Severe Googling Anxiety

[HopelessWorrier2011]

Hello All, I posted a thread recently about a hard immobile pea sized lump which has appeared behind my ear and health anxiety has totally consumed me and I can't stop googling (a major symptom of my anxiety) I'm so scared right now and cannot reason with myself not self comfort. Every time a new ailment appears I believe that this is really it. I'm petrified to go to the Dr's but know it's the only way to reassure myself, my head feel like jelly and I feel like I'm losing my grip. Sorry for the rant but I am having a real wobble today x

[coco88]

ive had to start limiting how many times i go on google in a day now beacuse of my health anxiety. your not alone in this.
i know its scary going to the doctors but honestly its the best thing to do.
knowing exactly whats going on gives you a sense of more control and helps you to understand a lot more than what google does.
whatever ailments you may have google will only give you the worse case scenario. google has just become an enemy for us with anxiety.
having saying all that i totally understand what you mean, sometimes i just cant seem to tell myself im fine.
this week ive made myself believe i have lung cancer. and so ive got to keep away from google until i see my GP or ill go crazy.

as for the pea sized lump behind your ear, im sure is fine hun, probably nothing more than some sort of build up of fluid etc.
i had one for many years on my ear lobe. turns out to be a cyst that just greelw. totally safe and nothing to worry about.
but you know going to the doc's and getting checked will help you be more reassures than what you are now.

good luck hun. chin up. you can do this x

[shirlp]

I was going to say probably a cyst but I'd get it checked out.. I'm not keen on going to the drz as I feel they just think" oh no not her again wasting our time" but I wouldn't rest if I don't.. Google is definitely a no no for health anxiety sufferers..

[HopelessWorrier2011]

Thank you for ur comments. They both make perfect sense in my irrational mind x

---------- Post added at 11:42 ---------- Previous post was at 10:12 ----------

I've been to the Dr and confirmed its a swollen lymph node, never checked my throat, eat or temperature for infection. Told me if it gets painful or bigger to go back, I don't feel satisfied nor reassured. Am I being unreasonable?

[Mindknot]

I had a big google problem, I was able to ease off it like this:

1/ If you have to google, add +anxiety +nomorepanic to your search whatever it is, and see just how many other people have ever been anxious about your symptom.

2/ This sounds a bit crazy, but I downloaded a funny picture of an animal and stuck it on my phone's background - it made me feel good to look at it, even laugh sometimes - at first it was to distract me from googling, eventually it sort of became a reminder i.e. "don't google health anxiety stuff because this monkey is watching you".

3/ I found a more productive outlet for any time I do spend online, in my case a forum related to a hobby. In the early days of giving up Googling it's good to be away from triggers, so something like facebook just didn't work for me.

Try and concentrate on the one objective (not googling) for the next couple of weeks & I think that you will find yourself trusting what the doctor says more, because he/she is the qualified one.

[HopelessWorrier2011]

Mind knot, thank you very much for your sensible advice. I hope I eventually get this anxiety under control as its ruining my life! :-( x

[LilGsMama]

I was about to Google something but I came on here instead!! :yesyes:

[shirlp]

I'm too scared to use Google lol..

[LilGsMama]

I'm too scared to use Google lol..
Best way to be!! I come straight on to here now when I'm tempted.. Google has put all sorts of ideas in to my head which has caused me no end of grief! :blush:

[GingerFish]

I done this when I found a lump behind my jaw bone and then one lower down in my neck I knew I was just by with a bad infection and they were probably lymph nodes but I couldn't stop Googling. I blame my OCD for that as I have been very obsessive over my health even since a child when my OCD first started. I literally spent hours each day, say around 6/7 hours Googling and I even gave up studying to Google my lump and symptoms. I was utterly consumed. Of course, all I got was "its lymphoma!" and all that jazz which only made me 1000 times worse and put me off going to the doctor even more. After being like this for about 3 months, I finally went to the doc and of course, I got told they were lymph nodes and they were within a normal size and that they probably wont go back down due to me playing with them and touching them so often and 2 years on, they are still here and still the same size. I've never been so bad with Googling since, touch wood.

