topic A distressing day in Anxiety

A distressing day

44Max44 — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 09:07:26 GMT

So today has been pretty difficult for me so far. Some background is I've had nasal polyps for a few months now, but they have never really caused me any worry- until this morning.
I went to blow my nose and a little bit of mucus with blood in it came out, and my nose was bleeding a little bit. I then stupidly googled 'blood nose and nasal polyps' and of course, one of the things Google says it 'could' be is cancer. Great. Now my mind is going crazy and I can't think of anything but that, I went to my friend's house and found it extremely difficult to socialize, I pretty much just stayed silent and was in my head the whole time.

On the bright side of things, this rather distressing experience finally pushed me to go down to my GP and book both a normal consult to check up on my nose, and a mental health care plan for Monday next week. I'm seriously considering just going down to the GP tonight (it closes at 10pm) and getting my nose checked then because I'm really concerned. It could very well be (and most likely is) just a slight nose bleed caused by the abnormally hot day (28 degrees compared to 20ish degree days usual), but that still doesn't stop me from being anxious of it.

This isn't really a question, I'm just really anxious right now and want to voice my concerns. Let's just say I can't wait for the GP visit tomorrow and see what the doctor has to say. I really need to get out of the habit of self-diagnosing myself because it just makes me panic even when I might have no reason to be panicking at all. I hope that's the case.

Thanks guys

A distressing day

44Max44 — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 10:45:54 GMT

I know this wasn't a question at all but any tips or advice is still very much appreciated. Anything to put my mind at ease.
Thank you

A distressing day

Prop — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 11:01:33 GMT

It's great that you are getting on with seeing a GP sooner rather than later. It is great to be on top of your health. It also means that you will find out sooner and you will stop stressing. Good luck, I'm sure it is nothing to be worried about but at least it is early, giving yourself the best possible result. Relax a little.

A distressing day

44Max44 — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 12:53:15 GMT

I'm not feeling as bad as I was earlier, but I'm still anxious to go to the GP to make sure it is nothing to stress about.
I'll update after I've gone tomorrow.

A distressing day

44Max44 — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 09:50:19 GMT

A little update:
I went into the GP today about my nose and the doctor said it's nothing to worry about and was just from blowing my nose too hard. He did, however, recommend getting an allergy test so I got a blood test for that. I'm hoping I'm not allergic to my dogs or cats, but if I am I guess I'll just have to clean my room often.
Going in for my MHCP on Monday and that's when I get the results back for the test, now it's just a waiting game now.

One odd thing I've noticed is that since I've been taking melatonin to get to sleep, my dreams have been very vidid and sometimes pretty scary. Last night I had a dream that I was in a plane and it had to make an emergency landing on a highway, and flying is one of my biggest fears. I also had a dream right after that where I 'woke up' in my own room in my bed, and I just started getting really scared and even started screaming and thinking I was crazy in the dream... and the fact that I'm semi-lucid in most of my dreams because I practiced lucid dreaming a while back doesn't help because I'm actually sort of conscious during these dreams 😕
spooky stuff.

A distressing day

Mollie_59 — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 10:01:09 GMT

Hi, it's really reassuring your gp said your nose was nothing to be worried about. Hopefully the bloods don't turn up anything.
The dreams sound very intense. Definitely mention them when you're at your Dr on Monday. I hope you have a more restful sleep tonight!

A distressing day

44Max44 — Sun, 01 Sep 2019 08:03:12 GMT

This MHCP I have booked tomorrow can't come soon enough, it seems like every single day I come up with a new potential health issue. Just after waking up in the mornings is the worst part of my day every day because I just feel super tired which makes me feel more anxious. It's only after I fully wake up that I can think rationally and start to improve my mood.

I can't wait for tomorrow's meeting, it's about time I start getting help for my mental health. I really hope I can fix my issues and get on with my life because living like this is torture. The month I'll probably have to wait between my MHCP and my first visit to the psychiatrist is probably going to be really difficult and I'm dreading it.

I want to go on medication as a last resort, but at the same time I'm willing to do anything that could possibly help me out, the biggest problem I have with getting on medication is the possible negative side-effects and becoming reliant on them to feel okay. I already feel terrible, so the last thing I want is a medication that'd make me feel even worse.

