Constantly searching the web for answers

[Thelegend27]

First I'd like to say that I like to post threads here in the hopes of reaching out to people in need like I was for several years but in my case I didn't have much support or a helping hand I fought this battle mostly alone and so I hate to see others go without help.

If you're anything like me you turn to the internet to research any and every symptom, this actually has a name its called cyberchondria, its the act of searching the web compulsively looking for reassurance.

For me i love to take my experiences and pay them forward with the hopes of helping someone, because although we may have different worries, in the end we all are alike, we all share this overwhelming feeling of doom.

Now i have not found a solution to this problem, but i have learned the reason for most of the anxiety, and that is the internet, had the internet never existed i probably would have never developed health anxiety or at least not to the degree i have it today.

Bottom line is stay off health sites and stop searching google, because the symptoms you read about can be linked to tons of benign conditions or normal bodily functions, a head ache can mean a brain tumor sure this is true, but its highly unlikely, a head ache has many many causes that are benign but you will only accept the negative results found online. Lymph nodes can swell and stay swollen for the rest of your life, swollen nodes rarely indicate cancer, no matter what the size is, if size meant cancer most people in the world would have cancer, in fact in a primary care setting swollen lymph nodes have a 0.4% chance to be cancer under the age of 40, and only 4% chance over the age of 40. Heart palpitations are almost always benign as well in fact I've never met anyone who has never experienced palpitations. What I'm trying to say is if you're rational you can easily distinguish between worrisome symptoms and normal or benign conditions or symptoms.

I've been doing this a long time, and it has consumed my entire life, I constantly tell myself I have cancer and that I won't be around much longer, and for what? When I sit and really think about it I realize that I have no rational reason for these assumptions, I just have a few small palpable nodes, a clear blood count and ultrasound should provide some reassurance or at least for a rational thinker.

We are not put on this earth to worry about tomorrow, we can spend our days worrying about cancer or some other deadly disease only to die in a car accident next week, we need to take it one day at a time and focus on the moment and worry about tomorrow when it comes, that's the key to happiness.

I'll tell you what, write down your symptoms exactly as you experience them, and then read them back to yourself as if someone else had wrote it and ask yourself does these sound like serious symptoms, and think about what you would say to that person, I bet you will see that your way of thinking is completely distorted by your anxiety.

I hope we can one day find a solution and finally live life as it is meant to be lived.

We have a lot of rain coming in and when it passes I will be kayaking a very rough creek because the water will be very high and strong, and I'm doing this because I want to have fun, no matter if I have 1 year left or 70 I want to live every day as if it was the last day I'll ever see the sun rise.

Good luck everyone and best wished much love from here stay healthy and think positive.

[HAtothemax]

Good advice, thank you for sharing! I agree that if it weren't for the internet I would also not have HA. I have a feeling many doctors wish there weren't so many health sites out there, especially those symptom checker type ones!

[Thelegend27]

I'm glad I could help. I've actually heard doctors talk about the risk those sites carry to ones mental health. We just have access to so much information and we know nothing about what we are reading we just assume we fit the description.

[swajj]

What happened to the therapy you were definitely going to get?

You always post threads claiming you want to "share" your experiences with others in the hopes of helping them. Then the next minute you are starting a thread about your latest health concern. I don't want to come across as picking on you so I will just say, as someone who is recovered and from what I've witnessed from you over the last few months you are far from recovered. So. so far from recovered...

Therapy. Stop pretending you don't need it and book an appointment.

[Thelegend27]

I actually have an appointment booked with my doctor, since I lack good insurance it takes me longer to see anyone. But I never claim to be recovered, i just like to express to people how bad there situation can get if they don't control it now by sharing my my experiences it helps to paint a picture of how bad your quality of life can get.

Had I known how bad things would get mentally when I first started worrying I would have took action much sooner and that's what I try to get across to people and hope that they get help ASAP.

I don't mean to offend anyone, but yes I still post about my fears because I am still in fear.

But yes I will be seeing my doctor on the 27th of this month who will give me a referral to a therapist, my plans have not changed, it's just I have to wait a little longer than some people.

[MyNameIsTerry]

But don't you think the anxiety is the real reason and the Internet is only part of the problem?

Why don't we all develop HA? I don't have it and can use medical sites without any issues. If the internet were really the issue, how can I not have HA.

What about HA before the internet? It existed. We had medical books.

To recover from HA will mean changing how you view things, developing adaptive strategy. Not avoiding. Avoidance will still mean anxiety is underneath don't you think?

I understand where you are coming from but I think you have to be careful not pick the wrong root cause when devising a strategy. It can mean missing the true problem if you see what I mean?

I agree with swajj.

[Darwin73]

I don't think the Internet is the problem. I've had HA since I was a child (way before the web) and used to read medical books in the library. Later, I worked in a variety of teaching hospitals and had access to a plethora of medical journals and text books. There are always ways to access information.

[worriermama]

Of course the internet is not THE root of the problem, but I think what OP is getting at (and I agree with him) is that the ease with which we are now able to access MASSIVE amounts of information (both accurate and inaccurate) at the stroke of a key is certainly fuel for the fire that is health anxiety.

It's true that the sooner we stop our googling, the better. Unfortunately I didn't figure this out until I'd been struggling with HA for many years. As a result I have a near encyclopedic knowledge of various exotic and terrifying medical conditions.

Sure, the internet is not the cause of the mental illness, but it certainly gives our minds more material with which to play than is healthy.

[Darwin73]

Now i have not found a solution to this problem, but i have learned the reason for most of the anxiety, and that is the internet, had the internet never existed i probably would have never developed health anxiety

But the OP was also postulating that if there was no internet, they wouldn't have developed HA. I had HA prior to the internet and having the net has not made it worse. In fact, arguably, reading text books and journals is more frightening as they have to be carefully checked and peer-reviewed, whereas anyone can post on the web and we have no way of checking their credentials.

