I'm going to freak out. And how messed up is that? My Dr. tells me he wants me to lose weight for my health but when I start I get too nervous. GEES I just needed to vent,
P>S> took a half of a xanex and made an appointment with a psyciatrist.
hypocondriac up again at 3:20 a.m.
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Hi Michelle. I don't have much to post. I just think you overreact to common symptoms of curable diseases, blow things way out of proportion to their importance, and have some very scary, negative, perhaps obsessive thinking. I don't see anything besides that. No terminal illness.
I think you need to try and journal these thoughts and seek to counter them with compassionate, more truthful replacement thoughts. It's okay to catastrophize every time something happens, but is it emotionally healthy? And what is the result of each catastrophization? If the results are always no big deal, then you need to track them to show that normally nothing comes of them. You can use that as objective thinking and truthful self-talk in telling yourself you are overreacting.
We have to practice and work the skills of the program for them to work. Put up that stop sign and try and stop the scary thoughts and seek replacement thoughts you can believe. Challenge the scary thoughts, don't accept them as true. I don't know what else to say. You are overreacting to inconsequential stuff, in my opinion.
I haven't had panic attacks since I was 18, now age 58. I just knew I was dying each time I had an attack. Was taken by ambulance the first two times to hospital. After that, when they saw me coming they would get me a paper bag to breathe into. LOL. I just knew they were missing something, that I had a REAL Disease. Nope. It never happened.
I think you need to try and journal these thoughts and seek to counter them with compassionate, more truthful replacement thoughts. It's okay to catastrophize every time something happens, but is it emotionally healthy? And what is the result of each catastrophization? If the results are always no big deal, then you need to track them to show that normally nothing comes of them. You can use that as objective thinking and truthful self-talk in telling yourself you are overreacting.
We have to practice and work the skills of the program for them to work. Put up that stop sign and try and stop the scary thoughts and seek replacement thoughts you can believe. Challenge the scary thoughts, don't accept them as true. I don't know what else to say. You are overreacting to inconsequential stuff, in my opinion.
I haven't had panic attacks since I was 18, now age 58. I just knew I was dying each time I had an attack. Was taken by ambulance the first two times to hospital. After that, when they saw me coming they would get me a paper bag to breathe into. LOL. I just knew they were missing something, that I had a REAL Disease. Nope. It never happened.
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Thank you Don, very wonderful words of wisdom from someone who has made his way out of it. I did start to journal my thoughts. This morning after about 3.5 hours of sleep, I awoke and thought to myself, if I was in my normal state how would I feel? And the answer I came up with was fine. I might have noticed a little bit of an irritation in my throat but I get that a lot especially with sinus drips. Pre-panic attack I would have said, yea I was a little sick with some sort of cold but I'm feeling a lot better. Now, I measure how better, or what if it's masking itself, or I'm getting used to the irritation?
It's like night and day, scary Michelle get paralized with fear and takes every little symptom and thinks she's dying.
Normal Michelle, is glad she's getting over her sinuses and is happy summer's almost here because Feb-April are murder on my colds, sinus headaches, etc.
See, this is Normal Michelle, at 1 a.m. Paranoid Michelle will appear again.
I will continue to replace scary thoughts and work on it. After all, I've got the time.
Thanks again.
It's like night and day, scary Michelle get paralized with fear and takes every little symptom and thinks she's dying.
Normal Michelle, is glad she's getting over her sinuses and is happy summer's almost here because Feb-April are murder on my colds, sinus headaches, etc.
See, this is Normal Michelle, at 1 a.m. Paranoid Michelle will appear again.
I will continue to replace scary thoughts and work on it. After all, I've got the time.
Thanks again.
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Guest
Hi Michelle - You and I are two of a kind. I was going to post my own hypochondria story today but I found yours, so I'll just tell you my story. I'm a long time hypochondriac, and panic attack sufferer. In my teens and early 20's, I was sure I was going to get AIDS. Later, it was cancer, meningitis, and now ALS. Last year, I was in neighborhood squabble with someone regarding our kids. It caused, or I should say I caused myself, all kinds of stress. Soon body symptoms developed, depression ensued, and I started symptom surfing on the internet.
I was having alot of muscle twitching/spasms and I found ALS causes muscle twitching. If you don't know, ALS is Lou Gehrigs disease, and is horrific and fatal. That was in September. I went into a spiral of anxiety, depression, near constant panic attacks, no sleep, and since all of that causes muscle twitching, MORE MUSCLE TWITCHING!
I started the program in September, did a round of Lexapro, and finished the program and went off the Lexapro. All that helped but hasn't totally stopped the muscle twitching.
Monday I have an appointment with a neurologist. Through more research, I've discovered I do not have symptoms consistent with ALS, but hey, I'm a hypochondriac so who knows?!
I'm pretty sure it's something called Benign Fasciculation Syndrome, which is probably a fancy name for anxious and neurotic. Nevertheless, making the appointment has helped me be less anxious and I'm already experiencing less twitching.
Another thing I'm trying is to actually expose myself daily to the scary information. Everyday I go on the internet and look up ALS, MS, virtally any scary muscle twitching diagnosis. I know it sounds counterproductive, but there is some logic behind it and it seems to be helping. Think about it, if you were afraid to fly they'd tell you to fly. If you afraid to drive, they'd tell you to drive. In other words, by exposing yourself to the thing you fear, you become less sensitive to it. I'm in the early stages of trying this so we'll see...
Don't worry Michelle, you're not alone. I'm often up at 3 in the morning doing the same thing. Worrying about it isn't helping but it won't cause the bad thing you're worrying about either so don't let the loss of sleep be one more thing to obsess about.
