Health Anxiety! - What's your most irrational self diagnosis?

[James Spiers]

The aim here is not to poke fun at people, but to help each other see how irrational our thinking can be, devalue the pressure we put on ourselves, and have a giggle!

[ab123]

I've had multiple sclerosis, lupus,fibromyalgia,heart attacks, blood clots, skin cancer. Lol

[ab123]

It's Awful lol. I should be dead by now lol

[jessed03]

When I was 8 we went on a family holiday to Spain, my mother told me I wasn't to touch any animals because I could catch rabies, I still (at 36) freak out if I see a cat when I'm abroad..which is a shame because I love animals.....never got over that one though

Is that why you had all the tattoos done James, to get back at her for that? :)

I was always brain. Brain anything.

[NixonRulz]

Heart heart heart

[FK123]

I'm all about the motor neurone diseases! Anything that would leave me in a vegetative state yet a fully-functioning brain. Brain tumours have also been thrown into the mix a couple of times. Funny with all my health anxiety I dont worry too much about my lungs given I'm a smoker and lung cancer runs in the family.
It's great to realize how irrational all these diagnoses are. Shame understand that they are irrational doesnt make all the symptoms go away though :(

[Dahila]

cancer, (I already have so far benign skin cancer) which runs in family. tyroid, lungs (I am ex smoker) heart attack , and again heart attack, stroke which would leave me in care of others. :(

[NixonRulz]

cancer, (I already have so far benign skin cancer) which runs in family. tyroid, lungs (I am ex smoker) heart attack , and again heart attack, stroke which would leave me in care of others. :(

Damn, Dahila

You are an equal opportunity fearer!

[NixonRulz]

I've had a similar thing to the whole motor neurone thing. I watched "The Stephen Hawking" story over Xmas. Instead of basking in such a beautiful mind and career, I sat thinking about ALS and clenching my hands to see if I could feel any tension. I'm suggesting "Elf" as a better watch next year :)

Yeah, Stephen Hawking isn't a great Christmas special

[jjh333]

cancer/hiv/heart/some type of mental illness like schizophrenia

[Amy Smith]

I always think about heart attacks/strokes, brain tumors, or any kind of blood clot. I've had every test done before cause I once thought I had something wrong with me when I lost 30 lbs for no reason in 3 months, nothing came back, just my anxious self lol

[FK123]

James that gave me such a good laugh!! Stephen Hawking has frequently popped up in my mind when I start catastrophizing, instead of seeing the amazement I just feel so sad such a great mind is in the situation he is in. Elf is always a safer bet....Bad Santa too!

[FK123]

That reminded me of a photo that made me very happy..uploaded it to facebook a little while ago. Hawking at zero-gravity! 999

[Dahila]

That reminded me of a photo that made me very happy..uploaded it to facebook a little while ago. Hawking at zero-gravity! 999

awesome, I prefer to read his books that to see his battered body... Such mind..

[HockeyRules]

Brain rumors ...strokes...because my hands tingled.....to name a few. Even though I had a clean cat scan and good physical. Brain is a powerful thing for sure !

[jukebox314]

Hmm.... I have to think there are so many! Breast Cancer (found a lump, turned out to be fibroadenoma), breast inflammatory cancer, enlarged spleen, heart murmur, carpel tunnel, appendicitis, pneumonia, heart attack, endometriosis, anemia, diabetes. I think that's it? Lol how sad!

[NixonRulz]

Hmm.... I have to think there are so many! Breast Cancer (found a lump, turned out to be fibroadenoma), breast inflammatory cancer, enlarged spleen, heart murmur, carpel tunnel, appendicitis, pneumonia, heart attack, endometriosis, anemia, diabetes. I think that's it? Lol how sad!

Wow. You just mad Dahlia feel better. LOL

That sucks.

I was all about the heart and I couldn't have imagined having so many concerns

Do you still have most or all of them?

[jukebox314]

Wow. You just mad Dahlia feel better. LOL That sucks. I was all about the heart and I couldn't have imagined having so many concerns Do you still have most or all of them? No usually they last for a week and then go away.

I'm ever so slightly embarrassed now :x

[NixonRulz]

No usually they last for a week and then go away. I'm ever so slightly embarrassed now :x

No!!!!! Don't be embarrassed.

I admire you for holding it together with all those concerns, is all

My one concern ate at me

With all the fears you, and others have, I feel like I way over reacted

[loganson28]

This is a fun thread/therapeutic thread. Hope I'm not too late.

Let's see, heart attack and some kind of blood clot was eating away at me for my first 3 months with anxiety and now it's been the quick sharp pains in my temples. Experienced a sharp pain once while driving that sent me into a panic attack that lead me to think I was having a stroke and now that's been my fear every-time I feel anything on my head.

Oh! And my protruding jugular vein I posted about a few days ago makes it worse sometimes.

[doubleA]

Mine is 95% heart and 5% stroke. I am with Nixon didn't realize how much others had going on.

[Cimi]

appendicities,brain everything,loss of proper sight,throat cancer,thyroids,labyrinthis,going mad. physically ok in everything.

