severe health anxiety

Hi guys im back again :) after hounding my doctor for the past 3months she has decided I have severe health anxiety and has put me on 40mg prozit and 80mg inderal la. I've been taking both for about 2 weeks and im starting to feel a little better but I still have a long way to go. Waiting for an appt for cbt and a psychiatrist. Constant anxiety had taken over my life,I thought about nothing else but being sick and spent hours looking for symptoms of illnesses :( I had a constant dry mouth,tightness in my throat and chest. I could feel my heart racing non stop. Lost my appetite and couldn't sleep and when I did sleep id wake with horrible nightmares. I didn't want to leave the house and was crippled with depression :( this all started over a yeast infection I got,the more I stressed the worse it got. I came online and started looking and convinced myself I had HIV. Even though I was perfectly healthy untill I got stressed. My doctor has said all my problems are down to stress. Last year the same thing happened to me,but with my periods. And as soon as the stress went I was fine. I still cant shake the anxiety but im starting to sleep and eat again. I need to control my stress because I want my life back. Anybody have any ideas or tips on how I can relax and keep my stress levels down? Any help will be appreciated:) k

Hi M.P. and welcome back!

I am sorry to hear that you are still dealing with the fear of health anxiety, I know how miserable that can be...but I am so glad to hear that you are getting treatment!

Definitely follow through with the CBT! As Kitt said, it is very effective, and I can personally endorse it. When you do start your sessions, be prepared to be patient. I remember feeling dissapointed and doubtful that it was doing any good...but like anything worth waiting for, it takes time and effort, so don't get discouraged...keep going and doing the work!

In the meantime, keep posting here with us. Whenever you are anxious, and are tempted to look something up on a search...come here instead! There are many of us who understand your fears, and will be here to support you help keep you calm!:)

Talk to you soon,

S.C.

Also I didn't know that anxiety could affect my health like it has. Im not searching anymore on dr google,that's what started this lol. I've read about a vitamin b complex for stress and anxiety. Has anybody used it?

Great job on getting away from the google searching!!! It is hard to stop...it's kind of a love/hate relationship...we love the initial relief from the anxiety if we read something reassuring...but hate the scary stuff that inevitably pops up!

The Vit B question would be one to ask your doctor...IMO unless you are anemic or have an intrinsic factor (inability to absorb B through the digestive system) then you probably don't need more than you get from a multi-vitamin...but again, I am not a doctor, so consult with yours:)

Feel better soon and keep us posted,

S.C

I definetely understand this as I also suffer from health anxiety and I know how tough it is but, I have had therapy for almost two years along with medication and I can tell you it has helped me tremendously although I still have some days where any little thing get me anxious.  THere is hope and it is a good idea to stop searching for symptoms as it only worsens the symptoms. Take care and keep posting.

I walk daily for 30-60 mins and it helps alot. Tends to valm me down as well as excercise which helps. I also take omega-3 and B-complex and D3, jury is still out on them but can't hurt :)

Also started Zoloft recently and lorazepam for those times it's really bad. Meditation and started therapy as well.

Anxiety does suck when it is constant. Good luck to you!

I'm not sure yet on the B, some of the anxiety I'm feeling now may be from the zoloft so hard to say. I take mainly cause I'm also on prilosec which tends to decrease your B-12. I'm thinking the fish oil pills maybe helping, since increased to 2400mg in the evening my mornings have been a bit calmer.

In order to desensitize myself to keep myself from over-reacting to things, I basically had to reduce the amount of stimulation and stress in my life and focus on doing relaxation and deep breathing exercises every day. As long as I was keeping myself tense all day long and breathing shallowly, my brain was going to assume I was in danger and keep producing adrenaline which was keeping me oversensitized. So I basically trained my brain to understand that I was no longer in danger and after several months, I noticed a big difference and my coping and rationalizing skills got much, much better.