Stress Center Peer Support

I have had the same symptoms for the last three years...never have gotten worse..at times have gotten better. The problem is that I am terribly convinced that I have cancer or most especially, multiple sclerosis--that seems to be my biggest fixation. I also have thought that I am having a stroke (I am 33). I have frequent episodes of numbness/tingling but I feel that my muscles are terrible tight on the side that I get them (I have them on and off for both sides). Also, I have these terrible unreal feelings and I get so scared when I have them that I just think I am going to die!!! Please help--I am so done with these thoughts. I have the program but this is the one part that I have never been able to get over. Unfortunately I work in medicine and am constantly exposed to health issues! Thanks!

I have the same issues only my main concern is my heart....I'm 35 and have had every test you can have done on the human heart...they have found nothing wrong and tell me my heart is really healthy. They say it but for some reason my brain wont let go of the fear...I to have the program and it has help a lot but I still have this major fear they is something wrong with me heart. Have you been to Doctor's to have test done to make sure there is nothing wrong? The chances are there is nothing wrong and all the sytoms you have are due to anxiety/stress.

It has been amazing to me to discover that so many of my physical symptoms were caused by anxiety. I didn't even know that was possible. Our minds are powerful things.

My suggestion is that if the doctors say everything is okay, work the program and reduce your anxiety issues, and then see if you have any physical symptoms left.

This is my main anxiety, my health. Like you Aznate I think I am having heart problems. Had all the test, nothing major going on. But I still dwell on it a lot of the time. I say to myself over and over it's just anxiety. The program is helping give me tools to work with, I also see a therapist, it helps to talk to her. We are going to be fine someday.

Hi labourg,
I agree with unicorn1524. Anxiety is very powerful and can create sooo many odd symptoms. And if you got the ok from the doctor, then things are more than likely perfectly fine.

Are you doing the program? Because I think working with cognitive behavior therapy will probably help so much with your fear and anxiety. Health fears are hard to overcome. Personally, my anxieties change so much all the time. One day it will be a fear of losing someone, the next I will forget about that but I worry about something else. But when I was 15 I developed this terrible fear of getting breast cancer, that's actually my main health fear still, but it doesn't cause a constant anxiety anymore.

I haven't gotten past tape 5, but even those first tapes got me started and I flew from there on my own. I think you would really benefit from something like that. Just remember that you ARE strong enough to control your thoughts and overcome them. Bad habits are hard to kick, but if you want it, you can do it. It just takes time and a lot of effort. Working hard will pay off, eventually it won't be so bad. You can do it.

Good luck,
Chelsie

sorry I am so long winded lol

hey nate, I was just reading up on your posts and man I have the exact same problem as you bro. after reading your post about always thinking smethings wrong with your heart, sounds jst like me. I'm 21 and have thought there was since i was about 18. had many tests done too...ekg's,chest x rays, all that stuff but I always feel like smethns wrong with it. with your anxiety about it, do you feel discomfort at all in your chest area or nething??

Hi,

A few years ago, I was where you were. My anxiety and stress symptoms were so severe that I swore it had to be a physical cause. That's a very typical and common reaction to anxiety. What helped me was understanding the power of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol and adrenal fatigue, and that it was actually physical but not a life threatening condition.

Adrenaline is what courses through your body when you have anxiety. Adrenaline is a God given hormone that is meant to save your life so understanding how powerful it is helps to understand how its coursing through our bodies when it's not needed causes so many physical symptoms. Until you find the right way to turn it off with healthy coping skills taught in this program along with healthy self-soothing skills, and understand that it will take a while to flush it out of your system with regular exercise, sleep, a nutritious diet and water, adrenaline will continue to causing all kinds of physical symptoms and then you'll worry that it's something more dangerous and that will cause your body to produce more adrenaline and the cycle keeps going. In fact, producing adrenaline when you don't need it actually causes the gland that produces adrenaline to enlarge, and your body has trouble producing adrenaline when you actually need it, etc. It just gets all confused, but you can heal from adrenal fatigue, and I am living proof of that.

This will never kill you, but it makes for a miserable life as you well know. Some things that could help is reading the book "The Anxiety Cure" just to read the author's chapter on adrenal fatigue. Some of the author's suggestions for dealing with adrenal fatigue may seem to go against this program, but I think if your body has been going non-stop for so long, it will take a period of rest and taking it easy to get your body back in sync. I guess it depends on how you look at it, but it made a world of difference for me to understand that I had adrenal fatigue.

Also, Claire Weeke's books are really good at explaining adrenaline's role in anxiety so look into finding a copy of one of her books.

So, I know it doesn't feel like it, but yes, stress and anxiety can cause weird body symptoms for a long period of time. 33 would be very young to have a stroke if you do not have any congenital conditions and one of those that would have been found by now, and you are not on any high stroke meds, which I doubt you are. I'm about to be 35, and I can look back and see that I really worried too much about having a stroke and what a waste of energy that was. NOW I can say that, but back then, the adrenaline symptoms were hard to deal with so I understand. You just have to keep telling yourself the truth about the symptoms-that they are from stress and anxiety caused by stress hormones, don't over react to them, find out if the symptoms are a distraction for you from something else you need to face psychologically, exercise to sweat out the adrenaline and eat right(low sugar) and drink a lot of water for flushing it out as well, understand that it does take time to get your adrenal gland to shrink and rid your body of the excess adrenaline, and really, really, really, really, learn to love yourself and treat yourself well:).

labourg

it must be very difficult for you to be working with people who suffer from many diffrent health issues and not be concerned about your health. Do you have panic attacks that bring upon the feelings of numbness/tingling? I know when i had one of my panic attacks i felt that way throughout my whole body.

As for the unreal feelings, I've been struggling with them for the last 14 years and they stress me out the most because it feels like i'm not even there and it distracts me from concentrating. I've recently started the program again and am following completely when they say to use the relaxation cd 3 times a day and actually these unreal feelings aren't bothering me as much now and are actually starting to lessen. They are only there because alot of the blood is rushing to the muscles and less of it is going to the brain which decreases the brains functioning, that's all it is.


Mike