Must Not Google Must Not Google!

[Kalita]

I can't stop myself from googling my symptoms!!!! For a few weeks now I have had a feeling of fullness in my ears, dizziness, pressure on my forehead, upper bridge of the nose, and under my eyes and in my temples. For a couple of days my ears were killing me! Even into my jaw. Both sides. I saw an ear nose and throat specialist and had CT scans. He tells me I don't have sinusitis. I have small polyps in the maxillary cavity. Slight sinusitis in "small" areas. But otherwise normal. But he didn't look in my ears for some reason. I still have all the symptoms especially fullness in my ears and dizziness. Now I've worked myself up so much by googling. I've convinced myself now that I'm dying. I'm either having a stroke or my carotid arteries are blocked and I will die!!!!! Why do I do this to myself?! I was so content on believing that all my symptoms were sinusitis that I was controlling my panic attacks with that belief. Now he tells me it's not, I've got nothing to keep me sane!! I'm going to go see my Dr tomorrow and get him to see if my ears are infected or something, but if he tells me there is nothing wrong with my ears, I'm going to lose it!!!!!!!!! :'(

[DustingMyselfOff]

Your symptoms sound like what I have been dealing with for about 20 years. I, too, went the general practioner route, then the ENT, route, had cat scans, MRI's, etc. "Everything's fine". Yeah, right. Then why do I feel like this? My GP told me to try Afrin nasal spray and that was a God send but you can't use it too often so he then suggested Claritin-D. I was on that for about 10 years and always felt great and symptom free, but at my last check up he said "woah, you've been on that way too long, get off."

So give Afrin a try for a few days and if your symptoms subside you'll know you've got some kind of chronic swelling in the sinuses like I do.
Sue

[Stephen Joseph]

You're right Kalita. You do need to stop searching online for symptoms and possible illnesses.

A very dear friend of mine used to do the same and came up with dozens of potential life threatening complications and sicknesses all because she had heart palpatations, a flickering eyelid or an itchy spot.

Go to the doctors, let them diagnose you, accept their advice and then do as they suggest. But don't try to second-guess them or to look for related problems. It will end in continued misery. Give that will-power of yours some exercise. You can do it.

[M.C]

I suffer from health anxiety too

I used to google a lot every physical sensation I get which made me very miserable
I have not experienced what you have
I normally get sharp pain in my back now my stomach sometimes my chest
I feel light headed heart palpitations pain in my breasts and night sweats etc
I don't go near google anymore because it s misleading
If you type in a head ache the first result you will get is a brain tumour
But guess what last week my therapist asked me if I could google diseases again watch health programmes on the tele etc
According to her I ve reached the point where the best cure is exposure
I need to face all my fears
So the more I expose my self the more I become used to the possibility of falling ill
Next I need to write about the worst possible thing that could happen to me and describe how I m going to feel and how I m going to cope

[Lin]

My husband had gallstones a couple of years ago and when he googled e found a site which really worried him and made him far worse.
Our GP often tells us the name of what we have but tells us the good NHS sites to Google on for correct information.
I do think that we can learn too much now with the internet which is not always a good thing for us,

[Walking Circles]

Please, please, stay far away from google. It can only make things worse, I sent myself into a 9 month long spiral of anxiety and panic that I am only now recovering from, all of this from a single Google search. Listen to your doctors, Google will of course always present the worst cast scenario no matter how unlikely it is. Your symptoms sound like a pretty classic mild sinus infection, I have suffered from near constant sinus infections since I was in the 9th grade from a fight that caused a deviated septum and improper drainage and I can assure you that will highly annoying they are not life threatening. I have had sinus infections cause me to have all kinds of pain in my head from behind to my eyes to in my teeth, I have had them cause extreme vertigo and all kinds of other symptoms. I can recommend that you keep a bottle of simple saline nasal spray on hand and look up sinus massage online they can really help with the pressure.

[Judie]

Kalia, Don't lose it if he tells you your ears are fine. Re-read your own post ,can you see the one significant line you said "I was so content with believing that it was sinusitis that I was controlling my Panic attacks. That's right you were " controlling " them because it is " thoughts" that cause them. Thinking that you had sinusitis diverted your fear and in doing so stifled ( stopped) the panic. You simply need to master changing your thoughts in doing so you make anxiety powerless. Face the anxiety head on, calm yourself with deep breathing and ride it out. I promise you you will not die period. Challenge the anxiety, you will defeat it. When the attack is over logically tell yourself these are just symptoms, not a disease. If it were a disease it would NOT COME AND GO. Your symptoms could be just seasonal allergies. Keep in mind that although panic feels horrific, a disease process does not act like this. The very idea that you feel better when you can attach your symptoms to sinusitis or whatever physical illness is a very clear indication of panic. When you get to this mindset and realize your fear is causing this you will see
your symptoms will clear up rapidly. Have you been under any prolong stresss in the last 6 months or so, have your recently lost someone or gone through a break up ?

