Health related anxiety and a doctor phobia need help

[dissdam0118]

Ive noticed a lot of you on here with health related anxiety go to the doctor andget a bunch of tests run that usually all come back fine. I have health related anxiety and a phobia of doctors and havnt seen one for myself since I was like 10 other than dureing pregnancy and now I am 22. My question is does anyone else have a fear of doctors? I am always afraid they will tell me someting bad to thepoint where if I feel like I need a doctor I wont go no matter what. I want to go so bad to get some peace of mind but I just cant, I need glasses , I need dental work, i need a check up, i feel sick and i want blood work and other tests run. My husband and family tell me im fine since ive been a hypochondriac since I was a kid. I live with the constant fear Im dying and I want to go to the doctor for help. I go to a therapist and shes trieing to help me work toward going to a doctor but I dont think I will go. I just wont and ultimatley one day if i ever really need medical help this could kill me. Has anyone worked through this? Does anyone go through this? Im miserable :(.

[alexandras11]

I do....everytime I go my anxiety is threw the roof ! I can't even go to the er with out my heart racing and Bp high so don't worry your not alone

[mscinderella]

Take a cloni or xanax before you go. Any sedetive to help you go and get through it. I use to get that way but i just kept going untill i was able to learn to control the feelings. You are not alone. I know the feeling.

[surfacing]

I have a phobia of the doctors but I am afraid they won't take me seriously or listen to me about what are usually mental health problems, and that makes me feel really scared and hopeless, my heart beats a mile a minute, i feel sick and get stomach problems, sweaty palms, difficulty breathing, etc.
Lately I have been going to the doctor a lot more. I get anxious beforehand and still feel sick and have all the physical symptoms but I am starting to get used to it, i guess. This doctor is okay and takes a stupid anxiety/depression test every time I go, which is at least paying attention to me and keeping track. Often it's about finding the right doctor, and sometimes if you are honest with a kind doctor about your phobia that can be helpful. I am especially scared of medical receptionists, too. Dragons!

Could you find a surgery or a GP with a good reputation for mental health issues? Even if you are going about physical things, if they are sympathetic about mental health problems they will understand your fear and anxiety a bit better.

[dissdam0118]

All of your replys make sense I have had doctors that have tried to do what they can to make everything easier on me. The real problem though is tha when I was young around 10 my grandpa got lung cancer and since I was young my mind ran away with me. For some reason now I cant shake the fear and since then thought I had cancer. I tell my husband and mom but they dont believeme and I am to scared to go because once a doctr looks at me theyll know somethings wrong. My throat always red , i got a bump on my rib and ever since about 2 years ago i have one pupil slightly bigger then the other. All they have to do is just look and the life as i know it is over. Does that make sense?

[dissdam0118]

Maybe I feel like if I ignore it all it will all go away going to the doctor confirms it and then I lose everything I lose my husband and daughter. My family tells me if I go id be relieved because some are in my overanalyzing head and some have been there so long if it was bad id be gone anyway. Im in a very bad place right now :(

[dissdam0118]

I am probably more mentally ill then this board was made for..lol :/.

[surfacing]

I am probably more mentally ill then this board was made for..lol :/.

Not at all!

If you go, and you really do have cancer, you will be a WHOLE lot better starting treatment now than if you left it and left it and it got worse and worse. You need to get it checked out, whether there's something wrong or there isn't, you will feel better for knowing. Guaranteed. If you really do have cancer, wouldn't you rather know and plan how to spend the remainder of your time with your family and loved ones, than living in fear and uncertainty? And wouldn't they prefer that, too?

Write down the absolute worse that could happen. Accept it. Then go to the doctor. The truth is almost certainly not as bad as you can imagine, even if you are diagnosed with cancer and given a week to live. Then at least you could say goodbye to your family and let go of your fear. There are things you could do. It's all about damage control.

Xx

[dissdam0118]

Its just a terrifying thought i have a two year old if i couldnt watch her grow up that is the fate i am afraid of not the dieing. I simply cant accept that. My problem with going to the doc now is if i really do have it then ive had it since i was 10 years old and now im 22 i dont think thered be any help for me. Ive seen so many people die of cancer but in my family it usualy comes in your 60s and most of the people in my family who had it beat it and are still here today. Even my therapist tells me the likleyhood is small. But while i say these things I feel like im in denial and they dont care about me or if i die so they all lie. I had a check up dureing my pregnancy 2 years ago with a full blood work up and all and the didnt say a thing came back strange. I geuss i rather die unexpectedly then get ready for it because then everyones just wanting me to go so they can move on with there lives.

[dazza]

Harsh as this may sound, but most illnesses are cured if caught early - but not if they go too far.

Say you had a treatable disease RIGHT NOW & if treated, you'd live a normal, healthy, long life.
BUT, if left it for another year then it would be too late and you'd be a gonner within another 6 months.

Which choice is best, huh? I mean, c'mon... for gawd sakes THINK long and hard about this.

Think yourself lucky you have a choice. Some don't.
Think yourself lucky you have a health system. Some don't.

Just think yourself bloody lucky in all respects and honour that luck with using the service that saves so many lives.

[dissdam0118]

Yes dazza but the point im getting at is I already have let these symptoms go Ive let them for years and years. I figure I am incurable. This is part of my problem I feel the damage is done, now say if as a child when I told my mother my symptoms she forced me to go to the doctor my story today may be different. That is what keeps me running in circles until either im dead or im 70 dieing then and realized there wasnt anything wrong before and ive wasted my life in fear. Ive really got no hope.

[dazza]

It's blummin' obvious ya didn't develop a life threatening disease 12 years ago... I'm not talking about that.

What symptoms anyway?

What's concerning is your attitude for the future when, from time-to-time, you WILL need a doctor.

Personally, if I knew you I'd drag you there when required. 99 times out of 100 you'd come out thinking "GOD I'm so relieved I went"

Gotta get over that fear me old love and just feckin' do it.

No one particularly LIKES doctors (or hospitals) - they remind us of immortality & suffering, but the rational mind tells us it is better to go than not - for obvious reasons.

[dazza]

What if you had a cyst, for example. If removed early that's it... job done.

If left, they can grow canals... which themselves can develop into further cycsts and even get cancerous.

Gotta get that fecker lanced ASAP... and I'm affraid you can't do that at home!

[dissdam0118]

I think that is where I am mentally ill to still believe i developed a life threatening illness 12 years ago and im still here to walk and have a child and all that jazz. I WISH someone would drag me to the doctor so I could come out relieved that is all I want but instead of do that the people around me say Im ok and not to worry. So i took it upon myself to go to a psychologist who has a network of doctors and shes trying to get me to the point i can go to one. I also worry about the little things where I will need a doc but i havnt needed one in 12 years other than pregnancy. Its sucks because when the time i do need one comes my health anxiety sparks up and i think of the worst possible thing.

[surfacing]

It sounds like you are working towards it, dissdam. You are already doing it. :)
Try saying 'I am working towards going to see a doctor right now. I am getting closer to seeing a doctor every day' to yourself.
Because you are, you've taken the first steps - you're taking positive action and your psych is helping you with that. You're getting there, even while you're worrying about it now.

There is this thing called 'The Work' by Byron Katie which is all about 'radical acceptance'. It might be helpful or at least illuminating. You kind of work through a questionnaire and work through some really deep, dark truths. It seems to have helped a lot of people with things like terminal illnesses or fear of terminal illness, or just debilitating fear.