Dear All,

I am a fairly new member to this forum but have suffered from HA since my teens. Most of the time, I have found this site very useful and I have taken a lot of comfort from the words of its members. When I have had a new symptom it is reassuring to hear people who have had something similar, or just to have someone tell you that it doesn't sound too serious. The majority of us have no medical training (I know some members do - and there advice and presence is invaluable) but HA has lead us to search and research all we can on a spectrum of medical conditions. I do wonder if this site can perpetuate HA though as well as help us cope with it. My intent here is not to belittle or devalue the worth and sanctuary that this site affords, but I would like to relay a personal experience which mirrors this dichotomy: help or hinder?

As a result of bordem last night I was scrolling though the HA forum and stumbled across a thread on stomach pulsing. I have had a visible and near constant pulsing in my stomach for a long time and it has become more noticeable since I had my appendix out and was diagnosed with IBS a couple of years ago. Up until now, I had thought nothing of it but three little letters 'AAA' (Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm)all that has changed. What I used to ignore, I now neurotically check. I am a fairly thin person (30" waist) and have read that being thin means that you can see you aortic pulse in your abdomen easier, but I have convinced myself that it is something far more sinister. Out with friends last night, I asked the thinner ones if they had ever noticed a pulse; they had, and had thought nothing of it.

This has lead me to think whilst a community of HA suffers might on the one hand been a positive and cathartic environment. On the other, it may perpetuate our HA. The more we seek advice and reassurance, the more we encounter 'new' things to worry about.

My question is therefore twofold.

1. Seeking reassurance, should I be worried about the stomach palpitations?
2. Has anybody else noticed that a forum such as this, while helping some symptoms, perpetuates and creates others?

I want to state for one last time that my opinion of this forum is that it is a useful tool and the advice I have received so far as been really helpful. I would like to thank those who have helped me in the past.

Musicman.