Ever notice something by accident and then freak out?

[nj]

As I've been coming down from my latest heart related health anxiety, just sitting here minding my own business and I notice something (to the point, something about my thumbnails) and wonder, "was that always like that?"

Adrenaline through the roof, fighting the urge to Google.

Ever do that?

[Justinf]

Yes. All the time. I think we all have.
Last week I was brushing my teeth and in the mirror, I swore I had jaundice and was checking my eyes in the mirror every hour or so.

[loreal]

Oh yes am constantly checking my ankles for fluid retention (one of the signs for heart failure), taking my pulse, am sick and tired of being sick and tired lol, wish I could get my old self back! Googlings the worse though we all do it, stick to this website for rational explanations, that's what am trying to do. :)

[Kyeee]

Yep. I even made a thread on here about mine! I was driving to uni, checking my tonsils out in the rear-view mirror, as you do, and noticed the roof of my mouth near my teeth was a bit white. Instant freak out! I completely disregarded the fact it's probably been like that my entire life! :doh:

[sarahsarah]

Yeah, I do this. I read about yellow eyes being a sign of liver failure so went to the mirror to check and found that the bit that are only visible when you pull your eyelid back or roll your eyes dramatically were not white. I wouldn't say they were yellow exactly, but they were a different shade to the bit of the eye-white which you can usually see. I had no idea if they had always been like that (highly likely) or I it was a sign I had recently developed liver problems. Thinking about it logically, the part of the eyeball that's actually in your head isn't very likely to be white and even though my husband's eyes were similar (yes, I made him pull his eyelids in all manner of directions so I could inspect) I still kept checking my eyes.

I also thought I had suddenly grown little moles on the side of my face and therefore must have skin cancer when in fact I had had them my entire life and just got so used to them, I just didn't see them anymore when I looked in the mirror.

Recently I suffered from quite mildly swollen ankles and spent days worrying I was dying, even without any other symptoms, when most probably the cause was a long-haul flight followed by a few very long days when I was on my feet for hours and hours. As soon as I got some proper rest, they went away and haven't come back. I know I have had swollen ankles after flying before and even after long days sitting at a desk or similar on the odd occasion, but of course now I have HA, I am dying of organ failure rather than having quite a natural bodily reaction which soon remedies.

So yes, I would say noticing stuff and freaking out about it is all part of Health Anxiety. Well. It is for me anyway xxx

[andrea15]

I did it last night. Worried about lung cancer and looked at my fingers, thought they looked funny and may be clubbing, so I Googled! Bad idea. My doctor, who I spoke to urgently, said she'd be VERY surprised if that was happening as myt xray and bloods were absolutely fine.

When we're anxious anyway by nature, we are constantly looking for the smallest thing, well I am anyway.

Regards

Andrea x