help panic so bad i can't sleep

[hmf099]

Ok so I was watching dr oz a couple weeks ago and he was talking about how if you pop a zit around your nose, pluck nose hairs, or pick your nose it could cause an infection and you could die. Well right after I saw that I went to the dr for headaches and he put me on meds for a sinus infection. I've finished the meds but still have the headaches. Now they are starting to hurt around my eye too. Well I'm freaking out because I'm afraid the headaches are from the dr oz thing and I'm afraid I'm gonna die. I'm not usually this anxious, but I just went off xanax a few months ago so I get really bad anxiety episodes so when I can't talk to my psych I come here. I could really use some reassurance so I can talk myself out of this.

[hmf099]

Thank you so much guys, your replies really help. I do talk to a therapist about all my anxiety as I have ocd as well as gad. I also go over in my mind why these fears are irrational.like mrgreen said I just needed a little push.

[RubyWitch]

Oh dear..........Dr.Oz is at it again. I'm obviously going to have to let my monkey's out with a few cans of whoop  a*s*s  for the good doctor.
Let's start with zit popping. It's an international hobby of every teenager in the known universe. Do you know of a single person who has died from zit popping? At my recent 40th high school reunion, they have a grim habit of reading off the names of evreyone who has died in the past decade and of what. We lost about a dozen school mates to war, various nasty diseaes, drunk drivers, a boating accident, one suicide and a faulty bungee cord. Not a single one from all that zit poppin' going on 40 years ago.

Picking ones nose. OK, let's see a show of hands for anyone who does NOT indulge in what could be an Olympic Sport. Just as I thought, not a single hand in the air! How many obits have you read where the cause of death is listed as "Nose picking?"
Perhaps it's not the most sanitary of pass times, but DEATHS? Give me a break, Oz!

Plucking nose hairs. Has anyone read of an outbreak of nose hair plucking deaths? Me neither!

This show prompted you to see your doctor who diagnosed you with a sinus infection which I bet you did not get by either picking or plucking. He put you on antibiotics which you've now finished, but you still have headaches. Sinus infections are notorious for being difficult to clear up and it's not unusual to go through two rounds of antibitotics before it clears up. Headaches are classic symptom of sinus infections and I'd recommend seeing your doctor to check if your infection has, indeed, cleared up. We have sinus cavities behind out eyes and that is no doubt where the pain is coming from. But only your doctor can tell you that for sure.
You are NOT going to die. But you do have some health anxiety and I'd recommend you talk to someone about that.
Just make sure it's NOT Dr.Oz!
And the advice our dear MrGreen gave you........it's spot on. Listen to him!
Peace
Greenlydia  

[MrGreen]

It is kind of like you know the answers already. They are already inside you head. It is more a case of how to put them into action. So you watched a programme and now you have this fear after watching it. You know it is irrational. You kind of are telling us that. By just asking for reassurance. Which in itself says you can get over the fear and you have done so before. You just need a little push. Think of all the other tv programmes you have ever watched. I bet none ever made you fear them like this one. Health anxiety. We all have it to some degree or other. Some people avoid others they think may have something just in case they catch it too. Although the other person might have nothing at all. It is like we are always searching for that something to worry over. Without it we would be lost. If we had a great day. No fears at all. We would think there was something wrong. Because that is not like us. We always have something wrong with us. So we go in search of it. Complicated I know. But factual. It will pass once you find something else to worry about. Normally that is the way it goes. Or something else to place your thoughts on. Distraction. Bit of art work. Bit of writing. No time to think. The less time we have to think the better for us.