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Health anxiety is robbing my family

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Posted 1/8/2015 9:36 AM (GMT 0)
I'm a father of two beautiful children and husband to a wonderful wife. I am almost 33 and have suffered from this since age 25.

My father got killed at age 25 so I guess that is what triggered the panic attacks. One month after I turned 25 my mother fell over dead from a pulmonary embolism. That is when my life turned into an endless prison of worry and panic.

Here I am 7 years later and still the same thing, blood clots, heart attack, stroke, aneurysm......those are the common ones. I don't have cancer very often...lol just occasionally. I am happy to find a place to talk about the stupid things I think.
My wife is understanding as possible, but if you haven't suffered from this then you can't fathom how horrible it is to truly think you are dying......

I want to be the father I didn't get to have and this is robbing my family of that. Instead of playing with my kids I'm checking my pulse. I'm just angry I don't know how to beat this.......
Posted 1/8/2015 9:48 AM (GMT 0)
Any advice or tips would be very much appreciated.
Posted 1/8/2015 9:50 AM (GMT 0)
Dear Darren 245, Hi I just read your post. I joined today. Also long history of panic attacks and family deaths. I just made a long post to try to give useful information to Austincirr 711 today about 15 minutes ago on the Panic Attack thread. My user name here is Lilyrosie after my two dogs. Pleas read it if you can, maybe it will help you. Don't know you but I have heard you and want to help if I can. Don't give up.
Posted 1/8/2015 9:52 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you, I will look now
Posted 1/8/2015 10:28 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Darren

First of welcome to the forum I am pleased you have found us you will get good support here from people who understand what you are going through.

Sorry to hear you are having health anxiety I know what your going through as I also suffer with bad health anxiety and I think it's one of the hardest types of anxiety to deal with and can really take over your life. I would suggest that you go and speak with your doctor about this as there is a lot that can be done to help such as taking medication or doing some type of talking therapy such as CBT or Mindfulness which both get great results.

In the meantime check out our resources thread which you can find on the main page first post for links to self help sites and continue to post here we are here to support you and I know you can get through this and we are behind you all the way.

Hibee
Posted 1/8/2015 12:39 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Darren, welcome :)

You are in the right place, we all understand exactly how you are feeling and how awful it is to believe you are going to die all the time :(
I agree with Hibee - the first step is to go and see the doc, there is lots of ways this can be treated, medically and psychologically :)

I do the 'checking my pulse' thing constantly and it's one of the habits I am trying to break. The more you concentrate on it the more anxious it will make you.

Hope you feel better soon! Keep posting with us, we are here for you :)
Posted 1/8/2015 12:48 PM (GMT 0)
Darren,

Let me first say that I am so sorry for your losses. I can completely understand why your worries are what they are.

I suffer from the same types of health anxiety worries. It can be pretty awful. I'm also a mom, so I understand how you want to be better for your kids. All I can say is that I'm not quite there yet myself but with the help of medication, therapy and this wonderful forum, I'm getting there.

We're here for you always!
Posted 1/8/2015 2:56 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Darren,

My heart was just breaking as I read through your posts. I can only imagine how traumatic those events must have been for you then and now, as it has probably deeply affected your life today. What a great joy that you have been blessed with a caring wife, and two beautiful children. The simple joys of life are often the best. :D

Well, now to get down to business about that anxiety. I spent a good portion of this year checking my pulse as well. I have 3 kids, and they definitely didn't get the best of me either....for quite a time. It wasn't until I joined this website, started sharing my fear with others, and then also facing my fears that I have seen a ton of progress.

My advice to you is to take baby steps back to a "normal" life. An example of this would be, next time you realize you are checking your pulse too much, try and limit it to once an hour for 30 seconds only. If it's good in that 30 seconds, so are you. :D As time passes, try to extend that to once every 4 hours for 30 seconds. Use that "in-between time" to enjoy life and not worry about your pulse bc you've already checked it and all was good.

Eventually you will come to a place where it's not necessary to check it daily, but maybe once weekly. Anyway, this isn't a therapeutic method, it's just something that helped me with my obsessive pulse checking. It also helped me to reconnect with my family because after I would check my pulse, I would make it a point not to check it again.... no matter how much I wanted to. Instead I gave that time to my kids & husband. Even if I was scared, I just did it anyway. Now it's rare for me to check my pulse. It does happen though.

Hope this helps! I'm sure I have more advice, but don't want to overload you! Baby steps! :D

Happy Thursday!
Posted 1/8/2015 5:03 PM (GMT 0)

Hello and welcome!

You have been given some great advice above, so I will just add that I am glad that you have found us...and include some helpful links and book recommendations to get you started while to talk to your doctor about treatment options such as medication and/or therapy.  These self-help tools are essential!

Health Anxiety - A Self Help Guide:

 

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hypochondria/pages/introduction.aspx

Helping health Anxiety

 

http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/resources/infopax.cfm?Info_id=53

Health Anxiety- The Super Scanner

 

http://www.get.gg/docs/SuperScanner.pdf

Books for overcoming Health Anxiety:

http://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Health-Anxiety-David-Veale/dp/1845298241

http://www.amazon.com/Treating-Health-Anxiety-Cognitive-Behavioral-Approach/dp/1572309989

They take awhile to get through and yes, there is a lot of material, but it is worth the time and effort to do so!  Post with us anytime for support.  We understand and care.:)

Scaredy Cat

Posted 1/8/2015 7:30 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you all so much! It feels so good just know I can actually talk to people who understand! Thank you all for the wonderful info.....
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