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[booboo]

I am so sick of struggling with health fears/anx  - my mind just goes into overdrive and  imagines the worst case scenarios ...I can be ok for a while and its such a huge relief and I can be rational - then something will set me off, it can be stress, something I have read ( and can kind of relate to) or any number of things ... When these fears strike, I try so hard to distract myself but its virtually impossible and exhausting.. I do not classify myself as a hypochondriac & I am not at the docs every other week - its all the thoughts and fears and what ifs & worrying about stuff from the past and thinking I may have harmed myself etc ...I just seem to get over one thing and then its something else, how is it possible to enjoy life when worrying so much.. .. I try to tell myself " life for today" " don't worry about something that has not happened"  and " none of us know what is  ahead" etc etc -  but it doesn't seem to help... I sometimes think I am literally going to go mad....

[Dyan]

You are not alone booboo.
A lot of us suffer from health anxiety.
All part & parcel of the meno.
If you are an anxiety sufferer anyway,like me, it is worse.
Keep posting and get it off your chest. We don't mind at all :hug:X

[toffeecushion]

You are definately not alone 

[BrightLight]

You are not alone - did you read my mind?  I was just thinking similar today, what has happened to me.  The slightest thing gets caught in my mind and I am off - it's a feeling of doom that is triggered by a physical 'symptom' and away my mind goes.  I also don't visit the GP often, but I did last year and no one could answer what all these little things were about.  This year I discovered my hormones are not as they were but still I think that all these little changes are adding up to something BIG and also have that fear of 'am I looking after myself enough' - did I do something wrong?!

Totally mad making. As you say, the times it vanishes are pure bliss and I wonder how the anxiety got a grip of me when it did.

Sending a hug x

[libby1]

Hi Booboo

No, you're not alone. There's lots of us out there knowing exactly where you're coming from 

Libby
x

[SadLynda]

not alone, I am taking pills for it now though.  All my molehills became mega mountains

[booboo]

Thank you for replies ladies ..
Its like being in flippin hell - trying to pretend I am feeling ok and putting on a brave face some days and underneath it all, all these morbid thoughts and what ifs are running thru my head & so much negativity.. I practically convince myself of the thing I am worried about & cant stop - will it ever end

[Galadriel]

Welcome on board booboo!

Same here too. I have 'what if' gremlins and they a brilliant at leaping to wild and terrible conclusions over the tiniest things - stuff I wouldn't have batted and eyelid at a few years ago. They really get on my nerves!

Galadriel x

[honorsmum]

I suffer health anxiety too.
It can lie dormant for months ( as it has for much of this year) but then suddenly rear it's head again ( as it has done now) and convince me I have a terminal illness.
The biggest struggle I have is not wanting to go to the GP, because they may think I'm just anxious, but also feeling terrified of not going, incase I really do have something that needs treating.

I hate it. I know for me it stems from 2 experiences. The first was when my dad got ill, after many years of depression and anxiety. Because of his history, his GP put his symptoms down to anxiety, until he was obviously very seriously ill. He ended up in intensive care, and died after 6 months there.
The second was when I saw my own GP with what she insisted was IBS caused by anxiety. She pushed me onto antidepressants, which I had an horrendous reaction to and led me to a complete breakdown. 6 months later, after I had honestly been to hell and back, I was finally diagnosed with Crohn's disease.

As you can see, I haven't had a great experience with doctors but it's a double edged sword - don't see them and risk becoming ill, or see them and risk being labelled as anxious/hypochondriac.

[wombat62]

It's really weird isn't it. Things that never bothered me when I was younger over the last few years really bother me now. I've been to some pretty remote places and never gave a thought to what would happen if you fell ill, now I don't like to be too far from a hospital!

I think that stemmed from having a bit of a weird time (early meno/stress etc etc) in a remote place and the thought of no medical help nearby made it all so much worse!

Maybe when we are young you just don't think of those things but as you get older and things happen to other people around you or you read stuff in the news you think "what if"...all the flipping time!!!

[babyjane]

It seems to be very common.  You are not unusual and not alone.

This won't be helpful unless you can do it (and there is nothing wrong with you if you are not strong enough to do it) but I have found that fighting it makes it worse.  when my anxiety decides it wants to be in charge I now try to meet it face to face and go along with it instead of feeling I should be getting the better of it.  I sort of say to it 'ok, you've dropped in, I will spend time with you but I will look forward to when you leave', a bit like I would treat a visitor I didn't particularly like.  I wouldn't kick them or spit on them or swear at them but I wouldn't give them a lot of attention and I would be glad when they left.

Hope that makes a bit of sense, it sounds terribly waffly 

[LizeeeH]

yes you are not alone hunni!!!!

Im terrible, I can see something on TV or read an article and that's it BOOM! Im off again! and I will not go to the GP...I HATE going there

[AuntyBiz]

Yup me too, I was in a meeting today and started fretting about 'what if's..........' and worrying about things that may not even happen. Catastrophising I think they call it.  Drives me batty and then at other times I think 'why on earth were you getting those thoughts from!?'

xxxxx

[Kathleen]

Hello booboo and welcome to the forum.

Oddly I don't worry about a variety of health issues and  I've had many strange physical things going on during menopause but anything concerning my bowels sends me into a panic. Perhaps I just lack imagination lol. What is even more weird is that the gut illness that I was eventually diagnosed with five years ago is actually better than it has ever been, all those years I just calmly got on with it and it's now I worry! I also have times when I feel good and can't think what all the fuss was about.

I suppose what we are all grappling with is completely irrational making it  hard to counter with logic and reason though we still try!

Obviously no answers ladies just sending sympathy and hugs, us fretful folk need all the comfort we can get.

Take care.

K.

[Rebelyell]

Totally sympathise.  When I am 'well' I feel like a different person and find the anxiety lady of the previous day difficult to understand.   But when it hits I can have whole weeks of doom and gloom, which then leads to real physical panic attack symptoms [numb left arm/leg, funny feeling in face, heartburn, etc..]   I know it is psychosomatic as it all goes when I am busy or distracted. 

You have to get a point where you laugh about it - I ****ed both thumbs this week whilst using sewing machine.  forgot about it, then stressed about sore thumbs...  OH asked if I had actually found a rare disease that started with sore thumbs...  For a nano second I actually thought 'Sh**, better look that up...'!!!

Keep busy, exercise and confide in someone close so you can get to the point of making fun of it.