Health anxiety is ruling my life

[Willa287]

I have struggled with severe health anxiety for a number of years now. I was at one point diagnosed with panic disorder, but the full fledged panic attacks have mostly stopped now and it's more just obsessive worrying.

my anxiety revolves around thinking I'm dying of some hideous disease. Currently I'm 30 weeks pregnant and it's just at an all time high. Current things I'm dying of: breast cancer, skin cancer, and Parkinson's Disease. Today it's mostly the Parkinson's. See, I've developed a shake and weakness in my right hand. Logic and most professionals would tell me I've likely just developed some pregnancy Carpal tunnel. But no, my brain is convinced I have this horrible disease. If it's not that, it's that I have breast cancer because my nipple is hurting (again, pregnant.) Last week the skin on my arm was giving me grief, and it was in the general area I also have a mole, so of course I had skin cancer. I went to the doctor and was given the all clear, so that seems to have abated for now.

It's never ending. I am torturing myself. I want to run to the doctor all the time because I want reassurance, but then I don't want to go because I'm afraid of what they'll tell me. I also know I sound, for lack of a better word, crazy.

I just want to see who out there can sympathise. After the baby comes I'll be looking into professional help.

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Willa287,

Welcome to the forums and thanks for your post.

I'm sorry that you've been struggling with this and it sounds very exhausting.

I too have struggled with health anxiety in the past; I think that it's great that you are trying to bounce back with logic (nope, just pregnancy) even though the anxiety feels probably too strong right now. The more that you can bounce back the weaker that voice can become.

I'm glad that you're thinking of getting some professional help. You're certainly not 'crazy'. Lots of people suffer from health anxiety and it's really not as rare as you might think. This can be managed. You may even want to consider talking to someone before you have the baby; since you are already under so much stress - plus you may have to wait a little!

Here are some threads that talk about health anxiety too - feel free to have a read and connect

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/general/search-results?keywords=health%20anxiety&page=1

[amalee78]

I can totally sympathise.

My baby is almost 5 months old and I was convinced I was going to die during childbirth throughout the entire pregnancy. It was that bad that for the first 3 months I was toying with the idea of not going through with the pregnancy because it seemed utterly selfish to leave my other two children motherless.... until my Mum quite rightly pointed out that even if I got 'fixed' I would still have to go to a hospital type place so there was no point.

I was having panic attacks for months before Bub was due, so bad they were lasting over an hour and I had to stop work early because of them and had them right up until while I was being induced. I was just generally terrified right up until she came out- the first words out of my mouth were "I did it! Thank God it's over" rather than something sweet to my baby.

The whole pregnancy was extremely tough (mentally) for me and all I could do was keep bringing it up to every doctor, nurse and midwife I saw so they could help me.

Ssying all that, she was born happy and healthy and I'm still here to tell the tale 🙂 I'm sure in 6 months time you'll be busy with your little one and wishing you hadn't wasted so much of the pregnancy worrying - just like I am 🙂

best wishes

[Rhii17]

Willa297 .. you sound like my twin. Aside from the pregnancy. I'm 25 years old, 26 in a few days and for the last 2 years, health anxiety has taken over my life. My Nan passed away very suddenly from lung cancer, between her diagnosis and passing away there were only 2 weeks. This is when my health anxiety kicked in. On any given day I worry myself sick that I have lung cancer (from a tickly throat or a slight cough) or MND because my arm or leg feels a little weak, that I might have brain cancer from a slight headache or throat cancer from a swollen tonsil. I have been back and forwards to doctors and am still persisting on having more tests done just to ease my mind. Not that my mind ever eases. I began visiting a psychologist who taught me how to identify and differ anxiety from health emergencies and have learnt some very helpful techniques. Mind you, these techniques only help temporarily for me until I start worrying about another disease. My advice is definitely consult a psychologist. Even if it helps just slightly. You never know, you may become so busy with your baby that your might find your mind doesn't have time to stress about anything else. Sending lots of love and happiness your way!

[JusJRo]

Hi Willa, I can so relate. I have spent the last couple of years dogged by health anxiety. I have convinced myself I had ovarian cancer, heart disease, parkinsons, bowel cancer - the lot. It is really exhausting and the feeling of vulnerability must be exacerbated by being pregnant too. I have a 7 year old and my health anxiety issue at the moment is not so much with myself (well it is - always is) but I've almost moved on to focus on my son's health and this is having a bad affect on him. Poor kid 😞 I really urge you to get some help - whether from your doctor or a referral to a psychologist - as soon as you can. There are options. I really need to go back to the psych and need help with focusing / not focusing on my son's health. The psych has helped me a lot... I just need to be more consistent with seeing her. Sending you lots of good vibes 🙂

[startingnew]

hi and i too would like to welcome you to the forums

although im not a mum ad so dont have quite the same experience as you but i can tell you i ahve bad health anxiety. i am always thinking the worst and its really hard to control

have you thought about trying thought chalanging? distractions? journalling? jsut to name a few coping strategies

im happy to share and give advice on these methods and expand on them as well