I'm trying to keep positive

I'm not having a very good day. Ever since I started having anxiety/panic symptoms about two years ago my life has been more challenging than I thought possible. I've had some ups and downs along this journey, so I don't discount the good things that I have been able to do.

However bad days like today happen from time to time. It's the health anxiety that seems to be the main thing that keeps constantly running through my mind. I am having symptoms that are quite worrisome to myself. My vitals look good. The anxiety tends to increase my heart rate and blood pressure a bit but it goes away when the anxiety is under control. I can't seem to get any definitive answers from doctors. My primary care doctor does want to see me again in a couple of weeks for more testing after being treated for uti symptoms. He took a urine sample but that came back normal. I'm currently taking Lexapro 10mg and Xanax .5 as needed up to 2x a day.

I've had crohn's disease for over 20 years and I have always been able to get that under control with medication. I'd like to think I know what to expect when my body just doesn't feel well. This is different. One of the medications that I used to treat my crohn's disease now appears to be contributing to or causing my anxiety. There are some reports of this medication causing panic type symptoms, but it's really rare. Lucky me to get the rare side effects. The crohn's is not currently too bad(only mild inflammation for now) and i'm finally switching medication.

The things that are really aggravating my health anxiety are: I have pain in my armpits I guess it's called lymphadenopathy. That is a possible symptom of my bad reaction to that medication I mentioned. I'm peeing a lot sometimes a little bit of foam. I have an eczema type of skin rash on a few different places on my body. My joints hurt. My muscles ache. My throat feels like there's a lump in it. I don't have much of an appetite. The symptoms seem to come and go. I try not to jump to the worst case scenario but when my anxiety is really bad I can't seem to help worrying about it. I do try to remember to do the deep breathing. I also remind myself not to get caught up in self diagnosis since I'm not an expert. So many symptoms can be caused by anxiety so I try to tell myself that is probably all it is. I just wish I could feel relaxed and normal like things used to be. Thanks for listening to me complain.

Hi Adubb,

I'm sorry to hear you are having such health symptoms. Like many people, the least pimple or swollen spot can send me into panic mode, where I imagine I have cancer or will lose a limb, or some other dramatic thing. Your primary care doctor sounds like he really cares. Hopefully he can help you steer through this maze of concerns. I would suggest you take a piece of paper with you when you go next time, listing the things that are worrying you. It's easy to get overwhelmed when you have several symptoms and this will help you remember what to ask him about.

Deep breathing is great. I wonder if you have explored the Anxiety worksheets listed at the top of the message board for Anxiety/Panic. I thought for a long time, oh, what will that do? But I looked them over and there is a lot of good stuff there to help you work through issues.

I wish you good luck with your health, and please remember you can always post here, even if just to say you are feeling anxious. Writing it out, for me, and knowing someone will read it, always lessens the effect on me.

Thanks for replying. I think I'm feeling a bit better today so far. You're right I do kind of dismiss things like the workbook but I will take your advice since I need help. It may take me a while to get through it all since my mind is a bit foggy lately. I'm not really a book reader type of person so I doubt I'll do that. It does feel a bit better to vent the things that I am worried about. I have more things that I have been worrying about but I guess I'll talk to my psychiatrist about it and see what they think. I'm hanging in there and that's all we can do sometimes. Take care searching1, Rich, and SD.

Post Edited (adubb) : 11/22/2018 11:23:16 AM (GMT-7)

Hi

Health anxiety is a tough one to live with I know as I get really bad health anxiety and have convinced myself I have had all sorts of terminal illness. The main thing to remember with health anxiety in to not use Dr Google as that will only make your anxiety 100 x worse.

Do look at our resources as there are some good health anxiety links and I can also recommend the Mindfulness links.

Hibee