Health Anxiety

[Soaring123]

I've been struggling with health anxiety for many years. I interpret every bodily sensation as indicative of disease. I am really struggling with this anxiety and was wondering how others deal with their anxiety

[fauxartist]

I found a really good site with a lot of info: nomorepanic.co.uk/articles/...

[Debrash]

It's hard dealing with my anxiety even with support

[Soaring123]

The iUK website was very informative. Its difficult b/c in moments of clarity, my health anxiety makes no sense. But I don't stay in that moment of clarity for very long. I am hyper-vigilant about every little twinge etc. I try to hide it from my family (I am married with two children). I do everything I can to keep my anxiety to myself so as not to worry my kids. Its exhausting.

[Hidden in reply to Soaring123]

I’ve been that way too, off and on. It’s awful I know. I notice when I occupy my mind with something else I forget about the health anxiety. Do you notice that too?

[Soaring123 in reply to Hidden]

Yes, I notice that being engaged with something else is a good distraction. So when the family is around and I am attending to their needs, my mind is not able to wander to a health worry. For me, the anxiety is most acute when my husband goes to work and the kids go to school. Being alone in the house is a trigger. I try to stay occupied. I volunteer in my kids' schools. I used to work, but took time off to raise my kids. I will be looking for a part-time job once my eldest is driving. Its so frustrating.

[Lakewolf]

I generally panic over other people’s health.

It’s why I joined this site.

I KNOW I was led here by Divine Intervention...and will be grateful for it till the day I die.

[Roulette21]

I've had health anxiety all my adult life but I have been overwhelmed with health related anxiety all year. I can't seem to catch a break. I will have some 'small' symptom of something that most people consider minor, but to me it is life threatening. I guess I am a hypochondriac. I 'cope' with the anxiety by being scared about one thing until something else comes along... Then I can look back and think "What was I worrying about yesterday?? Oh yeah, well that isn't bothering me anymore but now this new symptom is...."

I mean every time something seems physically amiss I automatically think I have cancer. I mean - how many types of cancer can one person have at once??

I also worry about HIV. I have had several tests and even though they are negative I still think I could BE THAT ONE PERSON who gets HIV through casual contact.

I have not found a medication that helps.

[Anxiousdude in reply to Roulette21]

I’m the same way. It was a headache for three days recently. The headache is gone now. Now I have heartburn and I’m a little off balance. I’m tired too. I keep telling myself it’s cuz I’ve been eating way too much and sleeping like crap but my subconscious can’t help it. I’ll bring it up to my gp on my monthly visit. It sucks.

[Anxiousdude]

If you figure it out let me know. I am in a bad cylcle right now. I’m completely exhausted and all I can think is what is wrong with me. I am so sick of this. I see my gp like once a month and it’s always something.

[Roulette21 in reply to Anxiousdude]

Yep... it's always something. I missed our family thanksgiving because I had a stomach ache a.k.a. pancreatic cancer.

[Anxiousdude in reply to Roulette21]

Yeah that sucks. My heart burn means heart attack. The dizzy stuff seriously sucks. I have a heart monitor implanted in my chest for a year and I still think something is wrong. I literally have doctors that look at my heart rhythms everyday and I can’t stop.

[Roulette21 in reply to Anxiousdude]

Psychiatry does not seem to help me. The medications make everything worse. I wonder why we are the way we are? Sometimes I think that I am fine and I am worried about nothing but then almost immediately a thought jumps in my brain that says "Are you fine? Are you?"

I have spent so much time worried about dying that I have not lived. I have missed out on so much.

[Anxiousdude in reply to Roulette21]

I totally get it. This disease makes you feel like crap. Therapy works but I agree with the medicine. It really hacks me up bad.