I'm getting so tired of feeling this way... I have no energy, no motivation, and a mind plagued with negative thoughts. I just can't seem to shake that underlying feeling of dread no matter what I'm doing.

A distressing day

44Max44 — Sun, 01 Sep 2019 08:05:59 GMT

Something I forgot to add:
Even when I'm feeling happy or okay, it doesn't matter because the very first thought that pops into my head is "Hey, you aren't feeling anxious! Cool!" and then that in itself triggers my anxiety... everything is a constant reminder that I have anxiety, even the absence of anxiety.

A distressing day

Ash81 — Sun, 01 Sep 2019 12:27:05 GMT

Hi Max,

i have severe health anxiety.. I also dread going to the drs or getting anything checked- and then getting the results omg that’s a whole new board game!

I’ve had blood test, stool tests, kidney ultrasound, breast ultrasound, ct scan for my brain, and uterus ultrasounds... right now I’m getting rectum pain with no blood thank goodness but it’s still causing me to freak out. Now all that’s in my mind is bowel cancer! Three gp’s have checked and said there is nothing and I’ve just said it’s a very tiny haemorrhoid that should go away on its own. I’m contemplating getting a colonoscopy to stop my fears but just doing that is hell! Drs said it’s not necessary but I made the dumb mistake of going to a specialist who said well if u want to know for sure do a colonoscopy! My dr laughed and said well he has to get paid somehow! Now I’m stuck thinking do I or don’t I! My psych says I have to trust the drs and not ask for tests that aren’t needed! I don’t know I hate this feeling!!

A distressing day

Mollie_59 — Mon, 02 Sep 2019 10:50:56 GMT

How did your MHCP appointment go?

A distressing day

44Max44 — Mon, 02 Sep 2019 11:53:22 GMT

Hi Mollie, thanks for checking in on me.
It went well! I pretty much just answered a bunch of questions and my GP's opinion is that I have 'mixed anxiety and depression' which sounds right.
He's referred me to a psychologist and psychiatrist that I need to call up tomorrow, and then after that, it's just a waiting game.

Right now I'm doing alright, I don't feel super anxious or anything and I'm not constantly in my own head. I'm a little tired still but that's probably because I've eaten hardly anything today.
I do still have this feeling in the corner of my eye that's a little worrying, but I'm not going to make a big deal out of it unless if it persists, I owe it to myself to relax.

Now I'm just going to focus on enjoying myself and being productive, I already went out and walked both of my dogs and now I'm going to relax for the night, or at least try to.

Thanks again for the check-up! I hope alls well with you too.

Max

A distressing day

Mollie_59 — Mon, 02 Sep 2019 21:51:55 GMT

Well done!! That sounds really positive. You're on your way now. Have a good day and good luck with setting up your appointments 🌞

A distressing day

44Max44 — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 10:27:19 GMT

Update:
For the past two weeks or so I've been on antibiotics for several different things, the latest one being bronchitis.
I've been really worried the past few days because despite being on the antibiotics I'm still getting a few symptoms that worry me. The main one being a slight 'dizzy'/'unbalanced' feeling, kind of like I'm constantly swaying back and forth a little bit or like I'm on a rocking boat. I can't even play games on my computer without feeling this slight rocking back and forth and it's very disorientating and worrying at times. The doctor said it could be a sense of imbalance because of my ears being clogged, but that still doesn't stop me from worrying.
The problem is that I'm not quite sure if I'm actually feeling this way, or if my anxiety has yet again convinced my mind into feeling like I am.

This combined with bronchitis has made me feel extremely anxious the past few days. I keep on thinking "What if I have a tumor in my brain? What if it's lung cancer and not actually bronchitis?" and stuff like that. I've found that I've started to not trust some of the doctors at my GP because I think they could be wrong sometimes and making out what I tell them as something much less severe then it actually is, despite them being the medical professionals and knowing a whole lot more than me.

So a couple of questions for you guys:
- Have you ever felt a sense of imbalance/dizziness caused by anxiety? Kind of like a slight swaying back and forth.
- How would I go about getting a CT scan or whatever they're called? I'm really tempted to just ask my GP for a full-body one so I can stop worrying but don't want to waste their time if it ends up just being anxiety again...

At this point, I'm just going to take the rest of my antibiotics which last me a couple of days, and if I'm still feeling these unusual symptoms by then I'll go back into my GP and ask if they can do the CT scan.

