blondinou
19-01-12, 20:59
Ignorance is bliss!! I wish I was someone who didn't know much about health and didn't give it a second thought. A lot of people just go happily through life not thinking about these things, not worrying when they get a weird sensation or fleeting pain, and are just able to dismiss it. Don't you just wish you were one of those?!
As a medical student I have diagnosed myself with dozens of serious conditions over the course of my time at medical school... As soon as I forget about one disease I start to fear another... I have over the past 18 months or so been convinced I have: phaeochromocytoma, SVT, brain tumour, laryngeal oedema, lupus, CSF rhinorrhoea (brain fluid leaking out your nose!), cervical cancer, berry aneurysm, TB, factor V Leiden, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, DVT and PE (clot on the lung), anaemia due to cancer, acanthosis nigricans (skin discolouration that can be a sign of cancer), Hodgkin's lymphoma, diabetes and last but not least pregnancy... I think that's about it!! Apparently 'medical student syndrome' or 'medical student hypochondriasis' is a well known phenomenon haha. So if that isn't a cautionary tale for everyone to stop Googling their symptoms I don't know what is.
The best thing that helped me start to overcome my panic attacks was to stop feeling my pulse. Every time I felt a symptom my fingers would leap to my pulse to check my heart was ok. Every time I did that it was reaffirming there was something wrong and I needed to find out more, it put too much significance on that symptom. Then I decided to stop, and each time I resisted feeling my pulse, I was saying to myself, "nope, I don't need to do anything about this symptom, it's not significant, i don't need to go through the 'what if' routine, I'm just going to let it pass!" We could spend all day analysing every single symptom/sensation we get and looking up all the details and possible explanations, but what does that achieve? I haven't really managed to stop doing it yet!!
As a medical student I have diagnosed myself with dozens of serious conditions over the course of my time at medical school... As soon as I forget about one disease I start to fear another... I have over the past 18 months or so been convinced I have: phaeochromocytoma, SVT, brain tumour, laryngeal oedema, lupus, CSF rhinorrhoea (brain fluid leaking out your nose!), cervical cancer, berry aneurysm, TB, factor V Leiden, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, DVT and PE (clot on the lung), anaemia due to cancer, acanthosis nigricans (skin discolouration that can be a sign of cancer), Hodgkin's lymphoma, diabetes and last but not least pregnancy... I think that's about it!! Apparently 'medical student syndrome' or 'medical student hypochondriasis' is a well known phenomenon haha. So if that isn't a cautionary tale for everyone to stop Googling their symptoms I don't know what is.
The best thing that helped me start to overcome my panic attacks was to stop feeling my pulse. Every time I felt a symptom my fingers would leap to my pulse to check my heart was ok. Every time I did that it was reaffirming there was something wrong and I needed to find out more, it put too much significance on that symptom. Then I decided to stop, and each time I resisted feeling my pulse, I was saying to myself, "nope, I don't need to do anything about this symptom, it's not significant, i don't need to go through the 'what if' routine, I'm just going to let it pass!" We could spend all day analysing every single symptom/sensation we get and looking up all the details and possible explanations, but what does that achieve? I haven't really managed to stop doing it yet!!