WOMENS-HEALTH Messages for April, 2008: Re: GENERAL: anxiety over yearly exam

Re: GENERAL: anxiety over yearly exam

From: Ann (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:25:31 -0500 (CDT)

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In reply to: mjak: "Re: GENERAL: anxiety over yearly exam"
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Reply: Robin: "Re: GENERAL: anxiety over yearly exam"

At Sun, 20 Apr 2008, mjak wrote: >
>AThe best way I know of to over come extreme anxiety is to change yout
>thought process. I suffered from severe panic disorder and anxiety my
>whole life. No medication or sedatives ever fixed my problem. It
>wasn't until I challenged my thinking that I was able to over come
>debilitating anxiety. When I was 21 years old I my mother took me to
>the Gyn for the first time. I have hardly any peroids and other
>hormonal problems. I was also an emotional mess. This Gyn took me to
>the exam room and when he could not succesfully examine me started
>screaming and hollering like a lunatic. I remeber him shouting I was
>the most non cooperative patient he had ever examined. How
>uncooperative could I have been all I was doing was laying spread eagel
>on an exam table. Fortunitly, my mom who was down the hall in a waiting
>room heard his screaming and started banging on the exam room door and
>demanding he release me. The nurse in the room also told him to shut
>up, lol. I have always wondered if the nurse was fired that day or even
>quit. My mom barged in the room and ended the exam. I was hysterical
>and refused to go to a gyn ever again. unfortunitly 9 years later I
>ended up having my next exam in an emergency setting with a 13 pound
>ovarian tumor torsioned inside of me. My current Gyn is wonderful. I
>am 41 years old now and have conqured my anxiety by knowing I am in
>charge and I have the ability to redirect my thought process so anxiety
>does not get control of me. Take control of your anxiety by recognizing
>it and refocusing your thoughts and you will do fine. Remember you are
>in charge of your body and of what happens during any exam. Good luck.
>
>--
>mjak
>

Thanks. It helps to know that I'm not the only one. I am going to a great therapist, but didn't even want to talk with her about this. It felt too painful and I have been carrying around so much shame, that even thinking about talking about it made me go into a panic mode. After your posts, I realized that I have nothing to be ashamed of. I did bring it up at the end of our last session and we are going to spend the next couple of sessions going over my medical past and confronting it. It still makes me anxious, but I know it's what I need to do. I've been thinking about it, and it's not so much the doctor, but the feeling of not having control over the situation. Where your mother rescued you, my mother shamed me for overreacting and embarrassing her. I was 16 for crying out loud and the exam was totally unnecessary.

Thanks to both of you for the good advice.

Next message: anonymous@obgyn.net: "YOUNGWOMEN: im 18 years old. and ive had a few weird symptoms please help..."
Previous message: Michelle: "CHRONICPAIN: Celebrex for adhesion pain? Why does everyone say this is off the market?"
In reply to: mjak: "Re: GENERAL: anxiety over yearly exam"
Next in thread: Robin: "Re: GENERAL: anxiety over yearly exam"
Reply: Robin: "Re: GENERAL: anxiety over yearly exam"

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