Health Anxiety and weight loss

Hello community! New guy here. My name is Boban and I'm from Serbia. I'm 22. My story begins 6 years ago while I was in Medical High School. There I had a subject named pathology which is the source of my "sufferings" which haunt me even today. Learning about various illnesses caused my mind to project them on myself. Ever since then, my hypochondria (health anxiety) has been working on and off, giving me panic attacks for the slightest body change, be it ingrown hair or random pain in my muscles, I always thought worst of it. Fast forward to this year, my anxiety problem got to its peak. about 2 months ago, I had anxiety attack which was caused by my college obligations. It got so bad that the panic attack sent me to the ER, as I started feeling dizzy, lost my muscle strength and was feeling nauseous. In the ER, they checked my blood pressure, they did EKG test, they checked my blood sugar which was all fine, except for my temperature which was 37C exactly (98.6F) and they said that my symptoms were because i had a fever. This is the part where my health anxiety kicks in. It caused me to fall into a cursed circle, having physical symptoms because I was anxious and being anxious because I had physical symptoms. For about one month, I was visiting my doctor who was sending me to various specialists. While this was happening, I had low appetite and was having panic attacks almost every night. One of the specialists checked my sinuses, which were fine (I also have allergy problems), my blood tests came in which were PERFECT and then my doctor said that I was healthy which I objected very clearly as I was having physical symptoms. Then I got scared that maybe the problem was Neurological and called my Neuro-psychiatrist who examined me and stated very clearly that the problem was psychological and diagnosed me with anxiety disorder and prescribed me some supplements and sedatives. What I was not aware of then was that over the course of month and a half, I was eating so little only to not feel hungry and my panic attacks caused me to lose 5kg (11lbs). Fast to last week, I visibly noticed that I had lost weight and I instantly thought of cancer which gave me one hell of a panic attack. However, my doctor reassured me that I was physically perfectly healthy, and that I lost my weight due to anxiety (as all my tests and blood analysis were fine). I also looked it up online, and stumbled upon this forum which helped me a lot to calm myself down. Sorry for such a long post!

TLDR: I have been battling health anxiety on and off for 6 years.
It has gotten worse over the last two months
Despite all tests being fine, I was still overthinking and had panic attacks
Because of the loss of appetite and panic attacks i burned my weight downy by 5kg (11lbs)

I hope this post will help some of you battle your Health anxiety. You are not alone, I apologize in advance if i fail to reply quickly if there are some questions.

Peace and love

Hello and welcome!

I am sorry to hear of your anxiety that is fueling the health worries...we understand how this feels...so know that you are not alone, and have found others who know what you're going through.

Great advice above by member Supafunk!..So I will just add that in our Resources at the top of the main forum page here. ..you will find self help material specifically for health anxiety.

This will be a good place to start, while you look into getting started in therapy.

Post with us anytime for anxiety support!

Scaredy Cat

Thanks for all the help guys!

Supapfunk, above all those solutions, I have tried working out in the summer and it really helped me, now that I think of it. During that period I had no problems with my health worries. Also I always thought that I would be capable of getting rid of this problem on my own so I never looked for professional help, until now. I do have access to counselor but I didn't start visiting yet. When it comes to supplements and sedatives, they do help me, however I am not able to take my sedatives regularly because of my college duties, taking them tends to make me dis-functional. I don't post the drug names here because their names don't match with american drug names and i don't remember their natural name (feel ashamed, because I have pharmaceutical technician degree). Also the problem for nuts are that I am allergic to a few of those, but I will give it a shot with the rest of it.

I would also like to thank moderators for the resources and tips. I will definitely try those and thank you for such a warm welcome.

Much love

Just to keep you guys up to date. When I had the period of constant anxiety (approx one month) I was eating 1/4 of my normal food portion. Today I ate 3/4 of my normal portion and I was feeling progress with every day

Hi AH
Yes we can all relate to your anxiety/panic and for me the health anxiety... It is a circle like you say BUT you can get on top of it.
At the begining of Oct i was in accute anxiety after suffering what turned out to be gall stones (soon to be removed) but as i had never felt so ill.. I stupidly googled it.. and of course it told me i had either pancreatic cancer or a tumour in my liver !!!!
This all contributed to health anxiety every twinge, twitch, set me off with every symptom that accute anxiety can throw at you .. I was a mess.
But with support from all these guys, sharing their knowledge and tips it took a while but i came through the other side.. I saw my Gp who gave me some diazapam for emergeny use. I broke each 2 mg tab into 4 peices , because i am a whimp when it comes to taking meds. i used a couple of them but i preferd all the coping skills that i picked up from this site.

I have had to work at it , like every one but i am back at work , im actually humming and smiling again BONUS.. Still abit of background anxiety keeping me on my toes.
But a good tip is to treat the coping skills as part of your morning waking routine and evening bedtime routine.
You can and will beat this horrible thing.. you have deffo come to the right place... I even took these guys on holiday with me recently... if i hadnt lol i dont think i would have got there xx

keep up the good work ... ps: your appetite will come back i lost a total of 1st 8bs , my appetite,s back bur i want to keep that weight off as i was getting a bit chunky round the hips 😊
sorry for the long story, but i really feel it helps to know you are NOT ALONE xx

Hi everyone I am new here and have been suffering with severe health anxiety for two years. I keep having test upon test with negative results. What I did want to ask was has anyone dealt with nausea/belching/gas as a result of a severe panic episode? I do have GERD as a result of my anxiety, however my stomach muscles get soooo tight and I can actually feel myself squeezing them. I lose my appetite with my anxiety which doesn't help when I'm trying to gain weight. Any insights or experiences would be appreciated. It helps to know im not alone. Thanks

Post Edited (Lois269) : 11/17/2016 10:27:54 AM (GMT-7)

SC
Thanks for the reply and I will do that now.

ATS,

Yes! Some antibiotics can absolutely increase anxiety in some people!

Combat this effect by devoting more time to practice of coping skills...to relax your body and mind.

Well wishes!

S.C.

I deffo think they do... I was a wreck while on antibiotics , a while back.
So hopefully you will start to improve try doing coping skills too xx

Also...simply being sick/having an infection can be a trigger for anxiety as well! When we are vulnerable, that opportunist has a foot in the door.:/

So now that you are feeling stronger, I am sure you will see improvement soon.:)

S.C.

p.s. it's not a bad idea to use a probiotic (supplement or yogurt/kefir after a course of abx to return good flora to the gut)