Health related anxiety.

[jemma09]

I've always been an anxious person and a hypochondriac. I become very anxious about my health whenever I feel unwell. In the last couple of months I had frequent headaches for about a month. My doctor thought it was tension headaches, as I have very tight muscles in my back too. A month goes by and I feel good. This last couple weeks I started getting them again, on and off. They are not severe, but are annoying in daily life. Sometimes I also feel light headed. I went to my doctor and they think it's anxiety. But they are sending me for an MRI just to make sure everything's going okay. My MRI is next week and I'm really worried that they might find a brain tumour or something. I keep looking up brain tumour symptoms on google and some of them say frequent headaches or balance issues. Obviously brain tumours are rare, but I don't want them to find anything. I'm not ready to die yet and there's so much more I want to do. The wait for the procedure and trying to get results is really hard. I just want to know what's happening to me, but I don't want it to be something bad. I have become so obsessed with researching symptoms and statistics, I keep annoying everyone in my life by talking about it consistently. It's extremely hard to stop thinking about it.

Right now, I feel good. No headache, barely any light headedness. My doctor gave me muscle relaxants to try to relax my tense muscles, I feel like they made me worse because one of the side effects are dizziness. This morning I feel super dizzy, after resting I then felt better. Some days I feel okay. But every morning my first thought is that I hope I don't have a headache or feel lightheaded today. I'm only in my 20s, there's no history of brain tumours in my family. It's just very hard right now and I hate being so worried and obsessive about it.

Thank you to anyone who took the time to read this.

[blondguy]

Hello jemma09

Thankyou for your post and having the courage to write it too!

You are not alone feeling the way you do..There are many people on the forums that feel exactly as you do..You have a great GP from what you have mentioned above. Like yourself I didnt have any family history of brain tumors either yet I had the same symptoms as you do with the dizzyness and the back pain when I was in my early 20's....Just for myself it ended up being anxiety

There are a lot of people like yourself that have posted on a very helpful Beyond Blue forum thread...I have provided the copy and paste link below for you below 🙂

www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/anxiety/what-physical-feelings-of-anxiety-do-you-get

Its great to have you on the forums jemma09! I hope you find the link above helpful

Any questions are always welcome. There are many gentle people that can be here for you too

my kind thoughts

Paul

[sometimesanxious]

Hi there

I too get headaches and feel dizzy on a daily basis.

i have had an MRI done right contrast and seen a neurologist and was told my brain looks perfect.

I am also like you and when I am feeling good will look for symptoms and what do you know before to long they are back.

i have found taking magnesium helps and also to do some gentle neck exercises to relieve some of the built up tension.

[jemma09]

Hi Paul,

Thank you for your response. I means a lot. Thank you for the link, I'll check it out. It's so weird that at times I don't even feel anxious... perhaps something is manifesting subconsciously.

It's hard isn't it, having those sorts of feelings pop up. I hope you're doing well.

All the best. 🙂

[jemma09]

Hi sometimesanxious,

Thanks for your reply & suggestions, it means a lot. It is so frustrating to have these symptoms. I agree, and then once something is okay I find something else to worry about. Oh, maybe I have some undiagnosed heart defect, maybe this feeling is this horrible disease I found on google, etc. It's weird because even when I don't feel anxious (usually I can recognise it) these symptoms pop up, so I wonder if something is happening subconsciously.

I'm glad to hear your brain is healthy, I hope you are doing well.

All the best 🙂

[calmseeker]

Hi there jemm09,

I am so sorry to hear that you have been suffering with terrible health anxiety. Sounds like you have fallen into a lot of the same traps as I did with it, as in googling symptoms and catastrophising. Remember, google often gives the worst case scenario and does not take in all of the contributing factors (age,diet,history,lifestyle etc). Your GP on the other hand looks at the bigger picture and is obviously better equipped to make a diagnosis. When I forced myself to stop googling symptoms I had a marked improvement with my health anxiety.

I totally understand how awful it is to be worried about your upcoming MRI. I have found it useful to micro manage my thoughts to keep the anxiety at bay with upcoming testing and when waiting for my results. Some people may call this tactic mindfulness. What I do is to try really hard to focus on the task at hand. Like for example, if your gardening, focus on smells, texture of soil in your hands, the colour of the plants etc - really try hard to focus your mind on the task at hand and don't let your mind wander. It takes a bit of practice and determination but it really helps.

Your symptoms do sound like anxiety symptoms but of course, I am not a doc. I am sure your doc is just being thorough and covering all bases by ordering an MRI.

I wish you the best outcome with your MRI jemma09. In the meantime, deep breaths to fill your lungs and lovely thoughts to fill your head.

Warmest wishes - CS

[jemma09]

Hi CS,

Thank you so so much for your lovely reply. It has made me smile and feel better.

I agree, google always has the worst answers to offer. It is so easy to get into that trap of constantly googling. I have not googled brain tumours today, which is good. That sounds like great advice, to be mindful of each task at hand to now allow the mind to wander. Even if I'm feeling unwell, I'll try to do this. I'm back at work tomorrow and I find distraction also helps me. Anxiety has so many different symptoms and feelings, I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I agree, the MRI is just to make sure everything is going well and we can move forward from there. Thank you for your thoughts and kind wishes. It has helped me feel calm and happy.

You are very talented with putting words together and I wish you all the best in the future. I hope you're doing well.

Thank you.

[blondguy]

Hey jemma09

It is very hard with the roller coaster ride of anxiety for sure with unwanted thoughts

Just a note of thanks for being a part of the forum family too 🙂

Paul

[jemma09]

Hi Paul,

I agree. It can be exhausting at times. You're welcome, I'm glad to be here! It's nice to have somewhere supportive to share things. I've never done this before and it's definitely been a positive experience.

All the best. 🙂

[Mendel]

Hi Jemma,

I thought I might as well make a contribution even though everyone before me has done a really great job in sharing their own experiences.
I went through the exact same scenario not too long ago, I had dizziness, headaches and blurry vision, and all I would do is research what it all meant. Conclusions obviously leading to a tumour.
My GP suggested I go get a CT scan to just rule things out and I was lucky that I was able to get one done within a couple of days. And of course, it was perfectly fine.
I am very much a hypochondriac and I eventually got to a point where I was able to accept that what I had was anxiety.
I obviously am not a doctor, so symptoms can always mean different things for different people, but the feelings of fear and dread from uncertainty is something I can relate to. Dr Google is something I still battle with.

During those moments when my symptoms were at the minimum, I was always thinking about when they would come back, and it always tends to happen in the morning when I am curious about how the day might go in comparison to previous days.

I am now going through the journey of therapy and help to reduce my anxiety disorder and compared to where I was a couple of months ago, things have improved by a large margin.

I wish you all the best Jemma with your MRI results, we are all here for support.

Mendel