[Judie]

The Internet can be a wonderful place of vast information, it can also be a tremendous source of anxiety. Anybody / everybody can relate to many disease symptoms. So a person suffering from anxiety looking for a reason for their symptoms will have a field day on the Internet. Instead try googling symptoms of panic or " can panic produce this system" You will in fact find Panic can manifest itself in many different forms. Try this instead -practice relaxation with deep breathing, challenge the anxiety- accept it and learn to stop it dead in its tracks by breaking your train of thought. After the episode is over think "logically" I have survived this because it is in fact just meaningless symptoms..I survived this and I will survive them all..it is nothing....and that's what they will become nothing and disappear as quickly as they came.BUT if something is troubling you and it's simply your mind trying to gain your attention then you do need to address that or peptic ulcers or migraines may rear their ugly heads. Hang in there and be kind to yourself !

[Sedigive]

Yep, sounds like a sinus infection. I recently developed similiar symptoms and went to my Dr who gave me an antibiotic and flonase nasal spray. Unfortunately after finishing the antibiotic it looks like the infection is back :-( I agree with everyone else - stay away from google. Take care.

[DustingMyselfOff]

HOWEVER, the internet can also be a WONDERFUL source of helpful information. had it not been for Google I would have never learned about nasal irrigation. I do this frequently and have not used Claritin-D, Flonase, Veramyst, or Afrin in months. Unfortunately most of that stuff comes with it's own side effects. :(

[sharacel91]

I've learnt to type anxiety before I put in any symptoms in good search otherwise but scares the crap out of me to the point my anxiety goes through the roof!

[princesskj]

I've learnt to type anxiety before I put in any symptoms in good search otherwise but scares the crap out of me to the point my anxiety goes through the roof!

Lol I do the same thing

[Kalita]

Thanks everyone. I finally dragged myself off to the Dr today. I told her my symptoms and that I was causing myself massive panic attacks because I'd googled and come to the conclusion that I was dying of a stroke. But nope, I'm still alive. No stroke. In fact, my blood pressure was text book!! Unbelievable. I nearly fell off the chair. So, she looked in my ears and helloooo. Massive inner ear infections and swelling in both ears. So now I'm on antibiotics and ear drops. I'm feeling a wee bit better knowing why I feel so dizzy and off lately. But I really need to get this anxiety under control! I definitely have health anxiety. I worry about every little symptom I have. So, off the the psychologist I go again. Got an appointment for Thursday. Baby steps!! :) Thanks everyone.

[anxietykidd]

If I may ask what were your symptoms? And did you even have ear pain?

[Kalita]

My major symptom is dizziness. Like I'm on a boat constantly. Then a couple of weeks ago I had pain in my left ear so badly that it went into my jaw. At that stage I started panicking thinking I was having a heart attack. Then the symptoms all shifted to the right side of my head. Ear, jaw. Then about a week later I started getting pressure and pain along my forehead. That's when I googled and convinced myself I was dying of a stroke!! Oh gosh. I'm a mess. Now I'm on ear drops till Friday then I will start a round of antibiotics then. At the moment I'm in bed because I'm dizzy today. My left ear is hurting and is hot. Feels like it's burning up. Awww... my poor ear is running a temperature!! lol... I just want it all gone!

[Lin]

Ear infections are horrible and can make you feel really low. It takes ages sometimes for the effects to go away and for you to feel better.
One ear infection I had caused my glands to come up down the side of my face and I was really worried but when they scanned it they showed me how it was just the infection from the ear still working away and keeping the gland up. The gland stayed up for years even though my ear got better.
Easy to panic when ears and head not feel right, but usually once cured you will feel much better.
Try not to panic when get something, just trust your doctor and you will be fine.
I only google if my doctor tells me a site to look at which will help me about my illness, then I know it is a reputable site, and I also already know what he has told me is wrong with me so I don't imagine more and just get the help the site offers on the illness.