Health anxiety

Hi,

 

Anyone on here have health anxiety?  I do and every new withdrawal symptom gets me up screwed up, thinking it must be something fatal. I' m not reassured until I have it checked. So I 've had quite a few tests done last year. And next week there's another one. Does anyone recognise this? What do you do to cope with this awful anxiety? Did you have many tests done?Any helpfull reactions would be welcome.

Hypochondria is a common wd symptom of benzos. You have so many odd things happening during withdrawl it's easy to be this way.

 

Odds are if you have a bunch of tests done and everything comes back normal, it's very likely to be benzo wd. If anything is concerning you should always get it checked out in my opinion. Better to be safe.

 

Good luck with continuing your taper!

Thanks Zurek!

 

That's exactly the reason why people with health anxiety have all those tests done: to be sure it's nothing bad. After a negative test result my mind is set at ease, until the next symptom pops up. And there I go again...

 

Hope my CBT starts to work soon.

 

 

I really hate going to the doctor so after initial anxiety about health, I realized it was benzo w/d not some new illness.  Everyone is anxious. I found that you learn to live with anxiety by learning to live with anxiety. It gets less as time goes by and it helps not to google every symptom.

Thanks Messedup,

 

Good tip. I already learned not to google symptoms anymore.

 

Have a nice weekend!

"Benzodiazepine withdrawal should be called the Hypochondriac Disease." 

 

http://www.hormonesmatter.com/nightmare-benzodiazepine-withdrawal/

Thanks for posting this link!

i also get health anxiety at least once or twice a week i am having it right now actually...  i have never had any test ran because i have a pretty bad agoraphobia.... so leaving the house is a very big struggle for me i tend to avoid a lot ...... my best advice and what i do is tell my self its just my anxiety there is nothing wrong  i know my brain is sick and trying to worry me its a symptom and i also try to distract as much as possible even tho it sometimes does help especially if there is a physical pain  that started the anxiety to act up...... right now i am close to my bed time and i have had a few right testicle aches with in the last few hours my brain automatically goes to kidney stone because i had 1 before 1 time and it scares the hell out of me because that is something i would have to go to the er for and leave the house because the pain is 10 out of 10  but this has scared me probably 4 dozen or more times since may of 2018 and nothing ever happens so i always pray and try and distract the best i can till i can get some sleep  and when i wake up its gone .. i hope this helps you 

Thank you, jumpman,

 

Can relate to your story. Every new symptom gets me worrying straight away. But there are old ones, that are still there and are getting worse. And no doctor has been able to find out what it is. My walking has become really difficult,  had lots of neurological tests done, but no cause found. Still getting worse. Sleep is only a couple of hours, wake up and the anxiety is back. Tests give me added anxiety. Nobody can tell by watching me walk,  how difficult and strenuous it is. It's my biggest fear to end up in a wheelchair. And it's something that started before I was put on benzos. In fact, that's why I was put on them. To relax the tightness in my leg muscles. The other symptoms are benzo related and started after I began to taper. But this one isn't. It's so difficult. And too soon to accept I will become disabled.

i am sorry to hear that you are having difficulties  walking and no doctor can figure it out !! have you ever tried a chiropractor  ?? 

Yes I did. But that did more harm than good. I also have Fibromyalgia and the chiropractor's approach was too much. Thanks for mentioning it, though. Appreciate it. Maybe I' m going to gave gentle massage again.

Anyone on here have health anxiety?  I do and every new withdrawal symptom gets me up screwed up, thinking it must be something fatal. I' m not reassured until I have it checked. So I 've had quite a few tests done last year. And next week there's another one. Does anyone recognise this? What do you do to cope with this awful anxiety? Did you have many tests done?Any helpfull reactions would be welcome.

 

This is just me! I freak out at different w/d symptoms depending on which one is the worst at the moment.

Right now, anxiety ranks quite high but last night, it was my cramped pelvic muscles that were bothering me...

my tinnitus seems to have quiet down today (at least one (temporary?) good news).

 

SG

Hi, SG,

 

Glad to see I ' m not the only one!

All in all  I get very screwed up about this, not a day without symptoms or anxiety about it.

 

Hope we all get better again.

 

T.

i have it.

Hi

 

I had this- it was awful and had so many tests done. i was the worlds most tested person. They found nothing wrong with me. Then I moved from this to almost accepting that if something was going to happen to me so be it- I cant control it.....years later and nothing has happened to me!!!

 

Shania

Thank you Shania,

 

I' m trying to do this too. But it's unbelievably hard to do.

Glad you recovered.

Hope to get there too.

