I’m curious if anyone does this when they google

[Scaredtoo]

Trying to learn more about hypochondriasis in CBT. Wondering if anybody else has the following happening to them.

Whenever I get a symptom that freaks me out I start googling. Generally I will
Keep Googling until I find an article that confirms my symptom is linked to what I fear. It doesn’t matter if I see a thousand articles of something else of what it could be, I seem to latch onto the catastrophic one I fear the most. This results in sheer panic and dread and anxiety. Then I start reading about a symptom I have which isn’t too bad but I will come across something insanely scary and that symptom begins to take on a life of its own. To the point where I start having symptoms I didn’t have before reading the article. Or additional symptoms that go along with my one symptom start to crop up.

It’s hard to decipher which pain is credibly real and which pain is being blown out of proportion from worry and anxiety. Quite honestly it’s exhausting. Just wondering eeeing if anyone out there has similar habits. I mean I will walk around like I actually have what I’m scared of. It’s basically liflke putting your life on hold.

[katniss]

Yep.. mind over body syndrome. I think everyone here can relate to that - your body making up symptoms to go with what you fear

[lucymarie]

For sure. Its catastrophizing. For me its an inability to cope with uncertainty, I need a 100% gaurauntee what im worrying about is fine and alot of the time I cant have that. Even the instances when I do, I just move onto something new that hasnt been checked. I can have several specialists, sites, research articles or whatever give me a benign explanation/opinion and unless I have a medical test proving it, even a 1% risk is too much for me and I go into meltdown and cant stop obsessing over it, imagining my demise. I could read 100 positive stories but even 1 negative will stick in my mind like glue andi convince myself that will be me. The more you panic, the more symptoms you have from the anxiety. Its just the nature of the beast :(

[Shadowhawk]

For sure. Its catastrophizing. For me its an inability to cope with uncertainty, I need a 100% gaurauntee what im worrying about is fine and alot of the time I cant have that. Even the instances when I do, I just move onto something new that hasnt been checked. I can have several specialists, sites, research articles or whatever give me a benign explanation/opinion and unless I have a medical test proving it, even a 1% risk is too much for me and I go into meltdown and cant stop obsessing over it, imagining my demise. I could read 100 positive stories but even 1 negative will stick in my mind like glue andi convince myself that will be me. The more you panic, the more symptoms you have from the anxiety. Its just the nature of the beast :(

Wow.. I feel like I could have written that out myself. I am the exact same way... Any ounce of uncertainty (that rare case gotcha) and my mind won't unlatch to the idea that I too am that rare case..


Right now, I am trying a different approach, one someone else here mentioned.. The "so what" approach. Ok, so I have x problem, so what? Is it something I can fix, treat or change?
Yes - then focus positive energy on fixing it, and be happy I have the chance.
No - then focus positive energy on managing it and making the most of what I still have.
If I can't change is.. so what? What good will worrying about it get me? It will only rob me of time and energy I have otherwise.

By no means am I perfect at this mind set. In fact, most days I fail. But our healing, like our life, must be taken one day at a time. If we fail one day, then we pick right back up the next day, and fight like mad.

Remember- "If you're going through hell.... Keep going".

[MyNameIsTerry]

That's the case for many anxiety disorders, it's all part of obsessive-compulsive style cycles and you also mention several Cognitive Distortions e.g. Minimising/Maximising, Catastrophizing, etc.

Worth a read about those Cognitive Distortions, learning where your negative thinking styles only feed your anxiety is important in changing how you think.

HA is a wide umbrella with it being a sufferer's term and not a medical one, and many on here will have OCD as opposed to the traditional view of Somatoform Disorders. Worth reading about both to understand as much as you can about "your enemy within".

[Phill2]

If I find the need to Google anything health related I found sticking to trusted sites like hospitals or govt sites to be the best.
The Mayo clinic is a really good one.
WebMD would have us all dead yesterday so try to avoid that one.

[Crevan]

I try to do the opposite, I try to look for things that are less dramatic. Such as when my legs feel weak, I look up "Weak legs anxiety" to see how common it is with anxiety sufferers. I wish I would stop searching at all, though, it's definitely an obsession.