Believe me you are not alone......I am the same way. I wish I were not like this...but I too am constantly looking around in books..looking up symptoms...and I always think I have something....
You are NOT alone. I consider myself the queen of health anxiety. LOL I never had this before last December and was so carefree. Now every little symptom I think I'm dying of a heart attack, stroke, blood clots. You name it, I've thought I had it.
I just started Lexapro 7 days ago and am hoping that it helps me. This is no way to live and its been hard on my family too. My doctor and I have a close relationship because I've been in to see him so often. Even all the nurses know me by my first name.
See, I am so impatient and anxious all the time that I had to start a post before I read anything other than the first page! Jeebus, I'm a nut.
It's SO cool that I'm not alone. Really. What is it this week for all of you? I have MS and cancer today!
Hey, I'm on Lexapro too! I was on it from October 04 to May 05, but gained a lot of weight. I went off and it was the biggest mistake I ever made. I was doing SO well on Lex. I didn't have any HA flareups at all. Well, lo and behold, September (allergy season for me) rolls around and I flip out again. My doc gave me Effexor but it wasn't helping so I went back on the Lexapro last Friday. I just need to try really hard to watch my weight!! It DOES work well for me though. I hope it works for you too!
Last edited by MissBecky82; 10-13-2005 at 09:40 AM.
Hello and welcome miss becky.
Well where to start, this week ive convinced myself ive got lung cancer, brain tumor and arthiritus in my foot (god knows where i got that one from - i think cos my foot ached).
I was only thinking today how someone who doesnt have anxiety proberbly gets an ache or pain and thinks 'if it gets worse, i'll see a doc or just forgets about it', whereas we have to scrutinise, overexagarate and look for possible causes.
Its just anxiety that causes us to blow things out of proportion.
If youve found a medication that helps - keep on with it, so what if you gain a few extra pounds. Id rather be fat and happy than thin and anxious.
Linds
OH Lordy, have you come to the right place!.....everyone here has health anxiety. Its funny, i can barely remember a time when i was carefree. Wait til you hit 40 and you will really go over the edge! Im on Lexapro also, i think it helps, but the xanax really works well Right now im suffering from a red, irritated throat that want go away....so im sure its something bad, i hate all this worry!! Hope the Lex helps you.
I think I'm past health anxiety now and I'm sure I'm going to die from something. It's really freeing in a way. Years spent on worrying I might have something wrong and I'm still here. All we can do is keep getting checkups and try to manage our anxiety the best we can.
I keep telling myself that God has a plan for everyone, and there isnt much you can do about it, but somehow that doesnt help me for a long period of time. Maybe if i hadnt gone through so much pain when i lost my mom 4 years ago, and i have a daughter that is only 12. Scares me so much to think about her having to go through what i did. I never had this kind of anxiety until she died, and i havent been able to go on with my life like some people do. I go through periods...which is most of the time where i dont want to do anything but stay at home, not get out and do anything....really sux!
Oh all that you people are saying is soooooooo me !!! I have finally in the past few months been able to admit that I suffer from hypchondria. But there will always be that thought in the back of my mind (but what if I am having a heart attack and blaming it on the anxiety).What a way to live, if you call it living. Am on proxac again (quit because I was CURED, wrong thing to do) now going through all the lovely side effects but going to stick it out..along with zanex..doing better (I think) All of us hang in there together..
Weird thing is....all this anxiety makes me soooo depressed!, youre right, this is no way to live, and my poor family oh well....one day at a time i guess.
