A mum who quit her job over crippling health anxiety and spent \u00a31,000 a month on private appointments has beaten the condition by becoming a florist.<\/p>\n
Natalie Dyson, 37, spent thousands on care as she battled anxiety multiple times a day.<\/p>\n
Her first symptom was a pain in her breast while she was pregnant with her first child.<\/p>\n
She developed \u2018triggers\u2019 including hearing ambulances, seeing posters about cancer and even having a shower, in case she felt a lump.<\/p>\n
But after walking away from her role as a dental practice manager of 15 years, Natalie says throwing herself into floristry has transformed her life.<\/p>\n
Natalie Dyson, 37, spent thousands on care as she battled anxiety multiple times a da (Image: Courtesy Natalie Dyson \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n
Now, she is preparing to open her own shop as the business has \u201ccompletely bloomed\u201d, fulfilling a dream she once thought impossible.<\/p>\n
Natalie, from Blackpool, said: \u201cFloristry has given me a constant focus. It means I don\u2019t have any time to think about the anxiety.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, it\u2019s the best thing I\u2019ve ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Health anxiety is a condition where someone becomes excessively worried about their health, often misinterpreting normal bodily sensations as signs of serious illness.<\/p>\n
It can lead to constant checking, repeated medical appointments and intrusive thoughts, and is closely linked to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).<\/p>\n
Recalling the start of the condition in 2021, Natalie said: \u201cI was diagnosing myself with different illnesses three times a day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very frightening. It completely took over my life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t even watch TV programmes or films in case there were storylines about cancer, because I\u2019d automatically think I was going to get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Natalie Dyson, 37, spent thousands on care as she battled anxiety multiple times a da (Image: Courtesy Natalie Dyson \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n
She said it began during pregnancy with her middle child five years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember the thought of all the happiness and excitement being taken away from me.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just became this massive thing. There was no information about health anxiety anywhere \u2014 I thought I was going insane. No one talks about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
At its worst, Natalie said she was contacting doctors constantly and spending large sums seeking reassurance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to ring up every day. I spent a lot of money on private appointments to get seen faster \u2014 over \u00a31,000 a month,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said the spending stretched from when her symptoms first began until the middle of last year.<\/p>\n
Natalie added: \u201cEven when I was pregnant, I would book secret scans to make sure my baby was okay, and that was costing me \u00a380 a time. Sometimes I would go twice a week.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said returning to work after maternity leave proved overwhelming, particularly as she spent long days alone in an office.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I went back to work after maternity, I was just not the same. I was in the office on my own and the thoughts were awful.<\/p>\n
\u201cI stepped away because it was not good for my mental health \u2014 I just used to spiral.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, after stepping away from her old career, Natalie says she has found a new focus through floristry.<\/p>\n
Natalie shares her experiences and how she manages her health anxiety on TikTok, where she has nearly 50,000 followers.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cFloristry was only supposed to be something I was going to do on the side, but it has completely bloomed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called my business \u2018Clarity Floristry\u2019 because of the clarity of mind it has brought.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Running on empty? The Lancs doctor helping women reset their health this spring<\/a> Natalie added: \u201cWhen I stood in the shop for the first time, I cried. I couldn\u2019t believe I\u2019d achieved this.\u201d<\/p>\n She now shares her experiences online to raise awareness of the condition, saying many sufferers feel isolated.<\/p>\n \u201cThere needs to be more awareness,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople are suffering in silence.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked what advice she would give others facing the same condition, Natalie said: \u201cDon\u2019t give up.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to follow your dreams, even when anxiety tells you that you can\u2019t do something.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A mum who quit her job over crippling health anxiety and spent \u00a31,000 a month on private appointments…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[103,172052,61,60,410,411,172051,172053],"class_list":{"0":"post-387212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-anxiety","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-mental-health","13":"tag-mentalhealth","14":"tag-natalie-dyson","15":"tag-private-appointments"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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