hypochondria??!!

[sjrooke]

Hi all,
my names Sarah im 32. And im finally trying to except that I suffer Health anxiety.
It all started about 5 years ago when I suffered a miscarriage at 11 weeks and ended up in hospital after losing 4 pints of blood. since then i have gradually slowly developed anxiety, i wasnt sure at first i used to just feel uneasy , then came my first panick attack because i thought that i was having a heart attack in the middle of the cinema so dash straight the the A&E, this was four years ago now. Since then, ive thought ive had cancer of many places, kidney faliure, heart problems, tumors of many kinds, life threatening infections... you name it ive thought ive had it.
These days my family have started to get bored of it and its putting alot of strain on my relationship. i also have three children 12, 3 and 2 years old. and of course its effecting them.The problem is now I at the worst that ive ever been, ive recentlly lost a stone, become constipated, one uti after another, kidney stones, itching, right side abdominal ache.... yet i go the doctors every week and im sent away with anxiety..
Im so frightened because i do have pain, i do itch, i am constipated and not normall and ive not been as light as i am in many years. Im so frightened they are missing something because they know i suffer with anxiety and they just think, heres sarah whos off her head, complete loony. making it all up.
6months ago i had full blood test, abdominal xray, swabs, and a brain scan. more recently ive had a scan of my uterus and overies and kidneys and due for a renal scan next month.
Has any one got any advice? please!! xxxxxxxx

[alankay]

Sarah, yeah I used to worry so much I got psychosomatic pains. I think you are too based on what the docs have found and you being aware you're anxious. Have you had a trial of an ssri? Have you spoke with a counselor? If you really had no history of anxiety before your miscarriage, I bet there's nothing in your personal history(abuse, traumatic events, etc) that would explain your anxiety. Therefore it might be that the miscarriage was a shock enough to prompt this anxiety to develop(between the loss of child and the blood loss/being in the hospital, it must have been horrible). I'd consider a visit to your GP to discuss this and try an ssri. Start at a low dose and titrate(taper) up to avoid much in the way of side effects. Zoloft is very popular here in the US and in the UK as well I bet. Like me I bet you dislike meds. Well so do I but I have benefited from ssri's and take one to this day and recommend them as the first line of anxiety treatment. Although classified as antidepressants, they also have anxiolytic(anti-anxiety) effects and is why they are used for it. Some folks get hung up on the words "antidepressant". No you don't sound depressed but these meds also reduce anxiety, sometimes markedly. They are cheap and safe and if you don't benefit, taper off them. Just a trial of say 6 months to a year and it might help put that anxiety behind you. Then drop it and see if you are OK. You can always restart them. I do understand your fear. I used to think I had heart disease, oral cancer, etc, etc. I got pains that weren't there. My mind THOUGHT and worried enough that it thought they were there and so the brain, EXPECTING sensations, received them from the nerves from the area of anxiety, so to speak(or thought it did). Most folks can't understand that and I can now see why for the most part(but it was real to me at the time!!). After getting some treatment(counseling), an ssri(fluoxetine), educating myself about anxiety it's mostly a thing of the past. After feeling less anxious and gaining from that perspective, I been able to keep that more rational mind set. Plain fact, not every twinge, tingle or vague pain is a terminal illness lurking inside me:). I hope you can get to that same place as well. Message me any time!!! Merry Christmas Sarah!!! Alan