Strange symptoms, is it really anxiety??

[jinglebells]

Hey everyone, I have been lurking for a long while, your posts have all been of great help to me. A bit about me: I am a 24year old healthy (apart from severe anxiety) female. I developed a real anxiety problem about four months ago. had a few symptoms, lump in throat, back pain and ended up googling it! big mistake, it all went downhill from there!

Since then I have been convinced I have cancer of the oesophagus. I have also developed a strange thing with my throat. It's almost like a hiccough, i can feel the pressure building up in my stomach and then my oesophagus spasms, just like when you hiccough. Sometimes I burp when this happens, other times not. hiccoughs is a symptom of oesophagus cancer! It would be really nice to hear from anyone who has the same thing. Up to now I haven't found anyone who has experienced this symptom, which just adds to my anxiety and I start telling myself that if no one else has it, its not anxiety and must be something more sinister!

I seem to be burping a lot, although this may partly be down to me swallowing air, not sure if this could be causing this problem, been making a concious effort to stop this.

Look forward to your replies xx

[northstar]

hi jinglebells :)

google is sooooo bad for people with anxiety lol. but the simplest & wisest thing for you to do is to go talk to your doctor about it, they can run tests and rule out any problems. no one here will be able to do that for you. another thing to consider is if there are any problems then the sooner you go to your doctor the better because the sooner you see them the sooner they can help you :)

to me it sounds an awful lot like trapped wind or indigestion, which may promt you to look at your diet & check out what may be making your body unhappy. the other thing that springs to mind is that you may just be far more aware of it than you were in the past because of the anxiety. anxiety makes us hypersensitive to anything going on in our bodies, so the tiniest pain or weird feeling and suddenly you're thinking it's a brain tumour lol. i've been through it!

but like i said, we're not doctors, go make an appointment and put your mind at ease, then begin working on getting better from the anxiety :)

[Zappa]

Hey :)

I've been reading this forum for some time too and, as you can see, it is my first post!

I feel exactly the same symptom! Just like that!
I don't get too nervous about that symptom so I didn't googled it and I never thought of cancer of any-kind. My girlfriend and I used to laugh when I made that kind of burp sound (usually coming from my throat). Only now I started to notice that it happens when I am more anxious. Some people say it is air that you swallow because of the hyperventilation. For me it sounds like a good explanation. Are you eating fast? I notice that I eat really fast and I believe that doesn't help.

Remember that this is my first post and I'm having problems with anxiety myself, so I'm not a guru. I'm just like you.

Just a note to tell that after reading many post I see many people with similar symptoms. But the curious part is that we all think it is because of a different disease. And some worry more about one type of symptoms than the others...My worry is always a heart disease so I never took the burp/hiccough thing that serious.

Sorry for the english. I hope you get better. And sorry for this big post but I think that writing is helping me too :)

Thanks for all the posters for making me feel that I'm not alone.

[jinglebells]

Thankyou for you replies. Northstar I have read many of your posts and you really do give some great advice. I have started eating much better, taking a vitamin b complex and even trying to exercise (which I have found the hardest!).

As for the doctor I have visited him many times the past few months, he is very laid back and tries to reassure me although I have very little faith in health proffessionals. This is because 5 years ago when I was pregnant with my daughter, I had a serious condition called HELLP syndrome, I visited my doctor 3 times in a week and was fobbed off with indegestion, that weekend I became very ill and was rushed to hospital and i am very lucky to ber here today. I think maybe some of my anxieties stem from this, but have only surfaced now.

I keep vowing to myself that I will stay away from google, I know i really should, but its a hard habit to break lol!

Again Northstar you are right about me being hypersensitive i know i am. I feel a pain in my arm and for the next two days i focus on that pain and manage to convince myself I have bone cancer! At this moment in time I am feeling quite rational, although I know that won't last. More than likely by the end of the evening I will be paranoid I am dying from some form of cancer.

Zappa, congratulations on your first post! And thankyou for your reply, I am sorry you are experiencing HA and the same symptom as me,. I have to admit I am also relieved that I am not the only one who gets this. helps me move away from the idea of cancer. Do you also find you hiccup a lot?

I haven't noticed that I am eating fast, but I have noticed that I do have a tendancy to swallow air, I have been trying to stop this. Zappa I also think you are right about everyone having a different take on things, I worry most about cancer, heart disease hasn't crossed my mind (and I hope it doesn't lol!). I hope things improve for you soon, I find that writting on here provides me with a good outlet and often I get reassurance from other members.

thankyou for the replies

[northstar]

what an encouraging reply jinglebells! i'm so pleased for you that you're taking steps to get better, i guarantee you the vitamin b, healthy diet & exercise will help you to feel better :D basically by doing these things you're supporting your body and mind, and when your body & mind feel good it will really help you with your mental health. you should be proud of yourself for making the effort, many people find it really hard to do these things to help themselves, but it's so important.

i can totally understand your worries about doctors after that incident :( it's terrible that things like that are missed! and it must have upset you deeply. i too found it hard to get rid of niggling worries when i was anxious. the craziest things went round in my head and it was so hard to stop the circling thoughts. and not only was it frustrating for me, but also the people around me who had to watch me go through it lol.

i found therapy really helped with it. i saw a psychotherapist for just over a year & it helped so much. the reccommended therapy for this kind of problem is cognitive behaviour therapy, you might like to give it a try? anyway, don't rush into anything, you're already making a great effort and if you feel the need in the future you can look into it, or even look into a support group.

i really hope that things get better for you soon :)

[Weez]

Hi,

When my anxiety was really bad (getting a hold on it slowly) it felt like my through was closing or that there was a lump or something stuck in it. I would burp and it would feel better for a moment or so but it ended up kicking my anxiety up high.

When it first occured I thought I had become allergic to sea food.

It is good however to talk to your doctor and explain your symptoms and fears. My doctor has been great with me even to check it out little things to give me that sense of peace, since I fear of having so many problems.

Peace@