Health Diaries > Hypochondria > The Hypochondria Blog

June 5, 2008

Support Needed

I have suffered from hypochondria and anxiety ever since I was a child. My symptoms and fears seem to go in cycles. In between I feel OK. This is a particularly bad time for me. About seven months ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with reflux. I have since suffered all kinds of gastrointestinal symptoms including chronic nausea, abdominal pain, a sour/ metallic taste in my mouth, weight loss (partly due to reduced appetite, but also due to???) and FEAR. All I do is dwell, dwell, dwell on my symptoms. I have had two endoscopies (I did have a Schatzky's ring, which was stretched during the 2nd procedure - my esophagus was too inflamed the first time to treat it), a barium swallow, a gastric emptying test, a CT scan of the abdomen, an MRI of the small intestine and lots of blood work. All normal except for the blood work did reveal an alarmingly low IgA function for which I'm going to a new doctor in two weeks. A couple of weeks ago, I saw the title of an article about burning mouth syndrome. I didn't read it because I didn't want to know the symptoms - afraid I'd get them. Well, guess what? I got them anyway! I'm too scared to find out what the typical symptoms of burning mouth syndrome are but the name sounds bad enough. I even have burning stomach syndrome (my invention perhaps?) to go with it and today the skin on my face was burning. I feel like I'm cracking up. Any help appreciated! Mona Lisa

Posted by Staff on June 5, 2008 2:01 PM | DIGG | del.icio.us | furl