my anxiety

Hello everyone,

I'm new here and not quite sure where to start so forgive me if I ramble.  I've had anxiety and depression issues all of my life, although they were never diagnosed, primarily because I never sought help.  I always pushed the feelings down because my father taught me that people who have mental issues are defective and weak, which kept me from looking for help.  The fear of going to doctors and getting help fed into the anxiety and so I never did, just lived with it and suffered alone.  Last year, I had an issue with some blood tests.  I'd gone to the doctor for something routine (ear infection) and since he'd never seen me before, orderd a load of tests.  One of which was the PSA test.  It came back high, I didn't know what it was and asked.  He told me it was a test for prostate cancer and I immediately had an anxiety attack.  I ended up going to the Psych ER and was given 20mg of celexa once per day.  It's helped me and alot of the issues have gone away.

I still have the periodic anxiety attack, usually brough on by reading about something related to prostate cancer.  Here's some information about that situation if you care to read about it.

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=35&m=2443592

http://www.cancerforums.net/threads/20086-I-m-in-hell

Anyway, I hate the anxiety.. I think I have it under control however it rears it's head occasionally.  Anyone have any advice for me to help deal with this better? 

Thanks in advance.

Hi and welcome!

I am so sorry to hear of your scary experience with the PSA test results...that would naturally spook anybody, especially since it kind of came out of left field and you weren't prepared for it.

It sounds like things are going to be allright from what your most recent results revealed, and from the feedback that you received from the PC board.

However, sometimes the anxiety remains...and that is not uncommon. Anxiety revolving around health issues are a common theme here among this board. You are certainly not alone in this regard.

Like Hibee mentioned, there are good CBT programs that help you to tame the runaway worries and fears. The site that he refers to is a good one, and there is also a lot to gain from getting a good therapy referral from your doctor for more intensive help if needed.

Keep talking with us as well. We understand what it feels like to go into anxiety 'overdrive' over something like this. Many of us have had attacks over similar/lesser false alarms, believe me!

We are here to listen anytime.:)

Scaredy Cat

I'm seeing a therapist now, seems to be going well.  So far so good.