Severe health anxiety - desperate for help or friends

[Krpuk]

100% agree, I'm finding I climb up a mountain of progress really slowly, get a bit better each day then a little voice in my head says... Its about time you worried again and it inevitably sends me crashing back down to start once again 😂 bonkers really.

Rather than be 100% negative I'd say my meds ( 3 weeks in) have stopped the crash being so hard and my CBT 2 sessions, have given me focus to go forward. My ultimate dream though is to become rational rather than dramatic, terrified and irrational. Still determined to get there.

I do like remind myself that sometimes my mind and my thoughts are absolutely bonkers to the normal sane person.. It at least makes me laugh at myself for a minute or 2 😂😂

[peg54321]

Hi Krpuk
sorry to hear about your debilitating health worries. As humans we are breaking down so to speak as we age and some people notice this process or are aware of the process more than others i think. Part of getting older is become more susceptible to infections and aging issues. How I deal with this is by acknowledging this process happens to everyone - and that I try and keep as healthy as I can with Vit D and other things to bolster the immune system .

[Mocadona]

Oh I can definitely relate to the jealousy of other healthy people! I remember reading somewhere before about HA that it is an extremely common reaction - it was actually listed as a symptom of HA! Which leads me on to another point. We often have a hard time convincing ourselves that our issues are "just" anxiety, but when you read the symptoms and thought processes of anxiety (just like people have been in this thread) they literally, for me at least, matched up perfectly - but I was still going hmmm... I don't know. Whereas if it's some terminal illness I can convince myself I have it off the back of some vague symptom like fatigue or an upset stomach. Worth thinking about in terms of the hoops we jump through to keep the dragon fed!

[Krpuk]

For me I know my mind loves saying to me over and over again... What if?!! What if your wrong this time? What if its is something? What if, what if.... Drives me mad.

I know also that if I've seen something I perceived to be a symptom of some deadly disease my mind also confuses the image after a while with stuff I've seen online or photos and then convinces me I saw something probably totally different to start with. It's litterally like being possessed. But like you said mocadonna, we under no circumstances can accept it's HA.

I guess one day for us all it won't be but as my wife tries to tell me, most things are obvious and searching testing and screening ourselves is not the right thing to do because 99.9% we have nothing to look for because it's not what we think.. Its HA

This to me has to be because of how we are now conditioned as humans with the media and messaging of, catch things early, silent killer, increased cases in younger ages, news articles about tragic younger people catching disease.

I might suggest moving to a desert island with no Internet or TV 😂

[lee77]

Hi, and Good Morning,

I'm very new to this site, and looked up HA, as I need to start somewhere, my aim was to write a post, but when I read yours is was like someone had written this for me, what you have wrtitten is almost word for word what I am going through, mine started at a similar age 14, and I've worried alomost on and off for the last 30 years, but nothing to this level, it is now all consuming where I feel I cannot move foward , like you the only person who really knows what I am going through is my wife and GP, although I'm sure others can see it in my face and the way I am behaving, finding it hard to enjoy the things I did from, fear of HA , I started CBT but it was onine and I found the pace slow so have not continued I would like go to a group CBT as I feel it would have more benefits. as you mention about your job mine is now at the stage where I am doing the bare minuimim, I'm grateful that I have an understanding boss and I have been there along time, but you know it cannot continute forever, I have seen the GP and he has offered Anti Depressants which I do not really want to take, believe it or not it makes me more anxious (if possible) the thought of taking them.
I know you posted this a good few mnonths ago, but I was keen to see how you were getting on and if you found something that worked for you?
it would be great to hear from you.
Best Wishes

Lee