ANXIETY/PANIC ATTACKS ( please help me)

[Veronica_g]

Hi my names Veronica.

Over the past two weeks I’ve been having anxiety/panic attacks every single night. It keeps me awake and sometimes I have no idea what triggers it.

Ive seen a gp whose recommendation was to get on medication. I haven’t thought about getting on it yet as I’d rather try other remedies or something.

Now these anxiety attacks are mainly about me worrying to much about being sick. Last night I had a swollen tonsil but got told by the after hours gp that everything’s completely fine. I’ve been in and out of hospital with problems which concluded with the same thing saying I’m completely fine. More recently I’ve been having this cough and chest pain that feels like it’s in my lungs. I’m really concerned and all I do is worry about the worst thing possible even though I got a blood test for cancer and it was fine. I really need help because this is all really new to me and I’m scared and annoyed that I’m constantly feeling like this. Anything will really help and I’d like to know if similar things have been happening to you as well ?.

[_bethy94]

Hi Veronica,

Sorry you're feeling this way. Heath anxiety is surprisingly common among many people. Firstly I would say its best to try and pin point where these fears are coming from - fear of a bad illness? Fear of death? Usually these types of fears trigger health anxiety. Once you pin point what exactly is scaring you, you can begin to stop the anxiety from appearing.

Once I was getting headaches and I was scared it was a sign of epilepsy - irrational fear. My doctor confirmed they were only as a result of stress, because I was stressing myself out as a result of that type of health anxiety. See how it's a viscous cycle?

I would suggest reaching out to a mental health professional if it persists. Feel free to also keep sharing on this platform if you're feeling comfortable enough to do so.

Best wishes.

[44Max44]

Hi Veronica,
I had a pretty bad run-in with health anxiety a few months ago now, I tricked myself into thinking I had all sorts of things wrong with me. I would get anxiety and I'd start thinking it was harder to breathe, so I thought something was maybe wrong with my lungs, or I got a pain in my gut and thought I had some disease, just to list a few examples.

I ended up visiting the GP half a dozen+ times in under a month, getting all sorts of tests done, all of which came back clean.

I found the things that helped me out the most were 'The Anxiety Guys' videos on YouTube, and in particular:
- Positive Affirmations
- The Symptoms of Anxiety explained
I think you'll quickly find that a lot of the things you're worried about or feel are common-place amongst people that suffer from health anxiety, I myself have felt pretty much everything he describes.

I hope this helps