[ab123]

It's crazy how panic disorder goes hand in hand with health anxiety. Gosh! And you'd think we could accept that we are healthy. If only!

[El Lukio]

I'm terrified that I have a cancer to the point that I can't talk about it - even writing this scares me. I worry about:

Throat
Oesophagus
Stomach
Pancreas
Liver
Bowel
Testicular
Leukaemia

It's driving me round the twist. Any ache, pain or tension fuels this and I check myself constantly. I'm obsessed with my lymph nodes and weighing myself. Any fluctuation in my weight (which is never more than a few pounds) terrifies me and affects my appetite which in turn affects my weight.

I'm one big mess :(

[Smokewater]

I'm always worrying about my heart. I can't tell you the number of articles I've read about sedentary lifestyles and heart problems. I'm always thinking that my heart is growing. It got to a point a month or so back when I had moments in which I thought my heart was literally going to explode. That's about it, really. Besides the cancer thoughts. I agree with El Lukio. Mine is mostly testicular cancer, but I also worry greatly about throat cancer. I've just recently quit smoking after 6 years because my worries got so out of hand about it. It's for the better, though.

[Lilac]

ALS :( Currently going on.

[Joe.]

Well, long list coming.....

Heart attacks
Brian tumours
Cancer, many specific ones I've convinced myself of
loss of hearing permanently
Loss of sight permanently
Carpel tunnel syndrome
ALS - however I confused the term with another illness.
Stroke, after reading a article about a young person who died because of a stroke and raised money or something, when I finished reading it I thought I was having one
Going insane
Amnesia
Anemia


Thankfully all of these are history and no new ones have appeared, got it under control I think.

[ChicagoFan689]

Oh...so glad I'm not alone!

Used to be the motor neuron diseases
This week it has been heart attack

Also, I work with cancer patients so I worry about every type of cancer. Specifically Esophageal because I have GERD, and Ovarian because I have PCOS.

[Joe.]

My tip for controlling health anxieties is to try your best to put into perspective your belief. It worked for me.
I thought I had a brain tumour.....
After a chat on here, I realised if It was a brain tumour and I'd had it for around a year, I'd be in a much worser state if left untreated. :)
For me it took me a while to wrap my head around because of how strong my fear of a brain tumour was but I did it; so will you
Oh...so glad I'm not alone!

Used to be the motor neuron diseases
This week it has been heart attack

Also, I work with cancer patients so I worry about every type of cancer. Specifically Esophageal because I have GERD, and Ovarian because I have PCOS.

[Im-Suffering]

An illness (physical or emotional) is always a failure to solve a mental or psychological problem in the correct manner . . . The energy that would be used to solve the problem instead is spent maintaining the illness. It is therefore necessary that an attempt be made as soon as possible to solve the problem, which of course must first be discovered by the ego, which has avoided it.

The hypochondria is a camouflage. Edify yourselves.

The outside will not heal first, without an inner shift, no exceptions. The fears remain probable, until the energy is sufficient enough for actualization. Therefor better to find the issues, sooner than later.

Dwelling on possible disease outcomes draws those probable exeriences to you, it is a law.

[gemma1788]

Mine is currently myocarditis.

[Xerosnake90]

HIV and cancer worries. I've diagnosed multiple sclerosis, gonorrhea, syphilis, uti and kidney infection, enlarged aorta, brain. It's quite ridiculous, and why I stopped googling symptoms!

[AnxiousPsychGrad]

Had a "brain tumor" for seven years... Finally had an MRI this year that proved I did not have one. Fear of any cancer, mostly ovarian. My current obsession is blood clots. I've had 4 leg ultrasounds and 4 chest x-rays since December 2013 with no indication, but I still have leg swelling and pain. Still convinced after all of these tests and several doctors telling me I just need to lose weight.
It's debilitating and FRUSTRATING!!!

[Kixxi]

The aim here is not to poke fun at people, but to help each other see how irrational our thinking can be, devalue the pressure we put on ourselves, and have a giggle!

A brain tumor, sometimes I still think I have one lol

[Im-Suffering]

A brain tumor, sometimes I still think I have one lol

Not picking on you, this is for everyone:


As simply put as possible, the voice you hear in your heads is not confined nor does it originate in your skull. Thoughts come and go, given no attraction, focus, they will zip through your ears like a highway with 6 lanes coming and going. But by focusing on one particular thought you attract more of the like, similar thoughts, so it's as if you are a policeman and you pull over a thought on the highway, not allowing it free travel, you sit with it and chat.

Televisions were modeled after this process. Receiving sets, they choose from a multitude of stations already running programs, one to tune in to. Remembering, all stations are on at once. You simply choose a station to watch and focus in on. In so doing, you tune out all other stations.

The thoughts of creaturehood are all there at once too, period. By your receiving set, the brain, do you selectively tune into one thought at a time, you see, just like the television. Since you don't know where they come from, you believe they originate in your head, where the voice is.

By tuning into a thought, you magnify it, give it energy, and add your little something to it, then send it back out amplified for your like minded peers to pick up. And that's the secret to creation enmass, on a world scale.

