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Health Anxiety NEED ADVICE
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I am 2 years old. I have had OCD and anxiety my whole life, but never as bad as the past 2 years.. 2 years ago I started feeling really dizzy and weak and work constantly, so I decided to take leave and then never went back.. Ever since then, I feel dizzy literally everyday (unsteady, headspins), I feel weak and exhausted everyday, I get a tight stomach (like a fullness feeling) pretty much everyday, I have weird heart flutters, headaches, de-personalisation, blurry vision, get out of breathe so much, heart pounds at the slightest activities etc.. and frequent panic attacks. Im terrified that I am might have something wrong with my brain, like a tumour, or something wrong with my heart.. Ive had a few blood tests which were clear, had an ECG which was clear and also saw a neurologist which said I was fine and it was anxiety.. But all of those tests were early on in my symptoms and they have gotten worse in the past few months along with my panic attacks. Id love to get an MRI to have a piece of mind, but I cant leave the house because if my panic attacks let alone go for a scary test like that.
Does anyone else get symptoms like this from anxiety????? Thank you in advance xx
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Hi Kaynne,
Welcome to the forums. I'm so sorry to hear that you're struggling with these health issues, and I'm certain that Covid-19 hasn't exactly made things easier on you.
You've hit upon one of the tricky parts of health anxiety, and indeed anxiety in general: it can cause tons and tons of physical symptoms, but also our bodies are complicated and that means lots of other, non-psychological things can cause them too.
I have to stress that I am not a medical professional, and certainly don't have any special insight into your condition specifically. However, I think it is worth mentioning that statistically, it is much more likely someone with pre-existing anxiety and OCD's wide range of symptoms are indeed anxiety-based, and not a rare or dangerous illness that fails to show up on a number of medical tests.
All this to say that, yes, everything you mentioned are symptoms I myself have experienced from anxiety. But that's not to say that what you're feeling is real, or "all in your head." Even "real" symptoms are all in our heads, and to the person experiencing them whether they come from anxiety or some other pathology doesn't change how scary and unpleasant they are!
Luckily we are in a country with quite good healthcare that does not need to be rationed out so conservatively, and I believe you will be able to get just about any test you care to have. MRIs can be expensive and stressful, but I understand why the idea of getting a "clean" bill of health from an actual image is so comforting. Just bear in mind that if anxiety is the underlying problem, it is unlikely that you will find a single piece of medical evidence that you find convincing enough to stop your worrying. For that, you will need a different kind of intervention in the form of lots of hard work and therapy.
Please feel free to keep us up to date on how you go, and to chat a bit more.
Warmly,
Gems
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