Hi booboo,
I can sympathise as been suffering from Health Anxiety for the last 15/16 years but have always had some form of anxiety since childhood.
It's good that you try to be healthy and exercise and eat well etc. I'm not very good at eating healthy but I find that my anxiety is worse if I go too long without eating. It's also worse if I don't sleep well. I don't drink alcohol or smoke and I try to only drink 2 small coffees a day but as you say, it's a vicious circle. I sometimes feel like not a day goes by when I don't have an attack or am worrying I have some disease or other or the Big C.
I don't know what the answer is either. I have never taken anti depressants or had CBT. If I read side effects on any medication I will experience those symptoms, so it's hard for me to take medication.
I do try to keep an anxiety diary and write down the symptom I'm having. Then when you get it again, you can go back to the diary and see nothing happened to you. One symptom I get, I have been having for 16 years so I know it's nothing serious!
I've been anxious the past two days. Currently, I'm shivering inside...I get that quite often.
I do hate my anxiety, I wish I could be free of it. I find keeping busy helps take your mind off things. If I'm on my own too much, I worry about symptoms I'm experiencing and panic. I also try to not let it win and then that gives me a little buzz that I have beaten in that day. By that I mean I worry about going places etc but whereas I used to make an excuse and not go, now I try and face it and I'm always OK but it's the run upto it that is the worst. I even get anxious about attending my kids parents evenings or school events!
It really is a nightmare but all we can try and do is fight the bugger!