Thoughts are telepathic, like your cell phones or TV you choose from a myriad of possible stations. With cell phones every human thought is happening at once (all conversations), yet by your device (phone) do you select one conversation, you wish to have, all the others pass by unnoticed, you see.

Now, you select what to watch, listen to, whom to talk to, what thought to process, and send out again, by your beliefs. That is the magic creation formula. Like your black holes you receive a thought, add energy to it, your unique psychological imprint, and send it on its way. Those with similar beliefs will then be attracted to it/you, and pick it up.

Understanding this, and the nature of beliefs, you can just as easily let thoughts come and go, and on their own they would fade one after the next, changing topics frequently by your emotional state and current belief systems. Not giving special validity to any, like clouds they float off to the next willing participant who wishes to tune it in.

Relate all of this to this topic. Tuning into a thought on brain cancer, you have picked up on the electromagnetic train of thought from creaturehood, a group of peers world over giving consideration to its possibility or perhaps the people already with the condition.

You are meant to create by choosing who to group with, choosing your thoughts, that is true free will. Every thought ever imagined is out there, choosing from this bank of possibilities determine your probable future. You are magical beings. This is the process of creation. Why choose a fearful future, just because others have chosen it, again free will.

Understanding thoughts are not confined in your head will be a great eye opener for you, again look to your beliefs, a belief on the surface even if changed slightly will affect all beliefs across the board, the deep layers of yourself, thereby automatically choosing a new TV station to watch.

Period, end of lesson

[Dahila]

I worry about ending in nut hospital reading the posts like above , that's my anxiety for today..

[Ged1878]

Cancer, brain tumor

At the moment its MS, i need to stop googling symptoms etc

[Kuma]

I once felt like I was a psychic, with paranormal or clairvoyant abilities. But I quickly realized that was ridiculous and got over it. Since then, I have not had any such delusions.

[sae]

I once somehow managed to convince myself I had pin worms in my sinuses. Everytime I tried to sleep I imagine those nasty bastards creeping around in my face. A small part of me wanted to rip my face off to get them out. Turns out I am allergic to cats, it wasn't worms, obviously.

[anxiousMike]

For me it's many different kinds of cancer, heart, MS, Lyme disease, hypertension, diabetes.

[Jimmy jr makhaya]

Ok,this is leboke,i do have health anxiety am sho,cos i do read about other diseases and convince myself i got one till the necessary tests are done or sometymz i just tell myself,no am not related to this,and also posts like the above can get me scared,especially when i feel no,i didnt know abt this,but it is am sho really helpful with the idea that we dont really have to analys every thought that pass by,cs thats what i do,sometymz blaming it on me for having thought of something stupid but the ones not crazier just com and go,so i think the route for those that i want and the unwanted is the sam,so should be the reaction

[Jimmy jr makhaya]

Mine do change with time,i remember when i first had the panic attacks,i thought i had a heart attack,then i was convienced it wasnt,then thought it was aids,i did the test and was negative,then cancer,but after going to the psychologist,i started thinking i was going crazy,schizo,bipolar and also thought i was psychaic,so they do change but can go for weeks and when i get convienced i dont have that typical illness,there comes another

[dwizzite]

I like calling it "creative avoidance", when I want to do something and I convince myself without a shadow of a doubt that it's a bad idea. So I don't, and then no one wins.

[dbd]

cancer of the esophagus, stomach, liver (well more liver chirosis), right kidney failure (obviously with the idea that even a possible donor kidney would be rejected by my body), appendix (not even sure if I think I have a bad appendix or think I have appendix cancer), skin cancer, thyroid cancer (by just knowing I have a thyroid I am convinced it's broken), lungs and the odd occasional fear that I have a bone disease if I find my legs "cracking". I had a major panic attack last year when I read that Rob Ford MIGHT have an abdominal tumor. I have bad sinuses so that shoots up as a cancer of some sorts from time to time, and with the sinus comes some sinus headaches, which offcourse is a brain tumor.

It's I find comfort in knowing that I am not alone here so thank you all for sharing.

[chrismex89]

Glad to know that many of us with the same problem
I thought having from rabies, heart failure, chronic hepatitis, dengue, cognitive impairment, early Alzheimer's.

Greetings from Mexico

[Two One]

I've diagnosed myself with a stroke, heart attack, peptic ulcer, gastrotenteritis (this was daily at one point), gastroparesis, a brain tumor, labyrinthitis, and kidney stones.

Funny thing is, as a pre-med I take pride in correct diagnoses. I can diagnose everyone else correctly but not myself.

[Greatmom12]

This is my fist post! I've been dealing with this for the past eight months! I have went from a heart attack, heart disease, lyme disease, to parasites invading my body causing anxiety, worms in my brain, back to heart disease, tumors, ruptured spleen, to now pancreatitis, stomach ulcer, stomach cancer, skin cancer, bone cancer, diabetes ...its becoming ridiculous. As mentioned earlier, once a test has proven otherwise or the symptoms subside, a "new" symptom occurs, and I frantically search for answers...smh. I started to laugh when I read the other post because it was nice to know I am not alone. Today was a bad day and this really cheered me up!

[Kierstennotsojoy]

Heart disease.....