From an 18 year old young man in the US: hi 2 years ago i had injury in my knee and since then i started reading about any pain i get .. i thought i had a heart attack and went to the er like 4 times and then thought i had cancer and did so many tests and visited many doctors and even did colon test to find if i had colon cancer cuz my mom had it and im worried about my health alot and my mom and dad i rlly worry about their health speically my dad
my anxiety of physical illness relaxed for a while
and later i saw one of my old friend who ditched me long time ago and he were with my friends so i drove away and started crying and i even screamed (iwas alone ) after this i thought i was going crazy or ill deveolp psychosis and when i see a psychosis person in the street i get scared and tell my self what i f i become like himand i relaxed for a while and one day i was on tv and they were talking a bout schiz and i freaked out the next day i get thoughts that im scared if im going to be another person and kill my family or something and i was so depressed and i calmed for a while after talking to my friend about it .. and then later i did stupid thing wich is searching on the internet of schiz symptoms
and since then im scared if im going to hear or see anything
and i feel like something moved in the corner of my eye (this happen when i mso anxious about it ) and when i see something like someone walking in the street i ask my friend if he see him too (and yes he see him ) and when i hear any sound like a car in the street or something i get scared if im hallucinatie
and one time i was soo anxious about i was walking to my car i felt like i saw some car turning in the end of the street and when i went back to close my door and then went back to my car its gone ( i didnt rlly see it cuz i was so anxious that day about the halluciantion )
and i did read about the symptoms that some people with schiz feel like something moving on their body like a bug or something
and since i did read the symptom i got the asame feelings
and i hear they cant express them self .. im not rlly good in socializing skills cuz im not too social i guess but when i talk or i want to talk about something happend to me i find it quite hard specially with people i dont know well but its easy with my family and close friendsi did all the tests on the internet about schiz i got normal range on them all i dont feel like someone is chasing me or the tv is talking to me or either of the symptoms
i asked my mom and dad if i even hallucinate or i didanything weird they laughed and told me no
im sick to my stomach of this i wish i didnt see that tv show
i lost like 14 pounds the last 1.5 month and i stay at home morre often mostly searching on the symptoms
and i told my friend about my anxiety of schiz and he started ddoing a joke where he talks to me then when i reply he says he didnt say anything and he kept doing this joke for almost 10 days wich i ended up fighting him because of it ( i wish ididnt tell him )
i was have some questions
1 – is what i described aboove are signs of schiz
2- can stress and anxiety cause schiz
3- if i hear a fear of schiz or thinking that i have it .. will i get it by that way ? (because im afraid of it or reading it symptoms )
i had a good childhood any mom and dad barley fought and they were nice to me when i was young but the second year of high school i got injuried and couldnt do sports so i started not to socialize morre often and just sit at home and play video games and i was also depressed because of my injury
everytime my anxietys hits me about this illness i get depressed and it ruins my day
my grades are good and i signed up for college and then i declined because of my anxiety
im rlly lost atm i need answers to my questions
and i heard one of the symtpoms is trouble deciding
and i have trouble in that like when i order food or i wanna buy something i take some time
and i have fibromylagia and when i think about this illness i get tension in my neck and and dizzy and feel like i wnna throw up
please help
To answer your questions:
— It’s unlikely that you are schizophrenic.
— Stress and anxiety cannot cause it.
— You won’t catch it because you read about it or fear it.
Being “benched” by your injury seems to have set off lots of anxiety about both physical and mental illness. You need to get out of your room and back into life. To break the cycle of anxiety and over-concern with health, you probably could benefit from seeing a therapist for awhile.
No, I don’t think you are mentally ill. But I do think you are stuck. Your parents aren’t likely to be helpful about this issue since they are over-concerned about their own health. A therapist could help you figure out how to live life with your new physical realities. Fibromyalgia can be be managed. It doesn’t have to interfere so much with your life. As important as sports may be to you, there are other ways to be with others and to excel.
Writing to us here at LifeHelper was a good first step to making change. Please follow up and follow through. You’ve already lost 2 years of your life to anxiety. You deserve better.
I wish you well.
Dr. Marie
