can I give myself symptoms

[overwhelmedwithinfo]

I recently found out that my girlfriend has herpes and since then became convinced that I have herpes.  I had an unbelievable number of symptoms, some of which were painful and some of which were not.  I also have been having trouble concentrating at work and at home.   A number of my symptoms as I later found out are not even related to herpes.  I got tested for everything imaginable and it was all negative.  Despite that I am still having symptoms, my pcp says that I am experiencing anxiety and gave me paxil, things have slowly improved since then.  Despite the fact that it is fairly obvious I didn't actually get herpes I am having trouble moving past it.  I've had 4 blood tests done to date all of which have been very negative, and yet I find myself wanting to go again even though I already know it will be negative.  I am doing much better now however, but I just need to hear from another doctor that it is possible for anxiety to cause my symptoms.  I should probably also say that my mother has anxiety disorder and went through a similar time when she was younger following an operation.  She aslo gave herself symptoms of an illness, not herpes, but of heart problems.  She also thought they left something in her stomach during the operation and had pains in her stomach.

Lastly here are the symptoms I've experienced could I have given them to myself?
1)constant tingling in penis has lasted for months(improving slowly since starting Paxil)
2)burning pain in groin lasted for several days
3)Night sweats and vivid dreams often nightmares
4)frequent urination(improving slowly since starting Paxil)
5)felt the need to constantly check myself for sores-must have been running to the bathroom every 5 minutes prior to Paxil
6)felt the need to constantly eat/drink prior to Paxil
7)felt need to sleep, but couldn't fall or stay asleep for months prior to paxil
8)was unable to focus on anything at work or at home-had difficulty doing even the simplest things-all I could think about was herpes-ordinarily I think about many things at the same time, but for the first time in my life I was unable to think of anything else, (I am typically very organized in my mind, never needed a date book or anything like that, even in college, but prior to Paxil I lost all of that)

After typing that I now see that almost every symptom has either improved or resolved since starting Paxil, so maybe my PCP is right and I do have OCD/anxiety.  I guess I just want to hear that it is possible my mind has been playing tricks on me.  My only other question is have you heard of this before and if so, will I get back to normal, and will I be able to stop taking Paxil?

Thank You

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

yes to all...it is anxiety, you will improve and get back to normal.

[rthomas003]

your alright man, not much else to say here toher then your symptoms would have come to some conclusive thing by now if you had herpies (herpes), all the burning your talking about DEFINATLY can be caused by anxiety , ive had that happen to me after sleeping with someone i didnt know well enough and was concerned i had contracted an std. herpies (herpes) wouldnot cause burning for that long , might burn for a few days then some sores would pop up then they would pop ,dry up, go away and the itching /burning would go away, i am 100 percent sure you dont have the herps man (-: P.S one thing that might help you with this, it helped me....would it REALLY be the end of the world to have herpies (herpes)? i think im spelling that wrong herpys? whatever, anyway my point is theres a lot worse stuff to have then THAT herpies (herpes) is nto a serious illness and though it is contagious you wouldnt wind up being alone all your life, theres so many people with it out there and there are people who dont worrie about that ****, after my scare im much more carefulland dont have unprotected sex (i have a steady g/f now anyway so that helps) but if i was single again and met someone with herpies (herpes) i would date them anyway, one way to face a fear is to decide if its worth being afraid of, there fear of herpies (herpes) in your case is MUCH worse then if you actually had it, you still even with that girl? i would think she would have took off by now with all that freakin out your doing. your ok physically, work on the fear, no excuse to be terrified of herpies (herpes) its ridicules.