Health Anxiety Anyone..?

[anneM]

Hey everyone I am new to this forum and can already tell that this is going to be an awesome way to get advice from you guys as well as give advice. A little background history about myself and my anxiety: I am 21 years and have for the most part struggled with anxiety for several years now.. For a while I battled with social anxiety and feel like things have taken a turn and moved on to some sort of health anxiety. I guess it all started about a two months ago with me noticing a couple bruises that I had on my leg which scared me because I was unaware of the reasoning behind them. After spending countless hours retracing my steps and trying to figure out where these bruises came from I remembered I had in fact fallen.. Instead of accepting that I began to constantly worry and went into panic mode when I started googling info on bruising and how everything that came up dealt with so,e type of disease and or cancer.. I was absolutely convinced that I had a serious illness and felt anxious 24/7. Even though I knew googling bruises and symptoms of cancer ect would not help me feel better i would continue to do it. This makes no sense to me as to why I would continue to research things that I have read countless numbers of time and that would clearly make me more anxious. I felt like I almost became obsessed with trying to self diagnose and researching cancer symptoms ect. Well enough was enough and I decided I would go see a doctor because I was so convinced something was seriously wrong with me.. After several blood test everything came out normal. Yet I still sit here and am still worried something is wrong. When I got my test results back instead of accepting things and not worrying I began to think in my head crazy thoughts such as they must of got it wrong or maybe they made a mistake. Even though i know in my mind that it is a ridiculous thought. Long story short I was wondering if anyone deals with health anxiety and what they do to deal/cope with this..? Thanks for your time!:))

[andy1990]

Hey nice to meet you

I am 23 years old male and suffer bad anxiety about health also.


If you wanted to chat we could talk on kik messenger. My name on theee is MrGhandii

Would be cool.to chat and vent on there about how sucky this is lol

Andy

[cloroxidized]

Welcome! :)

I suffer from similar issues concerning hypochondriasis. It's not unusual for anxiety sufferers like us to have anxiety about our health and to even obsess about these ailments. I've found that for me that it's helpful to put into perspective the chances of what it is and try to put as much rationality into my irrationality. If you feel nauseated it could be cancer but it's more likely to be having eaten something funny. This can be hard with multiple symptoms but it's entirely possible those symptoms are unrelated. It used to be so bad that I would spend hours self-diagnosing but eventually my symptoms would stop persisting and I would be forced to realize it was likely what was obvious and not something life threatening, or it was even simply an anxiety response that I wasn't conscious of. It helps to keep in mind that there are a great deal of unconscious things going on that influence how you feel.

[anneM]

Hey nice to meet you

I am 23 years old male and suffer bad anxiety about health also.

If you wanted to chat we could talk on kik messenger. My name on theee is MrGhandii

Would be cool.to chat and vent on there about how sucky this is lol

Andy

Hey Andy! Thanks for responding. It's crazy how much better you can feel after knowing that others go through the same stuff. I was so happy when i saw you had responded because and am glad im not alone. I will for sure message you! Thanks again! Talk to you soon!

[anneM]

Welcome! :)

I suffer from similar issues concerning hypochondriasis. It's not unusual for anxiety sufferers like us to have anxiety about our health and to even obsess about these ailments. I've found that for me that it's helpful to put into perspective the chances of what it is and try to put as much rationality into my irrationality. If you feel nauseated it could be cancer but it's more likely to be having eaten something funny. This can be hard with multiple symptoms but it's entirely possible those symptoms are unrelated. It used to be so bad that I would spend hours self-diagnosing but eventually my symptoms would stop persisting and I would be forced to realize it was likely what was obvious and not something life threatening, or it was even simply an anxiety response that I wasn't conscious of. It helps to keep in mind that there are a great deal of unconscious things going on that influence how you feel.

Hey cloroxidized!! Thanks for responding. Already feeling better knowing that there are people who understand and fight the same battles I do. I love how you talked about putting things in perspective as to what it is and to put as much rationality into my irrationality. So true!!! Its amazing how the mind works and crazy how much your mind can affect you physically. I can't thank you enough for responding to me and letting me realize I'm not alone in this. Best of luck to you! Thanks again! :))

[MrsJ88]

Oh how we are alike! I've had health anxiety since 2011 but recently I noticed a ton of bruises on me... Like 15 and I'm just a stay at home mom so I don't do anything crazy and hadn't fallen. So I, too was freaking out and went to the doctor... They said I was fine but I still don't believe. Some days are better than others.

[anneM]

Oh how we are alike! I've had health anxiety since 2011 but recently I noticed a ton of bruises on me... Like 15 and I'm just a stay at home mom so I don't do anything crazy and hadn't fallen. So I, too was freaking out and went to the doctor... They said I was fine but I still don't believe. Some days are better than others.

Hey MrsJ88!!!
We are alike!:) It's so nice to meet others and talk to others that face the same struggles! I know exactly how you feel. I have recently noticed two bruises on my leg that both are explanatory but yet still freak out over them for some crazy reason. But I'm like you, I still don't believe what the docs say and it's hard to accept and trust what they say. What doesnt make sense to me is I continue to choose to believe what my mind says and continue to "self diagnose" yet there the experts and continue to think there wrong. I hate anxiety and especially health anxiety and it's crazy how debilitating it can be on a daily basis. Your right though some days are better than others. Feel free to message me whenever and we can help each other out! Best of luck! :)

[MrsJ88]

Hey MrsJ88!!!
We are alike!:) It's so nice to meet others and talk to others that face the same struggles! I know exactly how you feel. I have recently noticed two bruises on my leg that both are explanatory but yet still freak out over them for some crazy reason. But I'm like you, I still don't believe what the docs say and it's hard to accept and trust what they say. What doesnt make sense to me is I continue to choose to believe what my mind says and continue to "self diagnose" yet there the experts and continue to think there wrong. I hate anxiety and especially health anxiety and it's crazy how debilitating it can be on a daily basis. Your right though some days are better than others. Feel free to message me whenever and we can help each other out! Best of luck! :)

Yes very debilitating!! I self diagnose all day! If I told you all the things I THINK I have you'd laugh lol but it's really not funny anxiety and especially about your health is awful!! You can message me anytime also! :)