Anxiety or what?

[dbab]

Ok, this week, so far, I have thought that maybe I have cancer, aortic aneurysm, heart disease, peripheral artery disease, gallbladder, liver or pancreatic problems, seizures and possible TIAs.  Is this anxiety or obsessive compulsive behavior?

[Whazel]

Do you have a reason to worry about your health?  Do you read a lot of online medical symptom self-diagnosis stuff?  I don't know your history of anxiety or obsessiveness and I'm far from being a doctor so I can't diagnose you...but it sounds like your anxious about feeling ill and you are obsessing about what it might be.
Obsessive compulsive disorder is really complicated and while your obsessing could be a symptom of that...it's more likely that you're just anxious about something and, as I said, just simply obsessing.  

Have you been diagnosed with anxiety issues or depression?

[dbab]

I have been having discomfort in upper abdomen, had ultrasound waiting on results. I have postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, take beta blocker to control it but i have skipped beats and flutters , cardiologists thinks it's stress but will repeat holter if they get worse.  i have dizzy spells and don't know what they are related to.  I guess all these symptoms constantly worry me but blood work and all tests come out fine.  I don't know if there is some underlying condition that has not been found or if all my stress just makes symptoms worse or actually creates symptoms.  Maybe i'm just a hypocondriac.  The doctors have never said that they feel i'm suffering from anxiety.  The tachycardia was only when i stood up, not when lying or seated.  The beta blockers control it so i can lead my life.  I guess because it is only when i stood up they didn't attribute it to anxiety.  I did have a tilt table test to confirm it.  I just haven't been the same since the tachycardia.  I'm always worried about my heart or something.  Thanks for your response.

[margypops]

Whist you probably need the Beta Blockers they could cause you to be more anxious and obsessive,is that all you take are you mixing them with anything else, ask your Doc if it could be the Meds.

[dbab]

I also take diovan for blood pressure, vytorin for cholesterol and synthroid for low thyroid.  That's all.  The beta blocker is a very small dose.

[scaredjo]

sounds to me like a classic case of health anxiety, so long as you have been checked out and everything is fine try not to worry, i too have had numerous life threatenin illnesses and did not believe my doctors until recently i paid for a private heart scan and i seemed to have calmed down for now anyway!!!!! are you not having any therapy?
i belive health anxiety and OCD are associated cause we are obsessed in life threatening illnesses and our bodies feel every sensation which we interpret to be danger therefore making the sensations a 100 times worse

[dbab]

No, I'm not in therapy.  I probably need to be but just don't have extra money to do it.  I do feel every sensation and magnified by 10 or 100 times.  At least I know it. Today I had chest pains for about an hour.  I kept telling myself that it was indigestion and not heart related and it finally stopped.  So, I can talk myself out of it, sometimes.  I am not on any medication for anxiety.  I have two sisters who are on prozac and my daughter is on Lexapro.  I tried Celexa once but it made me so lazy I couldn't stand it.  It did help me to learn to not worry so much about little things.  I think getting older keeps me worrying about my health because I figure sooner or later, something really is going to be wrong with me.  It's crazy to always feels this way.  Then, I tell myself, let God worry about it all and I am able to do that for awhile.