Just realised i have this!

[Pinkcasi]

I've just realised that i have Health Anxiety, i always just thought that i was a bit of a hypochondriac that's what my family always said i never realised it was an actual thing!
I suffer with General Anxiety and Depression and the family have always said im a weirdo am totally OCD about stuff, using the hygine gel and what not but i dont see it as a problem so i like to be clean is that wrong?! i like to have a clean house urm wrong? i like to have things in the right place is that weird, I hve to use 3 different brushes for different stages of hair cleanliness does it effect anyone else, no so what's the problem with it!?!?!?

Anyway i digress, so Health Anxiety, i dont know if i feel better or worse knowing that it's an actual thing, i mean doens't that just give me carte blanche to be as 'weird' as i like? I wonder as well if it's bad as now i know it's just a part of my anxiety will that stop me from going to the Dr? im convinced im ill, i mean i have been ill with Pleurisy on and off for a few months last time i went for a chest x ray as i was convinced i had lung cancer but it's all clear well how can they know it's pleurisy if it's all clear?!? im tired all the time, achey and sometimes dizzy, i've just come off and gone back on my meds so that might be messing with me but i swear im sicker than the average person, im currently in the middle of the 3rd cold in 3 months that's not normal is it, im constantly cold and no matter how much sleep i get im always exhausted.

So convinced i am that there is something sinister going on, am i just being silly, is it HA or what.

Im just sorta thinking out loud, (or writing) and dont really expect a mass influx of responses, i just wonder whether knowing or even suspecting you have HA does more harm than good, if you say 'its ok it's only my illness', does it make it any less crazy?

[happycarrot]

You might want to start by reading the "so I have health anxiety" sticky in this forum.

I don't think that realizing you suffer from health anxiety is the same as giving yourself a free pass to worry about your health all the time, or not going to the doctor when you need to. In fact I think it's just the opposite. We have to work on realizing that most symptoms don't mean we have a serious illness, and not assuming the worst every time we notice some change in our bodies. We also have to learn what things we should actually be concerned about and when a trip to the doctor is really needed, and also we have to learn to trust doctors and tests instead of always worrying that they missed something.

I don't think any of us are crazy at all. I believe our anxiety stems from fear of serious illness and of death, which I think everyone fears to some extent. We just worry more about it and have to learn how to not let the worry take over our lives.

[Pinkcasi]

I just dont get where it comes from, i mean a lot of people with HA have stories about loved ones getting ill or being ill themselves, i dont know what my excuse is, though that said my Dad has MS and has been in a wheelchair for years, i've never really thought that it might be connected, i lived with a friend who had really bad OCD and anxiety and an eating disorder because she was so 'thing' about germs in her mouth and she opened my eyes to this world of germs, instead of me helping her to get over it she helped me to see just how distusting and dangerous this world is. probably not a good idea and i've weaned myself off the hygine gel mostly now but i do go wild for it when im stressed out.

I will deffo read that sticky thanks, and i know that none of us are crazy (despite being told it by my nearest and dearest for many years).

[happycarrot]

I think for me it came from a bout of depression I had several years ago. I was constantly scared of dying and was going around all the time thinking about the fact that I was going to die one day. I don't think like that anymore, but I do worry that I have some horrible illness and just don't know it yet. I've never known anyone who suffered from some serious long term illness like cancer, and my worst fears aren't even diseases that run in my family. Almost every relative has diabetes, several of them have had heart attacks, and none have cancer, but guess which disease I worry about most?

[Pinkcasi]

??? do tell