View Full Version : This is getting old now..
Hello!
I've finally made an account here after years of reading the forums (which have helped me a lot previously!), it is currently 2:13am here lol. I've had health anxiety since I was 12/13 and I'm 17 now with (hopefully) a good future to look forward to. However, health anxiety is holding me back, whenever I'm excited about something I suddenly have thoughts like "oh my gosh, what if I get cancer before or die suddenly from an awful illness", do any of you guys have that happen to you too? Has anyone here managed to 'cure' their health anxiety?
p.s. I'm writing this right now because I just accidentally banged my head against my wall and suddenly had visions of death from trauma to my brain, dr. Google diagnosed me with a bleed on the brain and now I can't sleep in case I slip into a coma or something - I'd like to add I do not have a headache, I'm not dizzy and no nausea, the only weird thing that did happen was when I hit my head my teeth felt really weird? and my head kinda feels like it has some pressure or something on it.
Thanks for reading that lol, I might be able to sleep at some point tonight!
I relate to you a lot. Being 17 and I think I've had health anxiety since I was about 9. I worry about anything to do with health. Mental and physical. It really sucks especially at a young age.
I relate to you a lot. Being 17 and I think I've had health anxiety since I was about 9. I worry about anything to do with health. Mental and physical. It really sucks especially at a young age.
Thanks for the reply! I also find it really, really embarrassing and admire people who can just brush off health related things. Have you found anything that helps ease the anxiety? I usually have to tell someone about it or go to the doctors but I feel like I'm wasting the doctors time if I do that.
I mean I have OCD and reassurance is like the biggest relief but it's never a cure. As for goon gn to the doctor oh sometimes I really want to but I usually suck it up.
Well, I am not seventeen (try doubling it and add a few more years!), but I have had HA since I was a young child and one thing I would say, with the benefit of hindsight, is please don't spend the next 20-30 years worrying whether you will get this or that. Google wasn't around when I was a teen, but I wasted plenty of time in the library reading medical text books and self-diagnosing stuff when I should have been out having fun. If I could go back and speak to my younger self, I would say, "hey, you're only young once. Make the most of it because your youth is something you will never get back." My younger self would probably look at me with disdain and insist that there really was something to worry about, but really, if you look at all the statistics, the chances of you acquiring a serious illness at your age are so slim. Hope you manage to get some sleep.
I mean I have OCD and reassurance is like the biggest relief but it's never a cure. As for goon gn to the doctor oh sometimes I really want to but I usually suck it up.
Yeah, I definitely have the reassurance thing, it freaking sucks cause I feel like I'm annoying the people around me. I hope it gets better for you soon. :)
---------- Post added at 13:07 ---------- Previous post was at 13:02 ----------
Well, I am not seventeen (try doubling it and add a few more years!), but I have had HA since I was a young child and one thing I would say, with the benefit of hindsight, is please don't spend the next 20-30 years worrying whether you will get this or that. Google wasn't around when I was a teen, but I wasted plenty of time in the library reading medical text books and self-diagnosing stuff when I should have been out having fun. If I could go back and speak to my younger self, I would say, "hey, you're only young once. Make the most of it because your youth is something you will never get back." My younger self would probably look at me with disdain and insist that there really was something to worry about, but really, if you look at all the statistics, the chances of you acquiring a serious illness at your age are so slim. Hope you manage to get some sleep.
Thank you so much for this reply. I'm sorry you've had to go through this for such a long time, I can't imagine what that's been like. I'll definitely take this advice and I think I really needed to read that as I've never thought about the future of my health anxiety and how long it'll affect my life. Is there anything that helped you manage it? And I finally did get to sleep, thank you haha. Still alive! My head doesn't even hurt so I'll reckon I'll be okay! Again, thanks a lot for this reply, it means a lot to me.
I've had issues like this before. I was anxious for about a year because I thought my lymph nodes were swollen all the time, and I convinced myself I had cancer. My worries stopped when I eventually had the bottle to go to the doctor. I also had a similar issue when I had a dull ache in my testicles, and I thought I had cancer again. I never went to the doctor about that but thankfully the ache went away eventually.
Now I haven't had this kind of health anxiety for many years. I think the reason is my diet. I trust the food I eat if that makes sense?
Green tea (lots of it), garlic, ginger, berries, wheatgrass, red wine, dark chocolate, broccoli, apples, mint tea, etc. 'Super foods' if you like, foods with loads of antioxidants and nutrients. Foods that have research behind then in helping to prevent cancer. And I sort of put my trust that the healthy stuff in this food will give me the best chance of not getting anything, or if I do get something they will give the best chance of overcoming it.
Not sure if I explained that right, but hope it helps.
