Newbie, help pllleeeaassseee !!!

[corb]

Hi all, newbie here, been suffering with what I am pretty sure is health anxiety for a few years now and thought I would post on here to see what you guys think, I have always been a worrier but it got worse when I was about 23 and thought, oh my god I am not an invincible kid anymore, losing a good friend didnt help either. Anyway I flew to Spain and developed a sort of vertigo thing and had that after travel ever since, so in trying to figure out what was wrong I analysed everything far too much and ended up diagnosing myself with all sorts of horrible illnesses.
Now I feel tiredall the time, have weak muscles, hate my job, had the globus thing etc. etc. but the worst things at the moment that have been going on a while now is the sleep jerks, knotted sort of stomache aaznd most annoying is the feeling my lips will quiver everytime I speak, I thought I actually had Parkinsons disease! I am a little jittery aswell, but I am not a nervous person, infact quite the opposite, I have seen loads of doctors and I am sick of it, I am not really a depressive person but all of this is driving me mad, I hope and I am sure you know what I am going through, please tell me these symptoms are normal, thanks in advance.

[imported_admin]

Hi Corb,

Sounds like anxiety to me! I have found the doctors seem to struggle to help with anxiety disorder...but thankfully they can rule out any serious problems. Everyone's body reacts differently to prolonged anxiety. Since you have been to many doctors, you may find you have better success by seeing a psychologist. They will treat you with Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Now CBT is not an over night fix..you need to work on it. I would book into your closest anxiety clinic...and maybe find out about meds.

Cheers
Admin

[corb]

Thanks, heard alot about CBT and sounds pretty good, I really dont want to start on meds unless it is a last resort, out of interest has anyone else had the symptoms I described, :(

[Robbed]

Be careful with CBT, though. CBT actually encompasses ALOT of different treatments, but (1) only some of which are effective in treating anxiety, and (2) not all therapists know all of them. For instance, MANY therapists know simply traditional CBT, and nothing more. Traditional CBT works under the premise that ALL negative feelings and emotions are preceeded by negative thoughts. If this is the type of treatment you receive, it will pobably do VERY little for you, as you are unlikely to be able to pinpoint any negative thoughts that could have triggered, say, muscle twitching or digestive problems. In fact, traditional CBT can make you feel WORSE by causing you to stress over finding a non-existant triggering thought AND making you think the treatment has failed. Also, for whatever reason, therapists are used to treating phobic anxiety and/or OCD. But when it comes to the kind of anxiety that most of us here seem to suffer from, they are quite clueless.

I think what has helped pretty much ALL of us here who have recovered or are making progress is reducing fear of symptoms. Technically, this is a CBT treatment. But it is one seldom used by therapists. It seems safe to say that most of us here fear anxiety symptoms or the thought that you will never be free of them rather than planes or elevators or dark places. So even if you see a therapist, you REALLY want to practice 'not hitting your 'panic button' (because your therapist is unlikely to tell you this). Remember that your brain is in an anxiety state at this time. And it is precisely this anxiety state that is producing your symptoms. Furthermore, your fear of your symptoms is sustaining this anxiety state. See what's happening here? You REALLY need to reduce your fear of symptoms. I know that it's not easy. But it will set you free.

Another thing that is helpful is distraction. Oftentimes, doing NOTHING makes things MUCH worse. Try doing something you like to do. Better yet, do it with another person. Social interaction (whether here or face to face) does wonders by both being distracting AND allowing you to figure out what you need to deal with in life to prevent the return of an anxiety state.

One more thing. Recovery takes time. Don't expect to be better in a week. Or, for that matter, a couple of months. Also, expect recovery to be filled with ups and downs. Experiencing some bad days after good days is normal. So be patient.