I was doing pretty good until I started having some health issues (possible allergies, acid reflux, or sinus problems). Now I'm going from Dr. to Dr. and they can't seem to figure out what is wrong with me. Now my anxiety is throught the roof and I'm obsessing about what is wrong. I'm so frustrated. I am depressed and I can't seem to handle all of this.

Has anyone had health issues cause your anxity and depression to come back and how did you talk yourself through it?

hello rose, acid reflux is what i get when i am about to have bad anxiety.then the docter told me to quit smoking because i had junky lungs. that was it for me when he said junky lungs. i had a panic attack.my first one that day. that was twenty yers ago and i am still smoking.i thought i had lung cancer. i have had several chest x-rays. my lungs are fine. but yes health problems is what started me on this long road of depression,anxiety and panic. dana

I disagree I do not believe health problems cause anxiety, yes maybe at little at first but not prolonged anxiety.

I know for me that the fear of health problems and their possible outcomes has been a huge part of my anxiety.

I'm getting into Session 3 now and am starting to realize that it's all about negative "what if" thinking.....

What if that nagging cough is lung cancer?

What if that twinge in my chest is a heart attack?

Health problems can definatly cause anxiety and vise versa! I worry about my health all the time. causes unnecessary anxiety wich causes more body symptoms.

i am going through the exact same thing.

i have the exact same health symptoms. my docs don't know which of the 3 it is. and it defianlty is cause me to be much more anxious. i just keep trying to work the program. but sometimes i get overwhelmed and worred about my health... take care- i know exactly what your going through.

sorry. there was an error with my first message. so i did another....woops.

Rose_thorn, as you say it sounds like you are obsessing over this. I can understand how hard it is to stay positive when this is happening. My wife had lower abdominal pain for six weeks and it finally got bad enough that she went to a doctor about it. They found a urinary tract infection and prescribed an antibiotic. She also had a papsmear (sp?) which we haven't got the results of yet. When the antibiotic was done she still had some pain. The next morning at about 2am the pain was so bad I called an ambulance and we went to the ER. I just knew she had cancer since the antibiotic didn't take the pain away (catastrophizing and thinking the worst). I just couldn't imagine what else it could be but I still hoped it could be something else. A few nights before going to the ER I had to stop myself from crying several times. Thirty years of marriage isn't long enough.

At the ER they took blood and when they didn't find anything they did a CAT scan, again nothing. We left the ER not understanding what had happened and the docs had no clue either. However, they did provide us with a printout of possible treatments for the pain. Some of those were Maalox and Zantac. I got to thinking and wondering if it was simply a urinary tract infection which had left her colon very sensitive or possibly with an ulcer. Also, she had taken Advil, an NSAID. Possible side affects from NSAIDs are blood in urine (which she had) diarhea (which she had had). They can also cause ulcers of the colon or make it very sensitive. So, now I am thinking that somehow her colon had become sensitive, perhaps due to the infection and that stomach acid or the Advil or both had added to the pain and aggravated the condition. She stopped the Advil, started the Maaloz and has had no pain now for two days.

I don't know that we are out of the woods, but it looks good at this point. Sometimes we catastrophize because we don't understand the problem and the docs can't figure out what is wrong and it turns out to be no big deal as far as our overall health, but it is a very big deal as far as discomfort.

My wife handled this better than I did. She kept busy through most of it until the pain got to be unbearable. Now that appears to be gone as well and she's getting ready for the school year.


Just wanted to encourage you to seek to keep this in perspective. Try and talk to yourself and tell yourself other alternative explanations than the worst case scenario.

Health "problems" definitely cause my anxiety. Like last winter, I swear there was something in my throat. And of course, the more I thought about it, the more I swallowed and analyzed my swallowing the worse it got. I was told something about "acid reflux" but this sounds funny, but I didn't buy it. It happened too fast one day. Even the gastro doctor said that and he performed an endoscopy. Nothing. They even took several biopsies and checked me for celiac. (b/c of sensitivity to gluten from a food allergy test). Everything was fine. Slowly went away. During that time though, a neighbor says to me "Oh, that's what my husband felt when he found out he had hodgkins disease....." Well, that really sent me over the edge. But, really, you would be amazed at what we can make ourselves 'feel'. Sinus problems have always made me anxious b/c I tend to "flip out" if I see dizzy, feel lightheaded, see blurry etc. etc. I tend to keep my thoughts and feelings up in my head. Weird. If you do have sinus issues, this product from Vitamin Shoppe has helped me tremendously "Sinufix" spray. Good Luck.

I have extreme anxiety over health issues too.... I am scared to death of doctors..... so i need to go to a doctor... about my condition.
I had female surgery 4 times and i had extreme anxiety and high blood pressure and they said i was fine in the hospital... documented it in the hospital. help.... i need to find out about my heart and blood pressure

i really relate to all of you i have bad allergies and sinus problems and heartburn issues the doctor has told me to take pepcid 2 times a day for 6-8 weeks and i started yesterday ( which i have been taling pepcid everday anyway previous to this) last night i woke up with wierd throat thing. so now i am a little worried about my esophogus and stomach. the same thing has happened to me about abdominal pain only not as severe the gyno put me on a uti med and i still have a little discomfort but my mom has had utis where she has had pain after it was "gone". so i will have to see. so yeah i have a hard time staying positive and unanxious about health issues. it is not easy. good luck all