# Constant Worry Wart!



## 21286 (May 7, 2005)

Is anybody on here a constant worrier? I mostly dread that I'll be told that I have a horrible disease and only 6 months or less to live. HOwever, I can pretty much start to worry about everything.This causes horrible stomach issues. Anybody else out there like me?


----------



## Screamer (Aug 16, 2005)

OH YES!! I'm told by everyone I know that if I don't have something to worry about I'll invent something to worry about. I worry about my kids, my health, my parents health, my cats everything!!! It drives me crazy and as a result I end up with permanent bad IBS. I've tried lot's of diets which haven't helped a scrap as most of mine is caused by stress, worry and hormones. Sigh, if only I could stop stessing for long enough to see if I got any better!


----------



## 22923 (Aug 8, 2005)

I have the same problem, I worry about something, then worry that I'm worrying about it. This usually gives me a stomach ache and makes my reflux really bad, which I then start worrying about. It's terrible.


----------



## 14988 (Aug 10, 2005)

Yes I am the same way. I had a tiny light spot of skin on my shoulder, & asked my boyfriend, "Hmm what do you think that is?". He is so used to my worrying, right away he said "Marilyn, It's NOT cancer." I was thinking more along the lines of psoriasis or something, but he's right, that would be typical of me. He also says the exact same thing that I make things to worry about.


----------



## stefdoe (Nov 1, 2003)

I will admit I'm somewhat of an obsessive worrier. Okay I've been seeing this shrink and he tells me after seeing me a few months and me reading sections from my journals that I have OCD. He says I have mental rituals. I'm not a handwasher or anything like that. I will admit I am what I thought was a chronic analyzer. If I am awake I'm thinking about something. Often if something upsets or angers me I think about it alot for a week or so (sometimes more if it is an ongoing problem). I'll re-analyze upsetting conversations that I've had or what I should do- over and over in my head even if I have already decided what I should do or say to resovle the issue.I don't know if I agree with this diagnosis. I kind of want to see if this is what you mean by worrier. Perhaps I have OCD, but at this point I would appreciate others opinions on this matter.Thx


----------



## stefdoe (Nov 1, 2003)

Okay one last thing. Of course once I get started on the topic of OCD then I end up wondering if I have it. My mom is pretty much the hypochondriac and "if" I have OCD she definitely has it b/c I am alot like her in many ways. I'm only listing this as a possibility and would like to emphasis to sickofbeingsick that this may be what you are doing. I think you have to not just be worried but also convinced you have an illness to have this.On the last paragraph of this website's info about OCD is says:The last form of OCD involves a preoccupation with the potential of having some physical malady, typically cancer or some life threatening disease. This condition continues to be referred to as hypochondriasis and exists in the DSM-IIIR as a separate disorder from OCD. However, like body dysmorphic disorder, the symptoms and endless search for reassurance fall completely under the diagnostic category of OCD.http://www.ocdonline.com/defineocd.phpI'm only mentioning this b/c I've been reading up OCD because of what my shrink thinks about me. Your health may be an obsession. Of course if you have digestive problems who doesn't have anxiety about their health. By the way, technically OCD is suppose to be an anxiety disorder.


----------



## 20127 (Jul 26, 2005)

I worry all the time, and for no real/sane reason. Every month I worry I'm pregnant (despite anxiety/IBS denting my sex life with my poor boyfriend), when I was 18 I worried I had syphillis (having only had protected sex twice), I worry about being old (I'm 22), about where my life is going, about my IBS, about stains on the carpet, about the plight of endangered species.My IBS is totally mind related, I always look at other epople and wonder if they have the smae internal monologue of worries in their head. Glad to see at least some people do!!!


----------



## 15550 (Aug 14, 2005)

little fish i am exactly the same. The number of pregnancy tests i have done 'just to be sure'. (im worrying at the mo cos my periods late!)







I worry constantly about everything. And if i have nothing to worry about i will definately find something. Its exhausting sometimes. I wish i could jus stop! Drives me made. I analyse evrything too. I always worry about what people think of me. Im so self conscious. Grrrr. It would be so nice to have one day being happy being me!


----------



## 14988 (Aug 10, 2005)

Little fish, I have the OLD thing going on too. I'm 27 & worry about myself & everyone else getting old. Stefdoe, that's what doctors go to school for, but if that one is right, I think a lot of us have OCD & didn't know it. I do think I have some type of anxiety as a worrier, and I hold on to things for too long, but I don't think that's OCD. You and your doctor know more about you than the rest of us, but you might want to get a second opinion if it sounds fishy to you.


----------



## Screamer (Aug 16, 2005)

I haven't been diagnosed with OCD but I do worry a lot about being old (I too am 26), about being pregnant (yes, even if it's impossible that I am), I worry about the plight of endangered animals too (to the point where I constantly log onto this site and click to save an animal in need, I can't go without my daily clicks, I have no money to give so this is my next best thing), about my life, I obsess over conversations, comment people have made, if the house is a mess, if the dishwasher has been packed properly by me and not DH, whether my clothes are hanging properly in the cupboard. I'm just a worrier!


