Anxiety about getting Sick

Hello- I know what it is like to have such fears. Constantly thinking about it, obsessing really about your health. I have what I consider to be called health anxiety. I am a nurse 35 yr old nurse practitioner (or soon to be one) with one young son. Gosh I want to be around forever for him because i love him so much. I lost my dad to pancreatic cancer when I was 27 years old. It was so totally traumatic, that loss of control you feel when there is nothing you can do but watch someone you love pass away from such a horrible disease. When I was a homecare nurse I took care of a couple of patients with terminal cancer. That was truly hard for me as well to cope with.
Last summer I felt an enlarged lymph node behind my ear. It disrupted my whole life. It put me in such a state of frenzy that I insisted it be biopsied. Results came back normal. All along I had another small lymph node underneath the one I had removed. For the past year, yes I knew it was there but it didn't bother me. Then while driving the other day I started poking it, and it became a bit more firm. I went to an urgent care doc, who told me i was fine. Then I went to my own doctor who said it was fine. He took labs (CBC/ESR) from me, which came back normal. Yet here I am going to see HEENT on friday for a check.
I am trying though to stay positive through working out, yoga, church, medication, and counseling. But darn!! I was doing so well until last week. Now panic is back, waking up at night is back, sadness is back. Over a small, lymph node……….UGH!!!!!
What I can control I do….I don't smoke, rarely drink alcohol, exercise daily, and eat healthy. What works for you? Any strategies to share to rein the anxiety in?

Welcome to the Healing Well anxiety forum, I'm happy you found us but sorry to hear you are suffering from Health Anxiety. This is an awesome community that cares and above all else understands what it is like to live with anxiety, so stick around and we will walk this journey with you if you'd like us too.

As Hibee said, alot can be done for HA such as CBT therapy, so I recommend you seeing a therapist to start some CBT. Have you ever been in therapy for your anxiety before? It really does help.

I also agree with Hibee that you need to trust your test results and start believing that you are fine, I know that is hard to do, but you've had a ton of test and they all came back normal, the chances of you having a stroke or cancer at your age are very slim.

Here are some links for HA taken from our resources, please look at the resources thread for more helpful links.

Health Anxiety - A Self Help Guide:

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

Helping health Anxiety

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

Health Anxiety- The Super Scanner

www.get.gg/docs/SuperScanner.pdf

Thank you all. It is very helpful especially when many ppl don't know how to handle the anxiety we have to have a place to talk. It's crazy how our mind can make us feel certain things and think certain things.

Hello everyone, so im a 22 year old male, been reading anxiety forums for quite some time now. Until now i had the courage and something hit me to sign up and make an account so i can talk to some people who struggle through what i am. I guess i would consider myself a hypochondriac, as im always scared of primarily getting a Heart attack or Cancer. My anxiety has been really scary lately as ive been thinking about the end of the world. So im constantly thinking about getting a heart attack or an cancer or any deadly disease, about a week ago i got bit by mosquitoes and thought it was gonna spread all over my body and that ill br judged by people. Although in my inner mind i know that would never happen. My weights been a great concern anytime i loose a couple of pounds i think im gonna be super skinny or have colon cancer i used to notice blood in my stool went and got that checked with a gastroenterologist and told me it was just hemroids and that nothing serious is going on i still worry it could be colon cancer because of the blood i periodically notice and the small loss of weight, been to ER about once ever couple of months with left arm pain chest pain heavy breathing high blood pressure they run ECG blood work chest x-rays and results always come back normal but i always convince myself if I dont go it could be a heart attack and if i dont go i could die. This life is very tiring and hard to go by day to day. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi there, I know its very debilitating to feel that way, I too suffer from anxiety ..it just came back and I ve dealt with it for about 5 years... posting here helps so much since we can talk and everybody understands each other.

Hi J.Griff, Cln777, and Angel Lisa. Thank you all for such amazing support, ya health anxiety is a tough one to work with, ever since i was you like when i was 14 it wasn't that that bad, wish i could go back because i never used to let anything concern to loosing weight, no colon issue, etc. I guess part of my heakth anxiety stems from fear of dying, which is understandable and my parebts played big role in making me fear unnecessary things as they were raising me. One thing i noticed about Anxiety in general is some days are easier than the other but the hardest part is not letting it get to you when it attacks, i was on train about a month ago to go shopping in a different city the moment we left off i started having chest pains very fast palpitations nausea, i guess that was because i was leaving the city i was born and raised in and thought if anything happens to me i won't be able to get help
The train had to stop at the next stop and i taxid back to my city, but as i was in the taxi on the way back i could feel the symptoms getting better slower heart beats etc. Less nausea, so right there and then i knew its all in my mind. The key in coping with your anxiety is having knowledge on what sets it off.

This morning for me was a bit difficult have been good since Monday morning. Now fear is back, i a relative of my step father pass away from pancreatic cancer and had 2 young children like myself now I am worried I may have colon cancer and now I have stomach pains and am leading myself to believe things that are normal like passing stool and gs are bad when in actuality seem normal. It's an up and down struggle I understand but good to have a place to vent.

Hello all, I have been reading this forum for the last few years and finally decided to join. I have been dealing with anxiety and panic disorder /attacks for years. After my military career in the ARMY, I had panic attacks nearly every day combined with nausea and migraines. It consumed my life. I was afraid to go out to lunch or in public with my family and friends because I was afraid of having another one. After about 1 year and some counseling I was able to get them under control without medication. Daily practices and lifestyle changes seemed to be effective. So effective that I had my 1st panic attack in almost 10 years this past February. Just like that all my years of practice was gone. I went to the E.R. one night because I thought that I was dying and I was having a panic attack. My heart rate was high, blood pressure 175/115 heart rate 125. I was given Ativan and I felt like a new person afterwards. The problem is now that ever since that night I have been having daily repeat panic attacks and I think that I am bringing them on by simply thinking about not wanting to have one. I am now starting to have daily tingling in my left arm. Over and over again I continue to get more blood tests done and E.K.G's and everything is coming back normal. The ativan works great but now I am afraid of an addiction
I am at the point now where I am starting to feel hopeless about ever being able to control these panic attacks again. There are so many more symptoms to deal with this time. If anyone has any recommendations I would love to hear them. I'm almost afraid to leave my home unless absolutely necessary. I have missed nearly 2 months of work. I feel like anxiety is taking over my life.

Thank you so much for the warm welcome S.C. As you may know sometimes it can feel so alone when you are dealing with this......thanks for the guidance. I will look into the therapy and check out some of the resources. I really appreciate it. Finally I feel like there is a place where others understand this.

Very Respectfully,

PL

Welcome paniclady37, I'm glad you finally decided to join us, but sorry about your returning anxiety and panic attacks.

I too recommend you restarting therapy, CBT and Mindfulness therapies work wonders on anxiety.

Take a look at the top thread on the forum for our resources, there is a lot of helpful self help links there. :)

As far as getting addicted to your benzo, I doubt that will happen. First of all you are aware of addiction issues, secondly if you take them as prescribed it isn't likely you'll be addicted to them. You might become dependent on them but that is different then addiction. They were given to you for a reason, and I say why suffer if you don't need too.

Again, Welcome. Please consider making your own post, by clicking on the Post New Topic button on the upper left of the forum. That way more people will see it and be able to welcome you, by replying to an existing post a lot of people will miss it. :)