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Health Anxiety Issues


13 years ago 0 6252 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
NYCGirl

Last paragraph, you just picked out some negative core beliefs. Depending how long you have had them will dictate what you can do with them and how long it will take. There may be one hidden and that is that you are right to believe these negative ones. That is called a root and has to be dealt with first.

Here for you,
Davit.
13 years ago 0 9 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Thanks for the responses. :) I will try to read through more information here tomorrow. 

I'm not sure if I was clear enough in my first post that I don't actually have any of the symptoms of the eye disease I was worried about. Prior to reading that article about the disease, I didn't even really think about my eyes or blindness except in passing. After reading this article, I was just telling myself I had the symptoms, researching them online, checking and rechecking my eyes, and generally obsessing over the disease. 

Thanks for the information about the symptoms though! It's helpful to know there are more common, less scary reasons for peripheral vision loss and night blindness if I did have those symptoms.

I'm just still so surprised that getting my eyes checked and being assured by an eye doctor that I was fine didn't help at all. I feel crazy even though I've been through this before.

I don't even know if completely accepting the doctor's words would even work. At this point I wish I could even get to the point of just accepting that I have anxiety issues. I still have that feeling that "I can't POSSIBLY be so lucky as to have good eyes and just be worrying because I have anxiety problems." It would just be "too good to be true" I guess. In my mind the disease HAS to be real otherwise I am way too lucky. Sigh. It's an exhausting way to be. And I know that it's not easy having anxiety issues, of course. I'm not minimizing that aspect. It's just the way my thoughts go.
13 years ago 0 4027 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
 

YO NY,

See Dr F’s explanation, at the main page of this site. He talks about the balance of panic and anxiety and how they relate dated January 2011 with a question about “Constant state of anxiety” in the left margin of his table.

He also answers the question on “panic symptoms” which explains the cycle. I’d read them in that order, judging by your ability and your  openness to information.

Worry about a physical symptom is setting you off into a spiral of self-perpetuating concern, I think. We were talking about this in another forum topic where Sunny and I have obsessed about our blood pressures(BP was used as an abbreviation).  That topic is called "Did you know".

Why don’t you begin working on the programme until you see you physician, and check into here noting the similarities and differences, sharing concerns?  Use the people here as  "support".  There aren't many people responding unfortunately, but plenty viewing, since spring has sprung, I think.  Asking a question is a great idea and posting often will draw some more people out of their shell, hopefully.

“Just anxiety” can mean just a “rough period” that will go away, or a problem that’s been brewing for some time. If you’ve seen a specialist in the past, maybe you just need some tweaking?

If you’re a big girl with a good full-time position, use what got you there to rely on the doc, and take good care of yourself in the meantime by preparing for the appointment. If it’s NYC, you may be paying big bucks for it and why not prepare for it and make the most of it?

How about some retail therapy in the meantime, or some spa time – you sound like you’re worth it.
 
Keep in touch:)
13 years ago 0 6252 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
NYCGirl

Welcome to the site. Of course other people dwell too much on things they think are killing then. Coincidence is that it happens in healthy people because the truly sick are too busy fighting being sick to be spending large amounts of time on anxiety, it is when they start to get better that the anxiety gets worse.

I don't know what you know about core beliefs. But I will give you one that I think you have. It is that people are either wrong a lot of the time or all of the time. Problem with this one is that it could be right part of the time. Where do these things come from. They come from impressions. Family pressure and a lot of times peer pressure. Like people telling you what they think is right or wrong, morally or otherwise and you proving them wrong. Do this often enough and you will start to believe it. Now there are spin offs. Negative thoughts that you build on this core belief that can be rejected or allowed over time to build more core beliefs. 
Can you see how they can shape our lives, causing us to hold true things that are not and base our thoughts on this. This is just an example. Your cores may be different, but if they were all positive you would not be on this site.

Night blindness, (peripheral) is caused by too much sun damage or a lack of vitamin A. The other sign of this deficiency is skin cracks or calluses. Peripheral vision is black and white and on the sides of your eyes. It is sensitive to damage. Cats see very little colour and therefore their eyes have to close up to protect there black and white vision. They have more of this so they only seem to be able to see in the dark.

Acceptance is hard for people with anxiety disorders, so although the doc gave you a clean bill you are not going to believe it. CBT will fix that.
Ask any thing you want, some one will try to answer you. We are here for support.

Here for you, 
Davit.


13 years ago 0 9 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
First off, I am a female, aged 25. I have a great family, a good full-time position, I work out and eat healthfully, and I never smoke or drink (but don't judge those who do, of course.) Just trying to establish my physical state before my mental state. Well, I'm not sure where to begin but I found this website searching for clues about my anxiety issues. I've had them all of my life and I think it runs in my family. However, lately it's been much worse than I can remember. I've worried about many diseases and other situations (being a lesbian, for example--not sure why that would be so bad as to cause anxiety, but it did) in my life. But lately, none of them seem as bad as my latest fear.

My main fear the passed two weeks (and beyond) has been the fear of going blind. I read an article about "retinitis pigmentosa" (a disease that causes the individual to slowly go blind) a few months ago and ever since then the fear of going blind would come back but never as bad as the last few weeks. I would research it online constantly, asking my family and friends about it, and all the conflicting online information and confusing/anxiety worsening responses from friends and family would make it worse and worse. I cried a lot over it, my hands and arms felt tingly, my heart would pound, etc. I would tell myself I was having all the symptoms (night blindness, loss of peripheral vision) even though my vision was the same as it has been for 25 years.

I finally made myself an appointment with the eye doctor last Monday and she said my eyes were perfect and showed no signs of any problems. She knew exactly what "retinitis pigmentosa" was. I also have 20/15 vision (which is apparently better than 20/20. Who knew?) 

I thought that having the health of my eyes confirmed by an eye doctor would alleviate the horrible anxiety, but it didn't. The moment I was driving away (with my pupils dilated and sunglasses on, of course) I was already questioning it. Was she in a rush because it was closing time? Did she miss a sign? Was the disease slowly starting up right now and I just missed getting it diagnosed? Did I not move my eyes correctly while she was examining my retina? I almost felt worse after hearing my eyes were okay.

The weird thing is, I wake up in the morning feeling fine. Almost normal. And then as the day goes by (whether I'm at work or at home on the weekend) the anxiety slowly gets worse and worse up into the night. I even go to bed earlier than I used to just to try to stop thinking. 

When people tell me I have anxiety issues, I feel like that is too good to be true. "I can't possibly just have anxiety issues. That would be the easy way out." I feel like in every other case I read about on anxiety forums, "Oh, those people are just worried and anxious, at least they don't really have the affliction they are worried about like I do."

I have an appointment with my psychiatrist (who I haven't seen in a years because I thought I was better) on Monday the 25th. Not sure I can wait that long. Does anyone else have this "It can't possible just be anxiety, that would be too good to be true" mentality? Thank you for any thoughts on this.


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