Im A Hypochondriac...Can anyone help? :/

[dl1986]

Hey guys. i'm 23 years old, and to my advantage, i have a doctor in my family. I went recently for general blood work because i hadn't been in a while. My weight is healthy, my blood pressure is normal, and he asked me why i wanted blood work done, asked if i had any symptoms and i said no it's just been a while. He took two tubes of blood, and ran tests for the normal things like liver, kidney, blood count cell etc. The results came back today and he told me everything was good & normal. While i was also there, i had mentioned that i was having some under arm pain. Now i had freaked myself out for days prior to my appointment because like most hypochondriac, we google things and diagnose ourselves with the most rare diseases possible. He checked my lymph nodes in my arm pit, and in my neck and didn't find anything out of the usual. I think the pain is either related to my anxiety, or work. I am constantly on my feet for 8 hours a day 6 days a week, and use both my arms on a daily basis. I work in retail hanging signs and tags for products, and being short, i sometimes have to really reach to replace the old tag. The pain mostly radiates to my back, and i've checked myself multiple times and i haven't found any lumps or anything. It doesn't hurt when i touch it, or put deodorant on or anything like that, and since my blood work came back normal, it makes me feel a little bit better because although generalized blood tests can't test for cancers like lymphoma, i read in an article that your blood cell count would come up abnormal if something like that was happening. (Can anyone confirm that?) The doctor thinks its mostly due to muscle, based off where i explained the pain was. The pain comes and goes, but if i really start thinking about it, i feel it more and more. When i am able to relax and sleep, or not think that it's this horrible disease, then i don't notice it that much. Anyone else ever experience this type of pain?

[Kuma]

It sounds like you got checked out by a doc and there was no indication of ill health. So you should move on and enjoy life. In your line of work, you are bound to have a few aches and pains.

[Nowuccas]

Ask yourself exactly what evidence there is to support the idea that you may have such a disease, or is it just a baseless fear? What if you did have it. How would you cope? What then? Work it all out on paper. It's important to regularly monitor, and deal with a negative internal monologue (self talk), or mental process, such as disturbing thoughts, images, impulses, or emotions, by the process of (a): recognising it, and (b): challenging it immediately. Technique For Re-Programming Negative Thoughts: When you notice something negative, such as: "I can't do this/ am never going to get over this!" or: "Why am I always so useless/such a loser?" or even an image, emotion, or a memory; recognise that it is being generated from the negative part of your mind. After identifying, and labelling it, visualise a large, red, flashing, "STOP!" sign, and/or possibly a stern faced person wagging an index finger at you in a negative manner, then say to yourself as forcefully as you can, even aloud in a big voice, if alone: "I know this tactic: GO AWAY FOR A WHILE !!!" You may want to use either: "ruse", "ploy", "game", or "trick". In the case of an image, visualise a large "STOP" sign, or your preferred version. Some people go so far as to keep a wide rubber band in their pocket, then put it around their wrist, when they catch themselves backsliding, stretch and release it, as a method of reprogramming their mind sooner, but I don't regard it as being strictly necessary. Remember to remove it, afterwards, if you use this method.

Try replacing a negative thought with a positive affirmation of your choice, such as repeating: "I'll be just fine". Realise that by the act of viewing material about various diseases, you are implanting a suggestion in your subconscious mind that you may have it, It recognises a potential threat, and initiates the (formerly, in times long past) appropriate response; a "fight, or flight" reaction. Stop viewing such material. Practice a relaxation method, daily, and when needed, such as: (free) drcoxconsulting.com/managing-stress.html or altmedicine.about.com/cs/mindbody/a/Meditation.htm or wikihow.com/Meditate or Yoga Nidra, (no flexibility required) on page L at your-mental-health.weebly.com below, and see page Z for much more about hypochondria (panic attacks, and anxiety; see pages 1, h, & i). Qi Gong, Tai Chi, or regular yoga suits others better. Give the EFT a good tryout, to see if it helps you. It is free via the searchbar at mercola.com "EFT" & "EFT therapists", or tapping.com (13 free videos) or emofree.com Professional is best. - There is a version for use in public places, (you could claim to have a headache, as you employ the acupressure massage/tapping your temples, but you would then be restricted to subvocalising: saying it to yourself in your mind: "Even though I have hypochondria, I deeply and completely accept myself." These will enable you to emotionally centre yourself, when practiced regularly, and can also help you become a calmer, more self controlled person, who is less susceptible to such beliefs.