Hypochondria....man I've suffered with that, or is it somatization, for at least 30 years. I'm a male, now 55, and have suffered most stress problems and have had more cardiac stress tests and internal GI checks than I should have. I know that when something stressful comes up ( a period in my life) I usually have a physical problem. These are all REAL pains to me, but are usually things like esophogeal spasms, which feel like heart problems, or headaches. In the past few years, I've worried re brain tumors (sharp pains I'll get that are probably sinus things) and heart problems. Well, the current one is prostate or bladder or kidney cancer. You see, I'm getting remarried in Feb to a wonderful woman who I've basically lived with for the past 2 years. My marriage broke up just before that because my wife had a lesbian affair that really blew me away. I thought everything was fine and then things started to deteriorate and then I found out. Well, things are good now, but I think I'm scared of marriage because of the bad experience. I do want to spend my life with her, but I just don't any more problems in the future!! Anyway, I wonder what role this all has...the annulment just came through and that's why Feb. We've been engaged for a year.
So...why the bladder and prostate cancer worry? Because I had a bout with what we think was a mild epididymitis in March which came back in Sept. Then a week ago I started to feel pains in my bladder, like I really have to go,and I'm convinced it's something terrible. Yes, I've gone to my Dr and yes, have a urologist referral. But I'm terrified. I always think and expect the worst. I dwell on it and am faking it to be happy now. Anytime I get a new or different symptom, I'm convinced it's a really bad problem. Ok, I can cope with a cold, but that's about it. So, I really understand hypochondria and anxiety and stress. Sometimes I wish I didn't know so much about medical things. To just be ignorant might be bliss.
Congratulations on your upcoming marriage bikesing! I'll bet it's just anxiety causing you this worry about your bladder. Do you see the urologist soon? I find the sooner I get things taken care of, the sooner I relax about them. I know what you mean about faking you are happy...I think a lot of people do this. I think it's rather healthy actually, because if you put on a happy face...often times the process is much more pleasant.
Please. I don't know how many times death was imminent for me because of aids, brain cancer, heart attack, blood clots (both knees and lungs), strokes, seizures, pancritis, pendacitis, bursting blood vessels in the brain, liver failure, kidney failure, or space born sinus infection that was gonna eat away my face. Now my esophegus is getting eaten away by stomach acids (thank you nexium commercial).
and drum roll..... poisoning (by any chemical or drug I come into contact with)
I have my urologist appt next Thurs, which is still too far away since today is the prior Friday. I guess I'll survive, but I'll be in pain between now and then. Once symptoms start, they stay until I have proof that there's either aproblem or not one. No fun. My entire gut now gets all wrapped up and tight and in pain. Anxiety is such a powerful thing. It's amazing. Well, try and have a good weekend anyway! If and when I get a serious problem, I"m afriad I'll be a total basket case.
Man, what a bad night! We went to a fancy party and the woman next to me was really nice and friendly and then she told me about a friend who is 2 years younger than I am and dieing of cancer; he went to the hospital 2 months ago with abdominal pains. Well, this really set me off because I've been dealing with pains, so you know what this means - that I'm riddled with cancer. I'm just about ready to check myself into the hospital. I guess I can hold out till Thurs when I see the urologist. But man, I got hot and sweaty and really full of anxiety. Why did she have to tell me that??!!! I am really freaking out now. I guess it helps a little to know that I'm not alone with these worries. Only a little.
I have constant health anxiety also. My biggie is cancer, because early detection is a MUST, or so they say. So I go around poking and prodding at various areas of my body, until I seem to almost CREATE the symptoms. HELP! It wears on my wife, and I have newborn twins, but I don't feel anywhere NEAR 100% available for them. I have prayed to God about this, and sometimes get some peace, but I am wanting comfort and understanding on this earth in a tangible way also.
I went off and it was the biggest mistake I ever made. I was doing SO well on Lex. I didn't have any HA flareups at all. Well, lo and behold, September (allergy season for me) rolls around and I flip out again. My doc gave me Effexor but it wasn't helping so I went back on the Lexapro last Friday. I just need to try really hard to watch my weight!! It DOES work well for me though. I hope it works for you too!
Im on Lexapro also, i think it helps, but the xanax really works well 
Right now im suffering from a red, irritated throat that want go away....so im sure its something bad, i hate all this worry!! Hope the Lex helps you.
oh well....one day at a time i guess.