That's definitely a really good idea, my diet honestly isn't the best. My mum is always trying to get me to eat healthier so maybe I should start making an effort. The only thing I really eat that is known to prevent cancer is tomatoes and sometimes I drink green tea (probably should drink more considering I actually really like it). Have you heard of matcha tea? Apparently that's really good for cancer prevention and just good for you in general. I've never tried it but I might give it a go now. Thank you very much for the reply, I'll definitely start trying to encorporate the things you mentioned in my diet.:)
No problem lunam. I just find drinking green tea and stuff like that just gives me piece of mind. Because I know its doing very healthy things behind the scenes. You just have to Google green tea benefits and you see everything it can do for you. And when you eat/drink other things like that it really feels like your body is getting everything it needs to protect you. So instead of causing yourself anxiety by googling symptoms of cancer etc, Google the benefits of the healthy stuff you eat, and it will make you feel much better :)
So basically putting faith in my diet is what helped with my health anxiety. :)
You're welcome lunam. I have kids of my own now (one is early teens) and I'd hate to think of them whiling away the hours worrying like I did. By the way, I am always going on at my kids to eat healthily and try to make sure they eat their 5 a day, even though they moan and groan at me for it:D
I can definitely relate to you, and I think some of my original posts here about 10 years ago (wow!) talk about how I would get excited and then I think something like, "ya, but eventually this all ends" and I would get sad in that moment. I'd always think eventually I would get a serious illness. Yes, it's still a fear of mine and I think most people have that fear but it's not at the forefront of their thoughts like it is for us.
Please try to enjoy each day, live in the moment. I've wasted so many days in the last 10 years depressed because I was sure I had just about every type of disease you can imagine. Chances are you google symptoms even if you only have those symptoms for a couple minutes. The worst case scenarios always pop up first.
I'm still trying to get better myself at health anxiety. Heck I'm currently posting about my calcium levels being high and have completely wasted the last week worrying about something that 99.9% is going to end up being fine. Then I think about people who, god bless them, are actually battling cancer and serious illness and they wake up with a better outlook on life than I do, what the heck is that? They are inspirational to me and then I think to myself, why am I wasting my time worrying? It won't change anything.
Just know that there are so many of us who feel just like you do, and hey, we are still here. Like I said, I first started posting here in 2006. Can you imagine how much time I've wasted thinking I was dying? Don't let that be you, enjoy being 17, you can't use the excuse "sorry, I'm young and stupid" forever! :roflmao:
Sorry for the long winded reply, I kinda got on a roll there, haha.
No problem lunam. I just find drinking green tea and stuff like that just gives me piece of mind. Because I know its doing very healthy things behind the scenes. You just have to Google green tea benefits and you see everything it can do for you. And when you eat/drink other things like that it really feels like your body is getting everything it needs to protect you. So instead of causing yourself anxiety by googling symptoms of cancer etc, Google the benefits of the healthy stuff you eat, and it will make you feel much better :)
So basically putting faith in my diet is what helped with my health anxiety. :)
I'm going to give this a go and see if it works for me! Hopefully it will as I do like knowing the benefits of the food that I'm eating haha. Again, thank you!
---------- Post added at 14:36 ---------- Previous post was at 14:34 ----------
You're welcome lunam. I have kids of my own now (one is early teens) and I'd hate to think of them whiling away the hours worrying like I did. By the way, I am always going on at my kids to eat healthily and try to make sure they eat their 5 a day, even though they moan and groan at me for it:D
Sounds like me with my parents haha, I'll actually make an effort to eat healthier now though!:D
---------- Post added at 14:44 ---------- Previous post was at 14:36 ----------
I can definitely relate to you, and I think some of my original posts here about 10 years ago (wow!) talk about how I would get excited and then I think something like, "ya, but eventually this all ends" and I would get sad in that moment. I'd always think eventually I would get a serious illness. Yes, it's still a fear of mine and I think most people have that fear but it's not at the forefront of their thoughts like it is for us.
Please try to enjoy each day, live in the moment. I've wasted so many days in the last 10 years depressed because I was sure I had just about every type of disease you can imagine. Chances are you google symptoms even if you only have those symptoms for a couple minutes. The worst case scenarios always pop up first.
I'm still trying to get better myself at health anxiety. Heck I'm currently posting about my calcium levels being high and have completely wasted the last week worrying about something that 99.9% is going to end up being fine. Then I think about people who, god bless them, are actually battling cancer and serious illness and they wake up with a better outlook on life than I do, what the heck is that? They are inspirational to me and then I think to myself, why am I wasting my time worrying? It won't change anything.
Just know that there are so many of us who feel just like you do, and hey, we are still here. Like I said, I first started posting here in 2006. Can you imagine how much time I've wasted thinking I was dying? Don't let that be you, enjoy being 17, you can't use the excuse "sorry, I'm young and stupid" forever! :roflmao:
Sorry for the long winded reply, I kinda got on a roll there, haha.
Hello! Thank you very much for this, it's comforting knowing I'm not alone with my irrational thoughts:roflmao: I definitely don't want to be like this for the next 10 years and I'm really sorry you've suffered with this for so long! I also look up to those who are currently suffering with some form of illness because they manage it so well and actually get on with their lives, it makes me feel so selfish sat here thinking "oh no, what if I get cancer" when I'm perfectly healthy.
I look forward to the future but also fear it in case things don't go to plan and something awful happens, but that's a mindset I'm definitely working to change! The "what if" mentallity isn't a very positive one lol. Again, thank you for replying, I really appriciate it! :)
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