Read: Treating Health Anxiety: A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach by Steven Taylor Phd and Gordon J. G. Asmundson PhD, & The Hypochondriac's Guide to Life. And Death. by Gene Weingarten, & It's Not All in Your Head: How Worrying about Your Health Could Be Making You Sick--and What You Can Do about It by Gordon J. G. Asmundson Ph.D and Steven Taylor Ph.d, from your bookstore, or Amazon.com and there are other media, such as CD's & Kindle material, via their searchbar: "hypochondria". Hypnosis is merely a heightened state of suggestibility, in which you are better able to communicate with your subconscious mind. 85% of people are suggestible, to some degree, so you could either seek professional hypnotherapy, or more alternatives along such lines are at your-mental-health.weebly.com/z.html where the above came from.

Some suggestions about pain:
View post no. 8 at anxietyforum.net/forum/showthread.php?31873-Please-Help&p=208335#post208335 about vitamin D, pain, and sleep, and vitamindwiki.com/Pain+-+chronic

Check out
smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=pain
such as: Pain: The Science of Suffering (Maps of the Mind), 2002 by Patrick Wall.

Also check out the many articles at wikihow.com/Special:GoogSearch?cx=008953293426798287586%3Amr-gwotjmbs&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=pain+management

and

ehow.com/search.html?s=pain+management&skin=corporate&t=all

and

google.com/search?q=mercola%3B+pain&hl=en&gbv=2&oq=mercola%3B+pain&gs_l=heirloom-serp.3...8094507.8102578.0.8103505.30.21.0.0.0.0.0 .0..0.0.msedr...0...1ac.1.34.heirloom-serp..30.0.0.1izvWbgbdZU such as
This Pain Relief is 8 Times More Effective Than Morphine - Mercola
articles.mercola.com/.../this-pain-reli...
Similar30 Oct 2008 ... A groundbreaking treatment for pain, eight times stronger than morphine, has
been discovered by scientists. The revolutionary technique ...

Pain clinics recommend changing painkilling medications / analgesics on a daily basis, to prevent tolerance from building up. Kratom is a traditional herbal remedy for pain, from South East Asia; it may be habituating, or addictive for some people, and you could also consider medicinal cannabis, if in one of the twenty three US states that permit it.

Hypnosis is merely a heightened state of suggestibility, in which you are better able to communicate with your subconscious mind; view myfavoriteinterests.com/hypnosis/ about what it is, and isn't. 85% of people are suggestible to some degree; 15% - 20% highly so, and 15% - 20% aren't much at all, so you could either preferably seek professional hypnotherapy, or, if not an option, hypnosisdownloads.com has ones on pain, chronic pain management, asktheinternettherapist.com has one on pain reduction, hypnotictapes.com has ones on pain, ignoring pain, and instant-hypnosis.com also has one on pain. Professional advice is to use preferably only 1, or a maximum of 2 at any one time.

I don't know if omega 3 fish, or krill oil, and optimising vitamin D levels would help, specifically, (by reducing inflammation) but they are worth trying for at least 8 weeks, and maintaining them will boost your general health.

Take at least 4, and up to 9 Omega 3 fish oil supplements, (high in E.P.A.) or the recommended dose of a high quality of fish, or krill oil daily, like Carlsons, or Melrose: (certified free of mercury) it is best if consumed with an antioxidant, such as an orange, or its FRESHLY SQUEEZED juice. If vitamin E is added, it should be certified as being 100% from natural sources, or it may be synthetic: avoid it! Basically, if a vitamin supplement shows dl, which is the acronym for dextro-levo, it contains both isomers, and is therefore synthetic in origin.

Females may benefit by balancing the DHA, & EPA versions of Omega 3 in fish, or krill** oil with ALA flaxseed oil Omega 3, or at least one heaped tablespoonful of ground flaxseed, daily. Vegetarians: Google: "Omega 3; algae; supplies" and use with flaxseed. Use the mercola.com ** SEARCHBAR.

[gypsylee]

"Now i had freaked myself out for days prior to my appointment because like most hypochondriac, we google things and diagnose ourselves with the most rare diseases possible."

There's your problem. Stop doing it! :)