backfromthebrink
21-07-13, 20:09
How do other people with health anxiety manage this?
I'm always worried about my health anxiety leading me to have more invasive tests or be exposed to more radiation than I want to be. Because obviously all that has a negative effect on your health and increases your risk of the big C later in life. It would be stupidly ironic if my fear of my health instead led to me getting exposed to radiation which leads to that!
So every time I get worried about something which might end up in these kind of tests, I end up trying to decide if Something (whatever I'm worried about) is due to health anxiety or if it is a Real Thing. If it's health anxiety then I should just ignore it and not go to the doctor and not pursue further tests. But then I worry it could be something real. If I knew it was just health anxiety, then I wouldn't be anxious in the first place.
I'm fine with tests like ultrasounds or blood tests or ECGs - all tests which are not invasive and have no radiation. I worry about x-rays and CT scans mainly. CT scans especially, as I've read they have v high levels of radiation.
I was wondering how other people with health anxiety manage this conflict of wanting to get things checked out and to know they're nothing versus fear of exposing yourself to radiation etc when it might not be necessary?
I'm always worried about my health anxiety leading me to have more invasive tests or be exposed to more radiation than I want to be. Because obviously all that has a negative effect on your health and increases your risk of the big C later in life. It would be stupidly ironic if my fear of my health instead led to me getting exposed to radiation which leads to that!
So every time I get worried about something which might end up in these kind of tests, I end up trying to decide if Something (whatever I'm worried about) is due to health anxiety or if it is a Real Thing. If it's health anxiety then I should just ignore it and not go to the doctor and not pursue further tests. But then I worry it could be something real. If I knew it was just health anxiety, then I wouldn't be anxious in the first place.
I'm fine with tests like ultrasounds or blood tests or ECGs - all tests which are not invasive and have no radiation. I worry about x-rays and CT scans mainly. CT scans especially, as I've read they have v high levels of radiation.
I was wondering how other people with health anxiety manage this conflict of wanting to get things checked out and to know they're nothing versus fear of exposing yourself to radiation etc when it might not be necessary?