Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[booboo]

I am now in my 55th year - and try to be healthy, ie exercise & eat well, don't smoke etc & drink in moderation.. But am periodically plagued by health fears - I seem to get gripped into a cycle of fear, and convince myself that I done things that could cause C - I know worrying isn't useful and does not change anything ..My anxiety just spirals out of control to the point I am not enjoying life and depression takes over again...I am on citalopram but its does not seem to always help - and then I worry about the side effects of meds- its a vicious and hellish circle....  I have posted on here re this prob before & know no one has the answer - sometimes I just cant see a way out & wonder if I will ever be free of all the fears and enjoy a future ever ..

[Halfpint]

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!

[coldethyl]

Sorry you are not feeling so good. I have had HA for many years too and it comes and goes at will, though there's always something nagging at me to notice it. I think it just becomes a habit to scan ourselves and of course our body always obliges with some weird sensation to freak us out. It is undoubtedly worse in the perimenopause because our bodies can experience a whole raft of new and frightening sensations. I don't know what the answer is other than to just keep going - I find mindfulness meditation helps to calm me slightly and keep me mfocused on the here and now rather than all the what ifs. Perhaps your GP could refer you for some therapy as medication is not the whole answer. X

[CLKD]

I think this is an age issue.  More problematic for women.  Bugga!

I have always been a worrier, triggered by 'what ifs' from my Mum when I contemplated going places, doing stuff.  All the ideas I had were talked down. 

As we see friends/neighbours/family suffering with maybe terminal illness, or caring for elderly parents etc. it can bring to mind our own mortality, then 'it' starts  .  Talk, talk, talk - there's usually someone here to listen, many of who suffer HA.  My biggest deep fear is Himself dying  ……… I try to live half a day at a time so that I don't dwell, do you have a worse time for worrying, for me it's as I drop off to sleep, I get a lurch in the gut 

[Kate50]

I keep saying this on here you don't have to suffer! !
I had NLP and EFT to start and nailed it with Analytical hypnotherapy  if I hadn't I would now be suicidal thru meno. Go and get help it won't come to you i flew to Australia 21st Dec 2012 the day the world was gonna end im still here!
Although some would rather me not!  Lol

[Justjules]

BooBoo, you're certainly not alone. My HA is overwhelming most of the time. The family think I am nuts for living life worrying this way but can't understand that it's not something I want to have, I can't stop it, only distract myself. I am whole heartedly suck of myself some days, especially when you can't do what you want to do because if the fear or anxiety. I am off work again and have re-started Citalopram so although not a cure, it will hopefully give me back some oomph and energy. It's an awful way to live but I haven't found the answer yet.  Therapy helps but it's a long slog and an expensive one at that. At least we're all on here and understand. Hugs. Xxx

[Justjules]

I keep saying this on here you don't have to suffer! !
I had NLP and EFT to start and nailed it with Analytical hypnotherapy  if I hadn't I would now be suicidal thru meno. Go and get help it won't come to you i flew to Australia 21st Dec 2012 the day the world was gonna end im still here!
Although some would rather me not!  Lol

Kate, I have NLP but what's analytical hypno?  My therapist says nothing will work for me until I believe it will and that my problem....loads of therapy, know all the answers but can't apply them 

[Kate50]

Analytical hypnotherapy will get to the reasons why you can't.  I was told your just not accepting by a therapist once it turned out they were wrong !  It's a type of therapy that goes into the subconscious and gets to the root of things and if your open to it it works well. There are different forms  of it and the one I used was a 12 week thing but have been back and forth over past 3 years as things sometimes come up when they are ready when it's safe for then to come up. Where abouts in the country do you live?

[CLKD]

I am not suitable for hypnotherapy  . 

[dangermouse]

Health Anxiety was also discussed here BooBoo, in case any of it helps:

http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,31425.0.html

Its also really important to keep a check on our language, as we don't realise how literally our subconscious accepts our innocent exaggerations when our conscious mind is distracted away from converting 'being in hell' to 'feeling really bad'. Our self talk gets us into so much psychological angst! Try to get into the habit of self talking more rationally like you would talk to a friend if you were giving them advice. Not easy, as habits can be so strong, but once you attain the skill it can completely change your life!

[Justjules]

Analytical hypnotherapy will get to the reasons why you can't.  I was told your just not accepting by a therapist once it turned out they were wrong !  It's a type of therapy that goes into the subconscious and gets to the root of things and if your open to it it works well. There are different forms  of it and the one I used was a 12 week thing but have been back and forth over past 3 years as things sometimes come up when they are ready when it's safe for then to come up. Where abouts in the country do you live?

Kate, I live in Lancashire, just outside Preston.

[CLKD]

I have a scale of 1-5 : 1 being low levels of anxiety awareness, 5 being when I have to take emergency medication.