reality vs anxiety !

[Sam2019]

Hi all

First time poster here. I wasn't really sure where else to go. I'm a long time stress head who's grown up with some form of anxiety or another . I've always managed to keep it in check and it hasn't really gotten in the way of my life too much . My main issue has always bee health anxiety . Anyway back in August I planned a trip away with the family for the first time with my 2 little boys and the wife away from Australia to a South Pacific island. Ever since coming back from that tripmy life has not been the same . I was stressed the entire trip about the lack of medical facilities and what would happen if the kids got sick . Then I got myself all wound up about catching something auwfull while I was there . Spent half the trip indoors cause I was worried about being bitten by mosquitoes and catching dengue fever . Then my luck I got bitten on the last day ! On my return home I spent days waiting for symptoms to pop up and spent countless hours on Google. I started feeling tired all the time and sleepy and though that was signs of infections . Went to the doc who ran a blood test and found high markers of inflamation and some low iron levels . That sent me into a spiral ! Which last about 2 month maybe 10 or 12 blood test with some numbers getting better and some getting worse. I ended up at multiple gps that kept saying forget the numbers they weren't that far out of range . But I couldn't get them out of my head ! I ended up having at least 12 blood tests, a ct scan and multiple other tests which kept coming back with nothing. My life became a misery of spending countless hours on Google at home and at work to the point where my.wife is getting sick of it . Then recently I started getting ectopic heart beats. So off I go to the go again who cooked me.il to a Holter monitor. They found lots of ectopic beats which sent me into another spiral dove into Google ! Went and did a stress echo which showed up normal and the cardiologist said just forget about them . U would think that's the end of it . But no.. more google and now I'm convinced I have heart inflamation from an infection I must have cought whilst overseas ! I'm breathless, tired and just over life ! Can anxiety really do all this ? Actually cause heart issues and manifest itself physically ? The lines between reality and anxiety have been blurred for me and I can't tell the difference anymore ! Any help would be appreciated !

[blondguy]

Hi Sam2019

Welcome to the forums and good on you for having the courage to post too!

I understand what you have been going through as I used to suffer from the same anxiety symptoms too

There is no judgement on the forums Sam. We can speak from our own experience with this horrible condition

• Please do try to avoid using Google as anxiety is such a broad condition we can actually end up feeling worse by reading all the various 'opinions' that are unqualified
• Anxiety can sometimes cause awful heart palpitations....tight breathing.....
• Anxiety can also make our digestive system become 'overstimulated' as well

You are proactive with your health by seeking treatment from your doctor for the physical symptoms. I hope you can discuss your symptoms with your GP from a mental health viewpoint

I have provided a copy & paste link below to a recent thread topic that involves physical anxiety symptoms

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

Great to have you on the forums Sam. I hope you can post back when its convenient for you!

Paul

[Sam2019]

Thanks for the feedback . I went looking over Ur links and found it fascinating how much physical impact anxiety could have .

With this latest heart issues of mine I've basically stopped doing everything due to fear that I'll get more ectopic beats and I'll go into some weird arthymias and drop down dead . It's so bad that as soon as I get over the cough and my heart rate starts to climb slightly I start getting runs of skipped beats ! I can almost bring them on on demand ! I really don't know what to do anymore . The doc is suggesting starting a beta blocker to clam the heart down but I really didn't want to go down the medication path unless I had to ...