(Part 2) Best products from r/HealthAnxiety

It may be awkward at first but check out a wedge pillow. I had some bad reflux and it’s pretty much gone now with diet changes and the pillow. It’s cheap enough to give a try. See link below


https://www.amazon.com/FitPlus-Premium-Warranty-Removable-Recommended/dp/B01KKPKOFK/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=gerd+pillow&qid=1567003247&s=gateway&sprefix=gerd+&sr=8-3

Ugh, sounds terrible. So sorry you're going through this. We all have. I'm always here if you need to talk to someone who gets it. I've also got a great health anxiety book that really taught me ways of rewiring my thinking.

Here is the book. Happy to send to you if you think it might help. I'm not a mother but I can only imagine how bad the anxiety must get on top of looking after your family and worrying about them also.

It is probably some RSI from all the drawing made worse by muscle tension from anxiety. I have multiple trapped nerves in my shoulders and arms due to muscle tension that can cause these kind of pains. I'm a gamer/ Games Designer so I use computers a lot and I also draw.

I found mild exercise to be the best help and using one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/ResultSport%C2%AE-Hand-Therapy-Exercise-Balls/dp/B001EVP2BQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=sports&ie=UTF8&qid=1466200288&sr=1-3&keywords=exercise+ball+hand

I started having PVCs in my teens, I'm 37 now, had all the same tests and stuff you have and with the same results, normal. I'm still alive too obviously.

You and your doctors have done your due diligence in regards to your physical health. You're healthy despite what your brain is saying to you.

I've dealt with health anxiety for years and only recently sought out a therapist to help me. Therapy has been amazing and if your insurance provides any coverage for it I suggest you find a therapist to help you. It may take time to find a therapist you like as well so be aware of that and dont stop trying.

If therapy isn't an option right now due to cost then read this and pick up this book which is the one mentioned in the first link.

The blog post and book echo a lot of what I've been doing with my therapist and it does work. It takes time and real effort but it does work and things start to change.

The gist of this bullshit health anxiety is that we're all living in a prison of our own design. Our though processes and patterns keep us in it. You experienced physical symptoms of anxiety and your brain hyped you up because it was scary so now if you get anxious for whatever reason your brain goes "oh I remember what to do when we feel like this, fight or flight time" and you lose your shit. Changing our thinking and thought processes over time can stop all of this.

I have been struggling with health anxiety on my blood pressure for almost a decade now, and I can relate to everyone here also. It has been a really long journey that has taken me to the ER multiple times, multiple visits to cardiologists, etc. I've seen numerous doctors and tried every BP medication (which didn't help me). I've discovered some interesting things in my case:

• My anxiety plays a HUGE role in my blood pressure. When my arm first goes into the cuff, it doesn't matter how I feel, my first couple of readings are always off the charts (my highest so far was about 200/110)
  
• My high readings can be really scary, it's not uncommon for my top number to be in the range of 160-180. Of course, when this happens at the Dr they are alarmed and that makes me alarmed so my anxiety goes up, and everything just gets worse
  
• Blood pressure is a terrible anxiety target because it causes a feedback loop. You get anxiety, so your BP goes up, and then you can either feel the effects or you get a high reading, which causes more anxiety, and the loop repeats.
  
• What I found helpful in my case was to force myself to sit down several times during the day and take many readings. In my case sometimes I'd have to sit and do readings one after another for 20-30m straight and write down each one. I don't do this all the time now (probably not good for you), but it was useful for a while because I learned something important: my first few readings are always sky-high, and then they eventually go down and begin to stabilize as my anxiety wears off. Sometimes it takes a LONG time for this stabilization to occur, because each time the BP cuff tightens, my anxiety goes back up, but over time I found that the anxiety does start to go down as you become desensitized to the process
  
• For me, I've discovered that while my BP is still not great, it's not nearly as bad as it seems. My numbers usually tend to stabilize to an average of around 145 in the morning (still high, but not ER-level high), and when I'm feeling calm or I take readings after exercising, they're even lower (stabilize around 130's, or high 120's)
  
• The biggest things that have helped me personally (everyone is different) is doing the following: - Regular exercise / cardio - Forcing myself to take lots of readings at home to slightly desensitize myself (it is also just useful information, because chances are you'll find that eventually your numbers do start to go down over time) - and of course, NOT WORRYING about it.
  
  About the "not worrying" part... this is one of the hardest things. I had to really go thermonuclear on my anxiety and tackle it from every angle. I did the following:
  
  
• Began writing lists of every quote, technique, or anti-anxiety trick I could find, and keeping track of what would help and what didn't. I basically started curating my own health anxiety "cheat sheet"
  
• Began exercising (jogging) almost every day. This is huge, if you can do it. I can almost guarantee it will help.
  
• Yoga, and stretching, at least once a day
  
• Diaphragmatic breathing techniques. These are legit (you can google it, it's really simple, sometimes called 'belly breathing') and can sometimes have a very noticeable effect on my health anxiety and other issues (palpitations etc.).
  
• Tried to work regular mindfulness / meditation into my schedule (tough to do but it also has been hugely helpful). My highest recommendation for meditation books is 'Mindfulness in Plain English' by Bhante Gunaratana (https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-English-Bhante-Henepola-Gunaratana/dp/0861719069/)
  
• Read books on anxiety. Some that have helped me are 'The Worry Cure' by Robert Leahy and 'Badass Ways to End Anxiety' by Geert Verschaeve. When you read them, treat it like homework. Keep a pen handy and underline passages that you find insightful. Then come back and re-visit those when your anxiety or panic attacks are bad.
  
  Beyond not worrying, or tackling your anxiety directly, the most obvious way to reduce health anxiety about blood pressure is to eliminate the problem to begin with. For me I've never been able to get my BP numbers normal, but as I mentioned above I started exercising more and taking regular readings at home (sometimes many in a row). I'd keep a log book actually, of the day/time, and a series of sometimes 20 or more readings in a row. This was useful because it provided concrete information on the reality of my situation* I was no longer just speculating or worrying, I could see, clear as day, on paper, that while my BP is high (or at least elevated, at best), it was not so high on average that it was going to cause my imminent death.
  
  Another thing to remember: a lot of people have high blood pressure. ALOT. Like 1/3 of the country. And another 1/3 are pre-hypertensive. And that was before they adjusted the numbers some time ago to lower the 'ideal' range even lower. Why is this important? Because people are not dropping dead left and right from high BP, even though 2 out of 3 people you see every day are outside the normal range. Yes, it's not a great condition and you want to address it if you can, but chances are it is not going to kill you any time soon.
  
  Also, your BP numbers during the day don't even matter that much. Numerous studies have found that the numbers taken at home or at the Dr. actually aren't nearly as important as your systolic while you are sleeping. This is of course nearly impossible to measure at home, but chances are while you are sleeping you BP is probably MUCH lower than when you are awake and experiencing anxiety.
  
  Just wanted to share some of the things I've found / learned in dealing with this myself. Of course, everyone is different but you're definitely not alone. Good luck and hang in there

Oof. You really know how to get pain across in writing I'll give you that. Neck pain can absolutely come from stress and posture. You say light exercise and stretching don't help but if it is a muscle/nerve/joint weakness perhaps light isn't enough to build any significant muscle.


When my mom had severe neck pain I couldn't help her out as much as I wanted. but I bought her one of these and it really helped her. She'd put it on 30 minutes to an hour a day and got rid of her knot in a few weeks.

The most concerning thing would be the teeth grinding though. It's absolutely awful for your teeth, can cause headaches, chronic facial pain, and possible neck pain. It's that bad for you. Try a nightly mouth guard if you can.