A distressing day

Amond — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 10:54:04 GMT

Hi I completely understand your anxiety.

I did have bronchitis not long ago and needed two courses of antibiotics for it to heal. Just telling you this in case the antibiotics don’t work. You are well within your rights to ask for anCT scam. Being a nurse I would say most physicians would want the antibiotics to run their course first before order a CT unless the symptoms warranted a CT scan sooner. That’s just my opinion from my experience not medical advice.

In terms of your dizziness etc when I experience severe anxiety my appetite and their St completely shuts right down and if u experience similar the dizziness etc could be lack of food and hydration and I definitely feel this way when I experience anxiety.

im so sorry that you are going through this it sounds like you have a good GP though who treats you and sends you for the appropriate tests.

i have health anxiety too would love to hear any helpful tips.

A distressing day

44Max44 — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 11:12:35 GMT

I've been on 3 different types of antibiotics in the past few weeks, so another worry of mine is that I'm just going to build up a big tolerance to antibiotics and then maybe in the future they won't work if I need them again. I went from not being on antibiotics for a good year or so, to being on 3 different ones in the span of 2 weeks...

The dizziness could definitely be to do with me not eating enough healthy food, my doctor did ask if I had a blood test done recently to check if I was deficient in anything but I hadn't, so maybe I should ask to get that done too.

As for tips to do with health anxiety, I always recommend to people to watch 'The Anxiety Guy' on YouTube. He had severe health anxiety for a good majority of his life but came out the other side and has a lot of helpful tips. Even if his tips don't work, I just find his videos very reassuring and soothing when I'm feeling particularly anxious.
One video of his, in particular, that helped me out quite a lot was his 'symptoms of anxiety' video. It was pretty crazy hearing him list pretty much every symptom I had or was feeling, and helped reassure me that it was most likely just caused by my anxiety.
Another good one is his 'daily positive affirmations' video, I just put that on and listened to it every morning for a while and it helped me out.
I'd also recommend practicing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (many videos about it out there) as that has probably been the biggest help for me so far and I don't think there's been a single day that has past where I haven't put some CBT technique to use.

But despite all his video and helpful tips, I still have a run-in with health anxiety from time to time. Sometimes I can go a few days, weeks, or even months and be completely fine, and then something will happen and it'll send me through the whole loop again. I'm slowly getting better, though, and seeing a psychiatrist whenever I get around to setting that up would definitely help me out a lot too.

At this point, I'll probably just let the antibiotics run their course and if I'm still not better by then I'll go into the GP for a checkup.
Thank you a bunch for the reply, it helped put my mind at ease. I hope any of my tips can help you out.

A distressing day

Amond — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 12:44:15 GMT

Thanks so much for your reply and tips I’m definitely going to get onto you tube and watch this.

It’s so debilitating all these symptoms that come on with high states of anxiety so I will be very interested to watch these.

I think your plan sounds good and very clinically sound. With what us suspected as routine bronchitis any practitioner would run ABs as first course of action. Keep telling yourself this is a clinically sound decision and that you will reassess your symptoms in a week or so or if anything changes.

my appetite totally switched off when I’m anxious I could go days without eating which is very different to my normal wasting habits and I can tell you I force myself to eat to stop the dizziness and sick feelings that then just add to my health anxiety

A distressing day

44Max44 — Fri, 20 Sep 2019 12:30:08 GMT

So I went to the GP today and I'm very glad I did, because it turns out I probably just have a thing called 'Labyrinthitis' which has symptoms such as vertigo (a sense that you're moving when you aren't), headaches, and pretty much everything else I was experiencing.
My GP was very helpful and printed out a sheet with all the details and reading through it pretty much described everything I was feeling, and all I can really do wait for it to pass.

It's still pretty disorienting and unpleasant at times but at least now I know there's a logical explanation and it's probably not something wrong with my brain.

My GP also brought up the mental healthcare plan even though I didn't, and I'm very glad he did because I've been putting it off for quite a bit. I've already gone in for the mental healthcare plan, but now I have an appointment booked to go for more referrals since the last place I was referred to was booked.

All around it's been a pretty decent day except for a pretty bad headache I've had all day, but that's to be expected with Labyrinthitis.