----------



## stefdoe (Nov 1, 2003)

M&M-Marilyn Iâ€™ve told the doctor I donâ€™t necessarily agree with his diagnosis. I said Iâ€™ve been misdiagnosed before. When I first got UC, the doctors kept trying to tell me I only had IBS (even after my first colonoscopy about 2 months after symptoms started). Medicines they gave me didnâ€™t work and bleeding continued. Eventually, by the second colonoscopy and second doctor it was confirmed as UC too. So I definitely, donâ€™t take a doctors word as what I call â€œgodâ€™s wordâ€. They can be wrong. Anyway, my shrink told me not to worry about â€œlabelsâ€ right now; He says people sometimes donâ€™t agree with the diagnosis at first. He recommended I buy an OCD workbook, which I should get from Amazon by sept. 9. Iâ€™m also doing this â€œthought inoculationâ€ paper. I will just see if these techniques help me b/c if these techniques and workbook help I guess I got my answer. Iâ€™ve suffered from depression for a long time. Then got GAD after I went through a lot of changes all at once (moved to another state-I changed everything in my life). I understand people with GAD worry a lot too thatâ€™s why I have trouble agreeing with his diagnosis. However, I do tend to rethink about upsetting conversations or situations even if I know what I need to do. Sometimes if someone (usually someone I donâ€™t really like) says something to me I will reanalyze it and try to figure out exactly what they meant. Kind of try to read between the lines. And Iâ€™ll be bombarded or haunted by thinking about it all through the day or week and it just makes me angry all over again. Itâ€™s like I donâ€™t blow things off like I used to. I take things way too personal. I really didnâ€™t think I cared about what people thought about me, but I kind of realize (through therapy) that I probably do and thatâ€™s why I keep thinking about it. Iâ€™ve believed for a long time that at a certain point in my life I started taking everything in my life way too seriously. Even college, I quit enjoying just learning b/c I wanted to get Aâ€™s. Perfectionism has sucked the joy out of my life. Also, it seems like my worries are way out of proportion to what they should actually be-many of the things that upset me arenâ€™t that important to the â€œbig pictureâ€ in life. God forbid when something bad does happen I am constantly distracted by my thoughts. I guess this is why my shrink thinks I have OCD, b/c the thoughts can be so intrusive at times. I really want to make it clear that if I have OCD it really sounds like I fall into 25% category of what is called â€œpure obsessional ocdâ€. Iâ€™m not a fanatic about being super clean and organized although my house doesnâ€™t have a lot of clutter, but it doesnâ€™t bother me that my desk is messy a lot and my sock drawer and nightstand drawer are a disaster area. I donâ€™t check the door or stove constantly before I leave. Sometimes I might glance once to see if the back or front door is locked, but realistically we have left our back door unlocked before. I donâ€™t have to have my belonging in an exact order or spot b/c it will drive me nuts. However, I do admit for some stupid reason I will reanalyze past conversation if someone ticked me off. Or I will think about what I should say to someone b/c I want to make sure I have thought about all the important points if the conversation is going to be about something I consider important. I do have a lot of self-doubt and second-guess myself a lot with my decisions. I guess itâ€™s also pretty clear by this posting that I really over analyze ####. I know when my shrink told me he thought I had OCD, I obsessed over it the next morning for three hours. When I woke up, I wrote in my journal, skimmed some books about it, then while I was in the shower and got ready to leave I was debating whether he was correct or not. Then when I walked out my garage door to my car I realized how whacked I am b/c for the last three hours I was obsessing about whether I obsess. Hello! Granted I think I need a job by January b/c I have way too much time to think. Anyway, if any of you are as bad as me, you may have pure obsessinal ocd â€œifâ€ my doc is correct. Because there is no way I would have guessed this might be what my problem is. I just thought my thinking patterns were on a negative bias-aka depression and anxiety plus a little perfectionist about some things; my thinking pattern is all I know. I donâ€™t know how other people think throughout the day. I just thought it was depression and GAD now I donâ€™t really know.


----------



## 14988 (Aug 10, 2005)

Dunno, you sound a lot like me, though I have never had a physical problem with real symptoms like bleeding, or something other than using the bathroom alot. I am not sure. I guess it doesn't matter what they try to call us, as long as they can help! I overanalyze too. I have read books by/about people with OCD, and have a cousin with it. Maybe I just don't fully understand the science and the real definition of OCD. My cousin garden's so much she can't run her business anymore. Good luck with the doc & let us know how it turns out.


----------



## stefdoe (Nov 1, 2003)

M&M_Marilyn,Sorry about the long rant/ramble before. I was also just posting to help people realize that if they are like me, it "might" be ocd b/c whatever is wrong with me sucks.


----------



## 14988 (Aug 10, 2005)

No prob, it's good to hear the whole story. A lot of us tend to give advice on here (as some like myself may be control freaks) and we don't know the whole story. Sounds interesting at the least. Could be a bunch of us have OCD. You came across very thoughtful as you did not tell us all to believe our anxieties were OCD. This thing is addictive itself. I am now logging on during my lunch hour.


----------

