Hello and welcome to Healthcare Magic. Thanks for your query.

I understand that you must be going through a difficult time with your recent development of anxiety. Now, all the symptoms which you have described - the panic attack, the fear of death, the belief that you may be having cancer, the dream-like state, etc. are all well known symptoms of anxiety.

It is very common for people with anxiety to have intense fears about major diseases or even death. The dream-like state and the feeling of being disconnected from yourself is called "depersonalization", which again is a manifestation of anxiety.

It is important to understand that anxiety can present with not only psychological symptoms but also with physical or somatic symptoms. Various abnormal sensations like tingling, burning, numbness or even discomfort and pain can be seen in anxiety disorders. Now, this does NOT that you are simply imagining these symptoms mean and that 'everything is in your head'. Not at all. It has been found that anxiety disorders are associated with certain neuro-chemical imbalance in the brain and this can cause the person's pain and sensory threshold to get lowered and he / she can become 'hypersensitive' to sensory stimuli, and therefore have all these physical symptoms. The underlying anxiety also causes a person to become more worried as to why his / her problems are undiagnosed after multiple tests, and then this worry / anxiety itself then starts worsening the symptoms more. Soon this becomes a viscious cycle, leaving the person with more symptoms and suffering.

Often anxiety disorders get "triggered off" through a stressful or frightening experience - psychological or physical. It is likely that your initial fear about STDs, the hospital visits, anxiety about the test results, etc. have been the trigerring factor for your health-related anxiety. anxiety. Marijuana is a major culprit in triggering or exacerbating anxiety disorders / panic attacks, especially in first-time users.

From the description of your problems and the severity of the distress which you are in, it is my opinion that you definitely need professional help to tackle this. When these fears and worries have become strongly embedded in your mind, it may be quite difficult to get rid of these without help. Unlike many people think or would have told you, it is not very easy or simple to just "not worry unecessarily", when you have such intense anxiety. So, I would advise you to consult a psychiatrist for a detailed psychological assessment and further treatment. There are effective treatment options - in the form of medication or counselling / psychotherapy which will help you overcome your problems. Medication may be needed in the initial phase, because of the severity of your symptoms and to mitigate your distress quickly. Also, there are certain specific psychological therapies like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) which are specifically designed to handle such negative thoughts / beliefs and can yield very good results.

There is no need to be suffering in silence when we know that help is available and that such problems are treatable. So, please don't hesitate to see a psychiatrist for further help. With appropriate therapy and co-operative efforts from your side, I can assure you that you will be able to come out of this bad phase soon.

Wish you all the best.

- Dr. Jonas Sundarakumar
Consultant Psychiatrist

---

Hello again,

Since you anxiety has developed acutely after a stressful health-related event, there is a good chance that it will resolve after a full medical examination, but I would recommend that you take professional help for your anxiety since this has been quite severe and disabling (so much so that you were not able to attend school).

Well, hypochondriasis is defined as a psychological condition where the person has persistent belief or preoccupation of having a serious disease, despite adequate medical evidence against it (in other words, despite all medical tests being normal). So, though you may be having some hypochondriacal 'ideas', at this point it may not be appropriate to make a diagnosis of hypochondriasis, without a proper medical evaluation.

One of the most important prognostic factors in anxiety disorders is the 'insight' of the patient, i.e. the realization that they may be having a psychological problem which needs to be addressed. Since, you seem to be having a fairy good insight into your problems, recovery is going to be much easier. So, don't worry, with appropriate therapy, soon you will be able to overcome this anxiety.

Wish you all the best.

Regards,
Dr. Jonas Sundarakumar
Consultant Psychiatrist

---

You're welcome.

Kindly leave a review if you are happy with my answers.

Regards,
Dr. Jonas Sundarakumar
Consultant Psychiatrist

---