Is something seriously wrong with me, or do I just have severe health anxiety

[TNPanther]

Let me preface this by admitting that I am a bit of a hypochondriac. The thought of a hospital bed or surgery scares me shitless. I have a lot of anxiety when it comes to anything health-related; a few years ago, I made a thread about how I took an ambulance ride to the ER because I thought a panic attack was actually a heart attack. With that being said, I could definitely use some advice or simple words of encouragement here.

About a month ago, I woke up feeling significantly dizzy. Granted, it was a Monday after a weekend of heavy drinking, but it was a sensation I had never felt before and it prompted me to freak out. The hypochondriac in me immediately panicked and assumed that I had a brain tumor, which is probably my worst fear in the entire world. I left work that day to visit the doctor. She didn't see anything abnormal and attributed the dizziness to either anxiety or mild vertigo.

Even with this assurance, I still was freaking out over my fears. Over the span of that week I entered into an odd brain fog, which made me feel incredibly spaced out - as if my body was on autopilot. I began to slip into a state of derealization, which made my world seem dreamlike, as if nothing was real or had any emotional significance. Both the doctors and my own research say that this is commonly caused by severe anxiety; the mind in essence "shuts down" in order to prevent further emotional harm. I also noticed that I was having trouble concentrating, and that occasionally I'd struggle to find the right words when conversing with my coworkers or friends. A couple of days, I had these extremely odd and frightening sensations of deja vu. All of these symptoms, minus the spaced-out feelings, have thankfully lifted since. 

In addition, I've also noticed that my vision is slightly more myopic than I've previously noticed, and my calves, forearms, and lats randomly twitch. Both began after I started freaking out over the dizziness, but nevertheless they are still a cause for concern.

Is severe anxiety causing these symptoms, or do I have a serious neurological problem? I've always been a very healthy individual, with no history of any serious diseases in the family. I've been prescribed some meds to help deal with the anxiety, and there have been a couple of days in which I've been symptom free. However, the scary stuff (minus the derealization and deja vu) always seems to return, mostly in the mornings. I've been to three docs, all of who say that it's merely anxiety and that I would be wasting my time and money undergoing an MRI.

 

[frash.exe]

This sounds like Generalized Anxiety Disorder

 

[stirs]

Bloodwork all normal?

[TNPanther]

2 minutes ago, stirs said:

Bloodwork all normal?

Yep, thankfully. 

[stirs]

No tumor, blood work good, then probably not a major issue.

Getting encouragement on a football website is fine, just don't take my or anyone elses medical advice.

Like someone above mentioned, sounds like GAR which some mild anti anxiety meds could fix fairly easy

[stankowalski]

And drinking alcohol is a no-no if you do have some sort of anxiety problems.

[Doyle]

 

[frash.exe]

I woke up with vertigo last year and took two days off because of stress. You'll be better off telling your doctors about how anxiety is affecting your ability to function. I'm someone that talks in things in terms of probabilities and I'm never going to say me or anybody else is 100% healthy and there's no real underlying problem, but most likely the only thing going on in your head that's malignant is these impending thoughts of an underlying problem. These start out as concerns that fester and pretty soon influence every decision you make for fear that the worst is real. I also have had the twitching and eye problems, pretty much everything you've described at one point or another. Eye exam revealed nothing degenerative or otherwise. Still I wonder where all these floaters are coming from.

[pantherphan96]

stress leading to dissociation perhaps?

[pstall]

Don't over think.

FocusoFocuson other people but don't dwell on stuff you can't control. 

[stankowalski]

9 hours ago, TNPanther said:

About a month ago, I woke up feeling significantly dizzy. Granted, it was a Monday after a weekend of heavy drinking, but it was a sensation I had never felt before and it prompted me to freak out. .

I don't know how old you are but let me also add that the older you get the less your body can tolerate.  I know when I was in my 20's I could drink like a fish (and did), sleep for 2 hours and go work in a factory for 10 hours, and do it again the next day.  I can't do that anymore.  I don't even want to do it anymore.  Alcohol causes so many physical and mental problems it's not funny.  Maybe not alcohol itself but alcohol abuse.  And if you have an issue with anxiety alcohol will exacerbate that big time.  And it'll only get worse the longer you continue abusing alcohol.  

BTW...I'm not saying you are abusing alcohol but if you are (and you know if you are so be honest with yourself), then you need to cut that poo out.  I'm speaking from experience.  I used to have full blown panic attacks doing absolutely nothing, for no reason.  Especially when I was in my 20's.  It was a combination of stress and alcohol abuse.  I know that now and if I'd have known it then I'd have saved myself a lot of unnecessary bullshit.  And anxiety problems can absolutely make you convinced that you have some other physical problem.  

So my advice is to seek a doctor's opinion first and if he thinks it's necessary (which he probably will) go see a psychiatrist and figure the poo out.

[Moose Hoover]

Try a water fast. I keep saying it because it works wonders.

[Cat]

I occasionally get really mental when I find something off about my health. Right now I think my IBS is starting to act up again but with the addition of colon spasms causing strange pains in my abdomen from time to time. Then I got a urine result back from a life insurance policy testing. I have super high Red blood cells in my urine (still got premier rates from the Life insurance co). I was menstruating when I gave the sample and feel pretty confident that it got into my sample. However I totally wigged out last night, almost convinced myself I have bladder cancer (often the case with high red blood cells in urine). I couldn't calm myself down for anything so I took an anxiety pill (i have them just for these instances). The pill worked.  

It's crazy how we can blow things out of portion even when we know we are being illogical and overacting. 

[pstall]

Totally with you cat.

For some reason after i hit 40 i went to over analysis of almost everything health related. 

I even got this crazy phobia of the dentist that I never had. I went past year just to replace a crown and they couldn't make it work and i didn’t realize it but its been like 4 yrs since a cleaning.  Now im like give  me some Valium or whatever for even a cleaning.  Im sure i will have to get a filing and prly another root canal. 

I will be getting another physical in the next 60 days. Last one was about 4 yrs ago and now from this year onward i will go yearly. I just think waaay too much sometimes.