Hi Im Jacob and am having problems with health anxiety

[MaJestic]

I would like to get to know other people on this sight to try and understand anxiety more fully and the best ways to overcome it

Im 21 and always considered myself to be in good health however over the past couple of months i have found myself freaking out about the possibility of having a terrible disease. It all started when i started my new job and began to have a persistant headache for about a week or so.This started to worry me and then i started to experience muscle twitches in my hands and now in various parts of my body.

I am pretty sure it is all down to my anxious feelings but cannot get the thought out of my head that i am extremely ill and as i have these thoughts it makes the twitching worse. A vicious cycle eh! I have been to the doctor and am now taking amitriptyline to help relax my muscles however i have been taking them for a couple of weeks now and feel like my anxiousness has got worse!

Thats pretty much my story, as i said would be great to hear from others who would like to share their stories!

Regards
Jacob

[CharlotteHughes]

Hi Jacob,
I suffer from panic attacks quite a lot and whenever I am having one (or about to have one) I tend to worry about my health, for instance "I know this is a panic attack but what if it isn't and something is wrong with me". Thoughts like that tend to increase the anxious feelings until I realize that it is only anxious thoughts messing with my head and this is what causes my symptoms of "panic" to increase.
I am currently trying to face my anxiety and ultimately overcome it and I hope you can too. I know that it isn't especially useful to hear it sometimes, but this really does sound like your anxious feelings taking over - if you think you have bad health you will tend to look for symptoms to "prove" it to yourself.
I hope with time you learn to manage your anxiety and that this forum gives you some of the help you are looking for.

Charlotte :)

[Lisaren]

Hi

I am the same, I always seem to start off my anxious episode by thinking I am seriously ill sometimes. A headache can turn to a brain tumour in a matter of minutes, and I get a tight chest when I'm anxious, so again, I believe it is my heart. I'm sure my Hubby thinks I'm a hypochondriac!!! I know it's my anxiety as I can feel it taking over and I find it difficult to control at times. My anxiety started 2 yrs ago when I was working full time and fetching up my two and eleven year old up with my husband. I believe I was stressed out by my sales job and it all got too much. I have since changed jobs and been ok, until recently, when I beginning to notice the symptoms slowly appearing again.. And again I am working in a stressful job for the council..really is good to be able to talk about it though to people who also experience the same thing!!!

[MaJestic]

Thanks for your comments!

I have been feeling a lot better this week! With help from the people around me I've managed to start breaking my train of thought so that I'm not dwelling on situations any more. Its just so hard to accept that anxiety can cause so many physical symptoms but alas it can and its good that I have managed to realise this as I too believed that my headache was a brain tumour and my muscle twitching was a terrible motor neuron disease! It really has helped talking to people on here that have experienced the same thing and understand. In future I will understand when these symptoms appear.

Regards
Jacob

[Cuylovely]

I also have health anxiety, I know what you mean. I get sharp pains in my head or I start to feel faint like i'm about to pass out. I always think I have a brain tumor or am having a brain aneurysm. Not fun

[MaJestic]

No its not fun at all. Staying off Google and trying to self diagnose yourself is always good as well. I know its easier said than done but it does really help as does talking to people who are in the same situation. Keep yourself busy and occupied and eventually you should see sinw improvements. Take care!

[marco92]

Hey I have the same thing. I think the anxiety causes this. I get stomach pains and headaches or just overall feel bad and then I feel even more bad because of how I felt. It sucks. I thought I was in good health but like you said randomly I started obsessing over my health and looking every little symptom up. I think the fear may also come (for me) from not having health insurance and the feeling that if I do get sick I'm screwed. I'm just riding it out right now hoping that maybe when I go back to school and have something to distract me with I'll get better. I went to the doctor once since it's expensive and he ran a couple tests and said I was fine but I don't believe him. He only did the routine blood and urine test and from that he deduced that I'm fine. It's probably just my anxiety talking but I'm still skeptical.