I was having alot of muscle twitching/spasms and I found ALS causes muscle twitching. If you don't know, ALS is Lou Gehrigs disease, and is horrific and fatal. That was in September. I went into a spiral of anxiety, depression, near constant panic attacks, no sleep, and since all of that causes muscle twitching, MORE MUSCLE TWITCHING!
I started the program in September, did a round of Lexapro, and finished the program and went off the Lexapro. All that helped but hasn't totally stopped the muscle twitching.Monday I have an appointment with a neurologist. Through more research, I've discovered I do not have symptoms consistent with ALS, but hey, I'm a hypochondriac so who knows?!
I'm pretty sure it's something called Benign Fasciculation Syndrome, which is probably a fancy name for anxious and neurotic. Nevertheless, making the appointment has helped me be less anxious and I'm already experiencing less twitching.Another thing I'm trying is to actually expose myself daily to the scary information. Everyday I go on the internet and look up ALS, MS, virtally any scary muscle twitching diagnosis. I know it sounds counterproductive, but there is some logic behind it and it seems to be helping. Think about it, if you were afraid to fly they'd tell you to fly. If you afraid to drive, they'd tell you to drive. In other words, by exposing yourself to the thing you fear, you become less sensitive to it. I'm in the early stages of trying this so we'll see...
Don't worry Michelle, you're not alone. I'm often up at 3 in the morning doing the same thing. Worrying about it isn't helping but it won't cause the bad thing you're worrying about either so don't let the loss of sleep be one more thing to obsess about.
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Guest
Michelle---you and I could have written the same post! My anxiety centers on every twinge being cancer, since losing my mother to it 4 years ago. And yes, ANY lump or bump that is poked and prodded every 3 minutes will get more inflamed and sore---I do it all the time. Please feel free to PM me if you want to compare notes, I'm making progress, but still working at it.
Tara
Tara
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Just trying to talk some sense. I understand how it is when we are panicky and anxious. When I was that way it didn't matter what the doc told me, that it was all in my head, I couldn't be talked out of believing it was something else. But, that's it. It's what we believe. I didn't have the tools back then to know how to come out of it. Today we do, thank goodness. It's okay to be who we are, scared, normal, whatever. Accept and love yourself as you are. At the same time, journal and seek to see the lies in the thinking. Over time you will.
Here's a good post on how journaling and restructuring thinking can help. A TEA form is the same thing as journaling and restructuring.
I'd also recommend Dr. David Burns' book, "When Panic Attacks". I haven't read it, but have read his book on depression and it's excellent. It teaches how to restructure thinking related to depression. I'm sure the book on panic and anxiety does the same with forms like TEA.
<A HREF="http://bbs.stresscenter.com/eve/forums/ ... 040472/p/1" TARGET=_blank>http://bbs.stresscenter.com/eve/forums/ ... 472/p/1</A>
I'd also recommend Dr. David Burns' book, "When Panic Attacks". I haven't read it, but have read his book on depression and it's excellent. It teaches how to restructure thinking related to depression. I'm sure the book on panic and anxiety does the same with forms like TEA.
<A HREF="http://bbs.stresscenter.com/eve/forums/ ... 040472/p/1" TARGET=_blank>http://bbs.stresscenter.com/eve/forums/ ... 472/p/1</A>
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Hi Michele,
I am new to anxiety having only had for the past four months. But I focus on every little ache and pain. For example: I have this nasty symptom with my anxiety of constntly having to swallow. My ENT ordered a sinus and throat scan. I was not having any problems with my sinus druing this time, although my anxiety attacks started two month earlier as a result from taking over the counter medicine for sinus problems. When I went back to get the results my doctor got mad at me because he said that I had a sinus polyop and a deviated septum and needed surgery right away. When I told him that I wasn't going to have the surgery, he got mad and said that I would never breathe right or hear right again and then said that the swallowing problem was all in my head just lie the anxiety, and stormed out of the room. Ever since he said that to me I am obsessed withthe fact that I can't breathe through my nose and even have the sensation of something being stuck in my nose. I know it's crazy - I was feeling fine until he said those things. I also tend at times to obsess about this swallowing problem and seem to notice every little ache and pain. I figure it must be part of the anxiety and try to relax - soemtimes I'm better at it than others. I have a few friends wo have anxiety and they do the same thing. I too stay up at night obsessing and then my anxiety is worse the next day. It seems that there are quite a few of us going through the same thing. We just need to keep encouraging one another.
God Bless you,
Debbe
I am new to anxiety having only had for the past four months. But I focus on every little ache and pain. For example: I have this nasty symptom with my anxiety of constntly having to swallow. My ENT ordered a sinus and throat scan. I was not having any problems with my sinus druing this time, although my anxiety attacks started two month earlier as a result from taking over the counter medicine for sinus problems. When I went back to get the results my doctor got mad at me because he said that I had a sinus polyop and a deviated septum and needed surgery right away. When I told him that I wasn't going to have the surgery, he got mad and said that I would never breathe right or hear right again and then said that the swallowing problem was all in my head just lie the anxiety, and stormed out of the room. Ever since he said that to me I am obsessed withthe fact that I can't breathe through my nose and even have the sensation of something being stuck in my nose. I know it's crazy - I was feeling fine until he said those things. I also tend at times to obsess about this swallowing problem and seem to notice every little ache and pain. I figure it must be part of the anxiety and try to relax - soemtimes I'm better at it than others. I have a few friends wo have anxiety and they do the same thing. I too stay up at night obsessing and then my anxiety is worse the next day. It seems that there are quite a few of us going through the same thing. We just need to keep encouraging one another.
God Bless you,
Debbe