Health related anxiety

What do you mean. Is another condition giving you anxiety, or you have a health condition of anxiety? Either way, yes.

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What do you mean. Is another condition giving you anxiety, or you have a health condition of anxiety? Either way, yes.

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Health anxiety is an anxiety disorder that is often housed within the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) spectrum of disorders. Those affected by health anxiety have an obsessional preoccupation with the idea or the thought that they are currently (or will be) experiencing a physical illness. The most common health anxieties tend to centre on conditions such as cancer, HIV, AIDs, etc. However, the person experiencing health anxiety or illness phobia may fixate on any type of illness. This condition is known as health anxiety, illness phobia/illness anxiety or hypochondriasis.

Those who are affected by health anxiety/illness phobia are convinced that harmless physical symptoms are indicators of serious disease or severe medical conditions. For example, if a person experiencing health anxiety or illness phobia feels that their chest is getting tight, they may believe that they are having a heart attack. Those with health anxiety frequently misinterpret physical symptoms of anxiety as a sign of an impending physical health problem.

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LINK

The dizziness is anxiety.

Every day is but a gift

Take a deep breath, and a step forward. And then the next.

Got it horribly two months ago. Took an a1c test just to see how my blood sugar was even though I'm a pretty healthy guy. Got a falsely high reading which was later proven to be normal. When I was getting the follow up bloodwork ekg revealed a small heart abnormality. Started stressing about both like crazy. Had a panic attack that put me in ER after work one day. I had completely changed my diet which caused me to lose about 10 lbs in 2 weeks.

They out me on very low does Xanax for a few weeks which helped immensely and brought my appetite back. Spoke to counselor for a few weeks which helped greatly.

The biggest advice I can give is DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT start googling things.

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I've known for about 3 weeks now that I definitely don't have what I was originally was afraid of but some of the dizziness/weakness etc... didn't go away which puts me in a constant cycle of worrying that it is a symptom of some other serious illness which fuels the anxiety and on and on.

It's not to the point of like panic attacks or anything and doesn't really effect my daily life to outsiders but it's just something that's always in the back of my head the precludes me from enjoying things/looking forward to things like I used to.

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This was me exactly. The further out you get the better it will be. The Xanax for a few weeks really helped break that cycle. I replaced the Xanax with jogging more frequently not long after and weened off of it. I still have a little weakness /shaking with fine motor stuff but an awesome neurologist attributes it to anxiety just mildly increasing the normal physiological tremor we all have to some extent. I will say that worrying about your prolonged symptoms will probably be the thing that triggers them more than anything else.

You'll get through it bro

Honestly you have to sit for a second and look at life. Say to yourself there is nothing worth stressing over especially work. Life is about the quality of your health not how much money you can make or who you need to impress.

Learn to say, f u c k it and let shite roll off your shoulders.

Anxiety affects your sleep, body aches, appetite, mental state, thinking process and so much more.

Easier said than done, but once you get past it, you will learn to adapt to things in life and say I'm not going to stress over it because it isn't worth it.

Good luck man!

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A little over a month ago I got myself worked up that I had a condition and while worrying about the condition I started experiencing dizziness, tingling/weakenss in my arms, jaw and neck were hurting (from the anxiety according to the doc) etc...

I've known for about 3 weeks now that I definitely don't have what I was originally was afraid of but some of the dizziness/weakness etc... didn't go away which puts me in a constant cycle of worrying that it is a symptom of some other serious illness which fuels the anxiety and on and on.

It's not to the point of like panic attacks or anything and doesn't really effect my daily life to outsiders but it's just something that's always in the back of my head the precludes me from enjoying things/looking forward to things like I used to.

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Getting old sucks.

I had the same thing. Just the anxiety. Being an ER nurse I ONLY think I'm gonna die. "Is that pain in my scapula from doing p90X (5 years ago) or my thoracic aorta dissecting? It's gotta be the aorta!!!! OH DEAR GOD!!!"

If you have anxiety, you will chase your tail. Rule out one thing and the anxiety will cause a symptom and your mind will race to another cause. Chest or back pain will get ruled out. You will get dizzy. "Gotta be a stroke!"

Treat the anxiety. See your doc. My rock bottom was a full blown panic attack on a beautiful day hitting golf balls at a driving range!!! This is about the most relaxing thing I can think of. I left half a bucket of balls in the tee box and drove home. Called my wife. Saw a doc we knew that night who put me on xanax.

Don't STAY on Xanax. Switch to another benzo that is less addictive. Youtube anxiety and relaxation techniques. There are a million. They will get as flaky as you want. But the easiest is just breathing exercises. I will GUARANTEE you you are doing one of two things when you have an episode. Hyperventilating or holding your breath!

BREATH!!!! Inhale 5-6 seconds, hold 5-6, and exhale 5-6 seconds... It is very easy and works every time.

Anxiety is a diagnosis of exception. Rule out all the scary shite. Depending on your age and history your doc may want a few tests before telling you it is panic. But when all is ruled out, accept it as anxiety and treat it as such.

Beer helps, but is an extremely slippery slope. Nothing cures a panic attack quicker than 2 beers. The bitch is that there is no worse panic attack than a hungover panic attack!!

Cognitive behavioral therapy too. Need a counselor for that. I've considered counseling. Always be open to it. Especially if you lean too heavily on meds. Constantly eating and needing benzos is no way to live.

Good luck.

The biggest part of dealing with anxiety is accepting that it is anxiety. You just have to recognize when its happening, say to yourself this is happening and then completely ignore it. With practice it works wonders.

I did a lot of self name calling as well.

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If you have anxiety, you will chase your tail. Rule out one thing and the anxiety will cause a symptom and your mind will race to another cause. Chest or back pain will get ruled out. You will get dizzy. "Gotta be a stroke!"

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This. Break the cycle as soon as you can. After 6 years, I'm still caught in it. Don't let that happen.