[artist12]

Hi there! I'm dealing with the same thing right now. I've been having neck and ear pain on the right side for about fix months now and a few days ago found a sudden hard lump right behind my ear and what I think is one about halfway down on the side of my neck.

Of course I went into full panic mode and spent probably about 6 hours yesterday Googling. I got literally stick to my stomach by the end of it and finally got myself together and went to my mom's house for a distraction...it helped!

Like the others have said, I try to come here when I want to Google, or add "no more panic" to my search term to try to remind myself I'm not alone and my symptoms don't have to mean something catastrophic.

Good luck to you! Being active on this forum has helped me sooo much, feel free to reach out directly!

[HopelessWorrier2011]

Thank you everybody, this forum has let me keep what little sanity I have left at the minute. I truly wouldn't wish HA on my worst enemy. Take me back to my youth when I had rationality oozzzziinng out of me! xxx

[bethel777]

I know how you feel. My health anxiety started about 4 months ago when I found a lump in my arm pit. Went to the doctor, she said it was about the size of a walnut and scheduled an ultra sound. Lump got smaller but I still went for the ultrasound and they confirmed lymph node. That was about 2 months ago and I have another ultrasound next week to confirm it's still shrinking. My doctor isn't at all concerned. I also went to another doctor and he wasn't concerned either. I should also say I have had lymph node issues for years. I have lymph nodes in my collarbone that I can feel and 1 of which is actually visible when I turn my head a certain way. Talk about frightening. They are both about 1 cm. 1 I've had for probably 15 years or longer the other it's been months but I couldn't say for sure when it started. I also have one under my ear. So, I can relate. Google is not your friend when it comes to lymph nodes.

[mourningdove]

Everyone has lymph nodes, or else you wouldn't be able to fight off infections. I can feel the ones on either side of my groin. Always have been able to. As far as I'm concerned, if I don't wake up with one looking like a grapefruit, it's fine. Anxiety is weird. Lymph nodes are not weird.

[Beckie4567]

We have all been there u will beat this as will I �� wish u all the best

[Jinaiya]

I google a lot. It was getting bad that my husband disabled the internet on my smartphone.

When I google I often self-diagnose and walk away "knowing" that I have it all figured out based on what I read.

I've had headaches for about 3 months now and began googling about 1 month in. It's only recently that I've discovered (acknowledged) that I don't just look up "headache". It's "headache brain tumour". Every time I get a new symptom it's "xxx brain tumour" - most recently to last night when I woke up with an ear ache. This morning I googled "ear ache brain tumour". I assume the worst and go from there. I will in fact by pass the other possibilities and go straight to the death sentence. I've always been that way.

One evening about 3 weeks ago, I had a particularly rough go. I was reading one woman's story about her battle with a brain tumor. She had said (I'm paraphrasing here) in a comment about her symptoms before she knew what it was: "Am I becoming a hypochondriac? Why the headaches, vertigo, neck pains and zig zags in my vision?" ... Well, my entire body went cold, because I have all of those symptoms except for the zig zags. It was as though I were suddenly this woman, like it was my story! Her seizure was what finally alerted the doctors to take her seriously, 3 years after her symptoms first began. I had to go sit outside and get some fresh air I was so upset. I cried for well over an hour... So here I sit... basically waiting for this seizure that may or may not happen because in spite of my certainty, the reality is that I may or may not have a brain tumour.

I hope it is okay with you that I share my story here. I'm not trying to hijack your post... it just feels good to open up about my obsessions to people that maybe can relate. My husband is beyond tired of me talking about my illness.

Warm wishes,

Kristina

---------- Post added at 22:37 ---------- Previous post was at 22:34 ----------



Like the others have said, I try to come here when I want to Google, or add "no more panic" to my search term to try to remind myself I'm not alone

That is excellent! I really should try that!