one obsession after another

[kellie39]

hi
do you go from one obsession to another with your health anxiety?

ive never had anxiety before and 6 weeks ago i got in a panic over a pain in my rib and convinced myself i had cancer, went to my docs and she reassured me everything was fine but i have had this anxiety ever since.

i spent 3 weeks in bed worrying and suffering from random aches, niggles and sensations. that calmed down and now im worried about my bowels (looser than normal) and the shakes internal and external shakes. im hoping these are normal for anxiety and will settle down.


do you worry about one thing after the other?

[Worrywart528]

Kellie, That is my life ! It started when I was around 10-12 years old and watched a special on HIV. I noticed a band aid stuck to my shoe on the playground and that summer was my first bout of health anxiety. From that point on I worried about HIV, Parkinsons, ALS, MS, Cancer, Cancer, Cancer.... any time I got a new girlfriend and we hooked up I worried about HIV, STD's.... its a disgusting cycle that I have never been able to break. I do not know how old you are but get help soon.


I wish I would have started working with someone in my teens and 20's. I could have enjoyed more of my life. I have now taken the first step at 35 years old to speak with a therapist.

[kellie39]

Kellie, That is my life ! It started when I was around 10-12 years old and watched a special on HIV. I noticed a band aid stuck to my shoe on the playground and that summer was my first bout of health anxiety. From that point on I worried about HIV, Parkinsons, ALS, MS, Cancer, Cancer, Cancer.... any time I got a new girlfriend and we hooked up I worried about HIV, STD's.... its a disgusting cycle that I have never been able to break. I do not know how old you are but get help soon.


I wish I would have started working with someone in my teens and 20's. I could have enjoyed more of my life. I have now taken the first step at 35 years old to speak with a therapist.

im 45 and never had it like this before, i can think of 2 occasions in the last 10 years that i might have got worried about something and gone the docs for reassurance and then i was fine but for some reason this time it gripped me and im finding it hard to shift. im on the waiting list for cbt and im looking at taking 5- htp or something like that to help.

i hope you manage to help soon
xx

[CoraB]

My story is similar but for much longer. For years i have had a few things which worried me like getting cancer or MS but i was always able to keep it in the background and reassurance from a doctor was enough. Then I had all kinds of symptoms following a miscarriage and since then its been one thing after another just lurching from anxiety to anxiety.

Kellie39 I am suffering with aches and pains and feel like I am trembling too.

[kellie39]

My story is similar but for much longer. For years i have had a few things which worried me like getting cancer or MS but i was always able to keep it in the background and reassurance from a doctor was enough. Then I had all kinds of symptoms following a miscarriage and since then its been one thing after another just lurching from anxiety to anxiety.

Kellie39 I am suffering with aches and pains and feel like I am trembling too.

things were calming down for me and i felt like i was slowly making progress but the last couple of days havent been too good. its the shaking that im obsessed with today, im not even sure they are that bad but the more i watch my hands the more i notice them.
i know shakes and digestive problems are part of anxiety but i was hoping they would have got better by now as im not as panicky as i was.

hope you calmer soon
xx

[stressedanxious]

I am always going through one thing to the other, I hate this so much, I can't take this. ITs so scary. I am so scared of getting a disease. I am so scared of dying. I can't take this :((

[uru]

do you worry about one thing after the other?

Yes. It's debilitating. It's been really bad for the last week and quite bad for the last 3 years.

I'm not really sure what to do.

[Lifelonganxiety!]

Symptom hopping and diagnosing yourself with a different illness all the time is the hallmark of health anxiety.

Probably the best thing you can do, and it's said often, is to not Google symptoms. You'll convince yourself you have something serious when there's nothing much wrong with you other than stress.

If a symptom gets bad, you'll know it and won't need Google to tell you. At that point you can go get checked out. But 99 times out of 100, a little time and a calmer mind will miraculously "cure" your symptom.

[Worrywart528]

im 45 and never had it like this before, i can think of 2 occasions in the last 10 years that i might have got worried about something and gone the docs for reassurance and then i was fine but for some reason this time it gripped me and im finding it hard to shift. im on the waiting list for cbt and im looking at taking 5- htp or something like that to help.

i hope you manage to help soon
xx

I am mess... I have severe ocd and it fuels my health anxiety. If I'm focused on something positive it's a different story. The winter and fall has always been bad for me.

[kellie39]

this is just so horrible isnt it.
i really hope things improve for everyone soon.

xx

[Khimono]

Yep, I'm exactly the same. Around 7 weeks ago I had a dizzy spell at work. It really freaked me out, I went to the bathroom to take a moment to myself and I've had this dizzy/lightheaded brain fog ever since.

That was the beginning of it all for me. 8 weeks a go I started googling, not knowing that's the worth thing one can do. I diagnosed myself with brain tumors, cancer, candida, Lyme's disease etc etc.

For the last few days I have also being shaking a LOT. If I rest my hands on my desk it disappears (though I still feel shakey internally) but trying to hold a cup is useless.

I know that I need to calm my mind and allow some time for the physical symptoms to pass with it but its hard to sustain a calm mind for days/weeks when I keep focussing on my brani fog & trembles.

[Haylee.a]

This has been the story of my life for the past 6 weeks!!! Health anxiety has got to be one of the worst I have ever experienced before to be honest worst than any other anxiety because either way your convinced your going to die of something serious either way and it's normally cancer than pops up on google!!! Yes good old Google!!! When we notice something different with our body's we need an answer NOW!!! So Google is our quick fix option!!!! I've literally convinced myself I have 4 different cancers in the space of 6 weeks!! Lost so much weight because of it which then made me google that which then tells you you have lukemia! Then I google bruised legs!! Again that comes up lukemia! So I then decided to look at the other symptoms and notice I have a few....... Then that rush of fear rushes over you!!!! I've asked the doctors if I have it etc and they said I'm very very anxious!!! But you know when your still not convinced? And your convinced your dying of a deadly disease and they haven't detected it? Im sure you can all relate to this feeling lol

[honeybun44]

It's awful. I am just bouncing around like a lunatic.

I'm ALWAYS obsessed with breast cancer. After I finally convince myself that what I'm feeling is normal tissue and not a lump, I start worrying about Inflammatory Breast Cancer because of redness or a variety of other things.

This morning my daughter woke up with a sore shoulder. Most people would just leave it at "a sore shoulder" instead of some kind of bone cancer. Then, she had a blue lollipop yesterday that stained her mouth and and she has a blue spot on her lip this morning that NOTHING will take off. I started worrying about oral cancer.

I've diagnosed myself with every kind of cancer imaginable. Heart disease, alzheimers...so much. I just started taking Effexor and have woken up the past two nights in sweat. Yeah, nothing to worry about THERE.:wacko:

It's one thing after another. Exhausting. You are not alone!