I have been learning a lot about using CBD for anxiety, and I really think that it is a good and working thing. I would like to recommend that you read the info about it here. I am sure that you will like it a lot, and you will find it helpful to you, good luck

I had it so bad last year the doctor chased me out of the hospital last year after doing ECG and came back normal. That was after a couple of tests that came back normal.He was a good doctor because I was spending so much money.Just had to chill.But if ts free for you ts okay.

this is one of my worst "symptoms"

 

I don't even want to do some bloodtests because I feel like everything is going to be messed up and to be honest I get very bad anxiety when having the results in my hand.

(here in my country labs are open to the public) and I have enough knowledge because of my health profession to read them! so....

this has been horrible for me....

 

I am scared all the time and I don't want to be this way I feel I might get sick because of thinking negative thoughts....

 

if someone knows SOMETHING that will help besides meditating I will appreciate it, at this time this is consuming my life and my thoughts.

 

much love

 

Blossom

Hello Blossom,

 

I know exactly how you feel. The same here. That's why I started this topic.

A while back I had an EMDR session at my therapist 's. It was to lessen the fear of cancer. I found it very hard to do, extremely exhausted for days. I took about three weeks to process it emotionally. But it seems to have helped. I started noticing I didn't think of having cancer straight away when a new symptom showed up. Or an existing one didn't go away. Like you,  I get anxiety just from having another test done. So decided not to have anymore. Maybe it could help you too.

I still have it thought, but not for every symptom. There's just one big issue left, that's really worrying me. My legs and feet. I now focus my health anxiety on that. So it's certainly not gone, but less extreme.

Hope you can handle yours, best of luck.

 

Hello Blossom,

 

I know exactly how you feel. The same here. That's why I started this topic.

A while back I had an EMDR session at my therapist 's. It was to lessen the fear of cancer. I found it very hard to do, extremely exhausted for days. I took about three weeks to process it emotionally. But it seems to have helped. I started noticing I didn't think of having cancer straight away when a new symptom showed up. Or an existing one didn't go away. Like you,  I get anxiety just from having another test done. So decided not to have anymore. Maybe it could help you too.

I still have it thought, but not for every symptom. There's just one big issue left, that's really worrying me. My legs and feet. I now focus my health anxiety on that. So it's certainly not gone, but less extreme.

Hope you can handle yours, best of luck.

Trochsetter thank you very much for responding.

I'll sound ignorant, but whats EMDR?

To be honest I am using all this coronavirus as a big EXCUSE to myself and not go to the lab and do the "yearly test"

I'll probably just wait until next year, I don't know....I have pain in my abdomen sometimes but I am pretty sure (being positive) that it's my intestine (I suffer from IBS) and a LOT of other gastrointestinal issues due to wd. I try to think that it's not an organ or something to worry about... I swear if it wasn't for this health anxiety I would be ok....

My poor husband is the one that's always supporting me and telling me I don't have anything..

I bought an elliptical machine that's just been installed so I'll try to focus on exercising and eating well because I've been eating a lot of "in and out burgers" lately....WHICH IS NOT HEALTHY! so... yes...

What's wrong with your legs and feet?

 

Blossom

Hi Blossom,

 

My feet are feeling numb, heat and cold,  very soar,  neuropathy probably. Every step hurts, lower legs getting numb and painful too.

Leg muscles always painful and tight, tendons hard a steel cables. Walking becoming more and more difficult to do.

I worry about that all the time. So scared I 'll end up in a wheelchair soon.  :'(

 

 

My digestive system is the big thing for me now. Always gas and chest or abdo discomfort like my body cant get rid of gas. Its horrible because my health anxiety is convincing me constantly its my heart about to give out. Thinking im about to drop dead constantly from heart issues. Its driving me nuts.

Hi pinky,

 

I started taking a probiotic a few weeks ago and have to say,  things have improved!  I introduced it slowly ( half of the content of the capsule for the first week, now taking a whole capsule per day).  Maybe taking a probiotic could help you too.

Hi Blossom,

 

My feet are feeling numb, heat and cold,  very soar,  neuropathy probably. Every step hurts, lower legs getting numb and painful too.

Leg muscles always painful and tight, tendons hard a steel cables. Walking becoming more and more difficult to do.

I worry about that all the time. So scared I 'll end up in a wheelchair soon.  :'(

 

I totally understand. I was doing yoga yesterday (stretching) and due to my lack of flexibility I think I ripped a part of the nerve or something (from my lumbar to my leg, and starting getting numb) Maybe it's only an inflammation, I don't know.. I am very sad because stretching is the only thing I can do freely and now I am disabled for another month.

 

Had to get dexametasone + vitamin B shots and praying it will get better

 

Sending love to you

 

Blossom