Need some mental help.....

Are you currently treating your anxiety and depression? I think I'd look into counseling with a therapist who specializes in helping people with chronic illnesses. From what I understand about cognitive behavioral therapy, it could really help you.

I'd also try to remember that not everyone with UC has it bad. I was diagnosed with pancolitis, the "worst" form, and I've only had one very minor flare since being diagnosed 6 years ago. UC doesn't impact my life at all - except taking meds daily, which doesn't bother me in the least.

There is an anxiety forum here at HW that might be a good resource for you.

Lots of people struggle with the emotional/mental side of their UC - it's not an easy disease to have. That said, because the anxiety and such are impacting you so greatly (especially since you seem to be doing quite well UC-wise), I think you should definitely treat it. Anxiety is just as real of an illness as your UC is.

I'm not familiar with how you'd go about seeking therapy in Canada - even in the US, it varies between insurance plans. I'd maybe start with your primary care physician or GI for recommendations, and go from there.

that would probably be a good idea.

Yes avoid it until you are more acustomed to your situation for sure

Hypochondria is definitely a symptom of anxiety disorders and I can't recommend therapy enough. My therapist has helped me immensely with all sorts of OCD and eating disorder problems. I believe working with one for a while will help you greatly.

Essentially many excessive anxiety problems come from an inability to accept uncertainty. You google and check medical forums obsessively in pursuit of being reassured that the worst won't happen to you, but this is a fruitless endeavor. An anxious mind will never be satisfied and you'll never be able to reassure yourself that things are going to be fine. This is not a depressing realization, because with this you can break yourself out of the cycle. The first step is to stop googling and checking medical forums and then work on accepting the uncertainties you feel about your health. Take it from me, the anxiety and anticipation that something horrible is going to happen is often way worse than the actual situation.

I definitely recommend a therapist to help you work through anxiety, having an outside perspective and another mind whose judgement isn't clouded by stress and worry will definitely help. Good luck!

Go ahead and call your GI, explain the situation to the person who takes calls (e.g., that you are having severe anxiety regarding your UC), and that you hoped your doctor could make a recommendation for a therapist. April is still a long way off.

Leokorry said...
Hey everyone, I've posted a few times here but I've mainly just been reading other peoples posts and what everyone is going through and it causes me a lot of anxiety and depression. I was diagnosed with proctitis in October 2014. I've never experienced diarrhea or urgency. The only symptoms I've experienced have been mucus and maybe less than a dozen bms with some blood. I'm a big hypochondriac and have been even before being dx.

I didn't read it as the original poster being diagnosed as being a hypochodriac, but rather calling themselves a hypochodriac even before being diagnosed with proctitis. Its understandable to be worried and the other suggestions for managing your emotional state through therapy, psychiatric drugs and other means sound like they would be very helpful for you.

For many there appears to be a link between emotional stress and the physical symptoms becoming worse for Inflammatory Bowel Dissease including Proctitis. A quick check of the Wikipedia entry implicates stress as well as various ways to treat it depending on what the triggering factors are.

One thing to consider is the effect of various anti-depressants on the intestines which can be positive or negative. In my case antidepressants played a very key role for me in recovering from Ulcerative Colitis and in managing diarrhea and muscle spasms. Specifically Wellbutrin / Bupropion which may not be suitable in your case and may also act as an anti-inflammatory drug. I also had good results with a prescription for a low dose of Doxepin (5 mg) to help for sleep and anxiety. These might be helpful for you. The herbal supplement Valerian root extract, which is widely available, was also very helpful for me so I could calm down and get to sleep at night and might be helpful for you too in addition to other forms of treatment.

Another suggestion based on what was helpful for me to treat severe pan-colitis was the use of whey protein shakes and / or the supplement L-Glutamine. By providing elevated levels of protein you can provide more source material for your body to repair damaged tissue. This appeared to stop blood loss within a matter of days after I started taking them. In addition to treating anxiety / depression, learning about and actively being involved in taking steps to treat the Proctitis may also ease your mind.

If your newly diagnosed the forums could scare the life out of you and make you feel worse. ive had a flare for 1 year and im now managing my colitis with a wheat and gluten free diet. The change has been amazing x

Leokorry said...
Should I avoid this forum?

Probably, yeah. 90% of the people posting on health forums consist of the hard-luck cases and the newly-diagnosed. What you won't see many of are people who are in remission most of the time and whose disease remains largely stable for life. I'm only here because I'm a hard luck case. Wouldn't have dreamed of joining while my disease was still mild.

I must admit the one type of anxiety I don't understand is hypochondria. I had colitis as bad as it can get, and I still don't give a ****. I don't understand worrying about having a terminal illness, when something non-serious like IBS or fatigue is so utterly annoying and deleterious to quality of life. I think that's why I'm not scared of dying, really. I'm not suicidal, but at the time: death, yeah whatever. Bring it on, mother****er! Like you're any worse than life!

This post may or may not have helped.... >.>

I blame my IBD (and IBS) for being a mental case now, definitely not support forums though, if it wasn't for the support I don't know where I'd be. Everyone handles health issues differently regardless of physical, mental or emotional.