Residual headaches or am I still anxious

[KCMil]

Hi everyone.

I'm new to the anxiety world. Whilst not clinically diagnosed with health anxiety disorder, my doc and I agree it's an issue for me. Without dragging on about the past, my recent experience is a spike in my blood pressure. I'm already medicated for hypertension, when I discovered the spike in bp6 days ago, I collapsed in on myself. I had many anxiety symptoms. I quickly realised that anxiety was a big issue.

And of course this will be exacerbating my high bp. Finally last night and today I'm feeling as though my anxiety has subsided. I no longer feel like I'm "loosing control", my stomach has settled and I'm looking at what I need to do with more clarity.

I had a massage this morning to help with my back and shoulder aches. However I still have a headache in the back of my head, occasionally feeling as though it travels to my forehead above my eyes.

My question to all of you is, does this make sense that despite feeling so much calmer, is this still a tension headache from the last 6 days of tough going? Or should I put it down to my elevated bp? Or am I possibly still suffering with anxiety in some weird way?

I am not that experienced with these particular symptoms. Your experiences and thoughts may help me sort it out.

Thanks in advance for your input.

[Croix]

Dear KCMil~

Welcome here to the Forum where you are going to find plenty of people who suffer headaches.

I've had an anxiety condition plus a couple of other things for a very long time. The illness does manifest itself partly in straight out physical symptoms such as headaches. I can say with certainly it is the illness and not some other cause because I've been exhaustively tested - more than once.

I can get headaches of this sort which accompany other symptoms and heightened anxiety, or they can come before, during or after. I guess they have mind of their own.:[

So if you are like me then yes, that headache could be anxiety. However I've been thoroughly tested, CAT scans, MRI etc and am as sure as one can be that tension is the reason.

As headaches can come from other reasons, some of them quite serious, I think if I was in your position I'd see my GP if it continues or reoccurs and ask to be tested. I can't say it will give you peace of mind. Again if like me I had a hard time accepting to start with it was tension and tended to regards the test results with doubt. Now after so long I'm sure.

I hope this helps, please know you are very welcome to talk here as often as you'd like

Croix

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi KCMil,

Welcome to the forums and thanks for reaching out.

This is actually a really great question; and this is pretty much the cornerstone of health anxiety. Is it this or is it this, or is it something else entirely?

The truth is that sadly, we just don't know. Sometimes very tiny symptoms can be serious and sometimes very big bothersome symptoms can be anxiety. There's no hard and fast rule and no general guideline of what it should and shouldn't look like.

I know that this probably isn't helpful, but if I (or anyone) had the answers, health anxiety wouldn't be a thing!

Couple of suggestions though;

- Track your symptoms. If it's not anxiety it can be useful for your GP, and if it is anxiety then it can help anyway looking at when they flare up and what might be triggering it.

- Find a good GP. The key word here is good because with health anxiety it is all about having trust in the relationship. Trusting that they'll know best as to when to do an MRI or CT scan, and that they'll know best when they can say that there's nothing medically that needs to be done.

- Listen to your body. Our minds like to gabble gabble (at least mine does), but it takes work to listen to our bodies. How are you really feeling? Are you tired/hungry/exhausted? Sometimes headaches and pains can just be little calls for attention. Mindfulness plays a key part in this in learning to be aware.

and finally - given that you've had a big week, it totally makes sense that this headache would be coming on. Sometimes we just need some TLC. I hope that this helps and you're feeling better soon.

[KCMil]

Hoya Croix and Romantic.

Thanks for your engagement. I'm fortunate that I feel I am improving. My doctor has said she isn't worried by my blood pressure as my relaxation techniques bring it down to better levels, still not where we want it, but weight loss and exercise will prob help that.

That said it is true to say I have learned so much from this latest Anxiety / health journey.

I've come to realise that I most probably do have an anxiety issue. My headaches have almost gone completely, so I'd guess they were from the massage, as she commented that my back and shoulders were hard as rock.

The psych appointment was disappointing, as I immediately felt disconnected from the psych when she started speaking. That said she gave me a couple of good resources to look at to try out.

Romantic, your post did give me a little laugh, (thank you,) about is it or isn't it, that anxiety, a problem in itself. I am confident, as I have such a long and trusted relationship with my doctor that it is my primary issue now. The blood pressure seems it may be the easier issue to treat, the anxiety is probably going to be a bigger challenge.

I'm finding now that my day is not too bad to get on with, just waking up last two mornings and then immediately thinking, how will I ben I can feel the tummy wobbles start a bit. Getting out and walking first thing is helping greatly. I now need to work on adjusting that thought process when I wake up.

Thanks again for input, greatly appreciated.

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi KCMil,

Thanks for your post and great to hear from you again!

That is really good news to hear from your GP and I'm glad to hear that she's not worried about that. It sounds like you are getting a lot of insight into how your anxiety affects you and I'm really happy to hear that. Often anxiety comes in lots of different forms so it's so hard for people to let go of that need to determine what's medically wrong and trust that it is only anxiety.

I'm sorry to hear you felt disconnected with the psych; that's not a great start! Do you know why that might be? I think that it's so important to be able to 'click' with them and sadly that can take a couple of goes. Although if she helps, then I guess that's good too.

Hopefully it will get easier and easier to work on those thought processes now. I'm not sure if it's going to help but for me it often helps to write it down; whether it's a journal or an app. I use Moodnotes which encourages me to really challenge that thought and see what cognitive distortions might come up. Perhaps this might interest you too! Whatever you decide to do, the more you do it the easier it will become. 🙂

[KCMil]

I was relieved that doc wasn't worried. I'm a practical person, I know I can effect the physical health with good clean living. Mental health is an area I'm not sure on so need a tad of help there.

i really like your idea about writing things down using mood notes, I am going to look into that more. And like so many of us here, I know what is going on but just don't seem to be able to control or stop it all the time.

Hope things are travelling well for you, thanks for the contact.