CPO06

It’s so frustrating! Apparently there can be no issues even with a mild positive.

Hello, I have Raynaud’s that primary affects my toes and it’s been going on for nearly 3 years. I finally got a proper diagnosis this week. I was sent for further autoimmune testing and was told that I have a mildly positive ANA. I’m absolutely freaking out right now over what this could be, and let’s just say that google isn’t helping. I’ve been in a perpetual state of worry for nearly 2 months because I had another health scare involving my heart.

Echo is scheduled but the earliest they could squeeze me in is April 4th! Now I’m having major anxiety about whether my heart is functioning properly. I felt good after the cardiologist listened to my heart/neck, reviewed the ekg and told me everything was normal. I was reading about heart failure a few days ago and now panicking, thinking all of the “what if’s” because I had high blood pressure for 3-4 months after baby. I keep telling myself if there was any real indication of a heart issue, the echo would be done immediately any reassurance would be appreciated.

I just recently had the same thoughts... that I was losing weight without trying. I downloaded one of those apps on my phone to track everything I ate. It turns out that I wasn't eating enough calories to maintain my weight, all because I was under severe anxiety. After I realized that, I made myself eat. Sure enough, I haven't lost anymore weight in the past two weeks so I know its all in my head.

I think my health anxiety really started after I had my daughter in 2016. I ended up with high blood pressure from preeclampsia, which eventually went down over a period of about 3-4 months. I became OCD about taking my blood pressure, and started doing it several times a day. For a short time, I was also convincing myself that I might end up with heart failure due to the blood pressure spikes. For a good year or so, I felt like the anxiety had all but gone away, I felt great. I got sick with the flu last month, followed immediately by a stomach virus, and then a sinus infection. I was sick and had on off, fevers for 3 weeks. While I was sick, I went to the ER and got a blood panel that said I was slightly anemic. That ended setting me off onto a google search that eventually convinced me that I had a blood cancer. I had major anxiety over this for a week, until a follow up test showed that I was not anemic (it was an error or I hadn’t been eating properly). During that time, I ended up waking up a few times with a really fast pulse, more than likely because I read that anemia causes fast pulse (*eye roll*). Although I’m hoping it’s anxiety, I went to see the cardiologist just to be safe. He reviewed my chest X Ray from the ER, did a new EKG, and listened to everything and concluded everything looked completely normal and the fast pulse episodes were probably benign and suggested a Holter monitor. I mentioned that I had recently had the flu before the fast pulse episodes, and he suggested getting an echocardiogram. Apparently, its very rare but viruses can cause damage to the heart. Now I’m obsessing over heart failure because I had high blood pressure spikes for about 3 months after I had my baby-- so it has all come back to me! I’m incredibly anxious, depressed, and afraid to take my newly prescribed Lexapro because I know when I took it years ago, it made my heart race. I want to make sure nothing is seriously wrong with my heart before I start taking it. So I feel awful and have to wait 2 weeks for the scheduled echo. Could someone please talk some sense into me and reassure that if the cardiologist was concerned, he would have rush ordered this echo??

Good news. So it turns out my new labs are normal, whew. Cardiologist says that my heart sounds good, ekg looks good, but wants to run an echo just in case because I had the flu last month. Now I have to schedule and wait for the echo too.

Thanks for replying. Your response is reassuring. I'm trying my best to not hyper-focus on every little thing, I simply can't help it. I've had a few short periods of extreme anxiety over the years, but this one is really bad! I really wish that the ER would have run more tests instead of sending me back to the GP, and then having the GP send me over to a different lab for a test and a cardiologist across town. It would be nice to have just gotten everything cleared at once. I think its time for meds and counseling. Then of course, I always have the fear that it won't get better Its an endless cycle!

I know exactly how you feel. My bloodwork came back with slight anemia and a low BUN. I'm thinking its because I too had the flu, followed by a gastro virus, and then a sinus infection, and I wasn't eating very much. I was drinking a lot of water, but not so much food. I had a follow up test in the ER, and my RBC/hemoglobin/hemocrit and BUN came back normal. This was only a week ago. I took another blood test a few days ago (ordered before the last test by my GP, but I had so much anxiety and couldn't bring myself to go in for a week). Now I'm waiting on the results of this last test. I'm having severe anxiety that this test will come back saying I am low for something else. I've been having trouble sleeping, nausea/abdominal cramps, chest tightness, anxiety all day. I can't get my mind off of that one blood test. I realized I was losing weight from not eating, so now I'm repeatedly weighing myself and forcing myself to eat. Its a vicious cycle, but the test results should be in tomorrow and I'm praying they will be fine so I can stop this.

Does anyone else here have health/illness anxiety? I've had generalized anxiety, and at times, panic disorder for the past 12 years (I'm in my early 30's). Most of my anxiety was more related to social situations, academics, and big crowds. After having my first child about 2 years ago, it seems the health anxiety started. I had complications after the birth, including a severe infection and preeclampsia (let me add that I absolutely hate hospitals and they give me anxiety). After everything resolved, I began paying attention to my heart rate constantly. For a little while I was repeatedly taking my blood pressure and heart rate, even though both were great. It was almost if I was looking for something to be wrong. At times, I would also get the chest tightness/breathing issues that I know are associated with anxiety (had a chest x-ray, EKG). At the beginning of last month I ended up with the flu. I got pretty sick with fevers of up to 102.5, rapid heart rate at times, terrible cough. Went to the ER twice and they took chest x-ray, EKG, listened to lungs, ran blood work, everything looked fine. After recovering for a few days, I caught a gastro virus which came with a low fever. I went back to the ER, panicked that I had pneumonia or something. Everything checked out fine. A week later, my head was hurting, I had chest tightness, heart palpitations, and a stuffy, burning nose. I went back to the ER in a panic and they told me that it was a sinus infection and started me on antibiotics. I was sick for a good 3 weeks. After everything resolved, I began to have panic attacks and general anxiety throughout the day, convincing myself that I wasn't better and something must be wrong. Anxiety is a vicious cycle for me, it turns into faster heart rate, crying, nausea/stomach tightness and chest tightness. I have lost about 5 pounds and most recently convinced myself that something is seriously wrong because I'm not intentionally trying to lose weight (thanks, Google). I started tracking my calorie intake and realized I wasn't eating enough. So now I'm obsessively checking my weight and heart rate and forcing myself to eat more (its tough because of the nauseousness from anxiety). Most recently, bloodwork showed slight anemia, but the next week I took another test and it said it resolved. I think it was from not eating. My doctor ordered a final blood test before the last one, that I only went in for a few days ago (to check on the anemia, which has resolved, per the last test). I'm waiting for those results and having severe anxiety about it. I'm convincing myself that there is something else seriously wrong. I'm at witt's end here. Has anyone dealt with anything similar?