[MyNameIsTerry]

But the OP was also postulating that if there was no internet, they wouldn't have developed HA. I had HA prior to the internet and having the net has not made it worse. In fact, arguably, reading text books and journals is more frightening as they have to be carefully checked and peer-reviewed, whereas anyone can post on the web and we have no way of checking their credentials.

The OP mentioned it may not have developed or to the level it has. Whilst that may be true, it's also very possible it would develop without the internet as you found.

All it may take is a done of stress in life, a bereavement, etc and it can impact on your mental health.

I question whether this new cyberchondria is more of a distraction from the true issue and I think the OP needs to be careful about that.

[Thelegend27]

I completely agree with you Terry, I was simply saying that my HA started once I gained knowledge from the internet, but of course the internet isn't the cause for everyone's HA.

I've always has some form of anxiety, but reading online is what triggered the HA in me.

Half baked information is everywhere, some websites say that you need to worry about particular symptom while my doctor tells me otherwise, and I think ill take my doctors word over some anonymous person who wrote an article who may not even be medically educated.

But you make good points, the internet may not be the root cause but rather the internet just triggered a problem I didn't know existed before hand.

HA to me is a mental illness, and does need therapy at some people depending on the severity, that is why I will be seeing a therapist soon.

[MyNameIsTerry]

That's the best thing to invest in. Self help is very important but it's hard going and having someone trained who can guide you is a greater helper. As time goes on they back away and tend to ask you more what you think is the way to resolve something so that your are learning to go it alone.

There's definitely no getting around the internet being a big catalyst as you say. It's not just HA either, the media whip up lots of division and the endless stuff about possible wars & terrorism feeds the anxiety of non HAers (I used to struggle with that).

I think eventually you need to be able to use anything you want and not feel fear. But that's a fair journey and initially cutting ties may be needed. It can be the way to step out of an obsessive cycle which was what you talked about. Just having a reduction in immediate anxiety can be quite a relied when it's fever pitch. A break in a cycle can mean you feel more in control of your thoughts and stop it escalating again so easily which is the same when we use distraction.

It's only like how compulsions reinforce the obsession. Giving something importance. And breaking the chain between obsession & compulsion means you stop feeding It and the subconscious starts to learn you don't need to react to this fear.

Googling is always a strange way to reassurance seek since you end scaring yourself even more. That just tells the subconscious you are right to be afraid. So, what you say about stopping it & essentially learning to tolerate the anxiety is spot on and your therapist will be encouraging it. Eventually that anxiety will go.

It's a lesson to us all anyway. We spend so much time online these days. I was reading an article by a journalist who detached from all news and only looked at positive stuff for a few weeks and he said his mood naturally became much more calm & positive. That in a non anxious person will obviously translate to us too.

Good luck with the therapy.

[Sparky16]

When I was a young'un, I used to bike to the library and look at the medical reference books there. There was less material easily available then, but the Internet didn't create the problem. I will say, you can sure spend a lot more time doing this with the Internet though, because there is so much more out there. Now I can spend an entire weekend reading scary medical stuff!

Terry mentioned the news, and interestingly, I really restrict my access to the news to headlines and the occasional article when I really need to know more. I have an idea of what is going on, but I don't read the entire paper like I did years ago. It's just too stressful to know all the details about stuff I can't directly do anything about. I'm not sure how much I could do that with medical stuff. We do need to be informed, to some extent.

[swajj]

I was a bit different to most HA Googlers (for want of a better term lol). I didn't search out symptoms to confirm that I had whatever illness I suspected. I searched illnesses in the hope that the symptoms I had were not known symptoms of those illnesses. They usually weren't but there was no joy in that because soon after I would develop the symptoms of the illness I was trying to reassure myself I didn't have. Power of suggestion and all that. So stupid.

[nhelen79]

Thank you for your words. I also want to thank all the members on this forum. You have helped me A LOT in managing my anxiety

[Thelegend27]

The people on this forum really are good people and they do help a lot, unlike most of our doctors, they have experienced things personally so they can provide really valuable information when it comes to distinguishing between a serious symptom and a normal bodily function or even a benign condition, with that said you should still always see your doctor for your concerns because your doctor knows more and he can see you in person the people here can only give advice and not diagnosis because we are not doctors we can only relate to others if we have had the same experience.

Although people on here have not cured me of my anxiety I do not expect them to but they have still helped a lot at reducing my anxiety and for that I am thankful and id love to pay that forward.

[NancyW]

I remember scouring medical books before we had the internet.
I found a way to feed the beast.

[Fishmanpa]

In retrospect, I recall in my youth (we had push button corded phones... yeah, I'm old!) seeing people in the library reading and then poking and prodding... must have been sufferers reading medical journals :)

Positive thoughts

[Darwin73]

Half baked information is everywhere, some websites say that you need to worry about particular symptom while my doctor tells me otherwise, and I think ill take my doctors word over some anonymous person who wrote an article who may not even be medically educated.

Yes, I always try to bear this in mind: when I did my Masters degree, part of my research was evaluating the quality of medical information on the Internet. At the time, I looked at over 50 sites and a significant number were shown not to have a high degree of accuracy.

[Mav]

First I'd like to say that I like to post threads here in the hopes of reaching out to people in need like I was for several years but in my case I didn't have much support or a helping hand I fought this battle mostly alone and so I hate to see others go without help.

If you're anything like me you turn to the internet to research any and every symptom, this actually has a name its called cyberchondria, its the act of searching the web compulsively looking for reassurance.

For me i love to take my experiences and pay them forward with the hopes of helping someone, because although we may have different worries, in the end we all are alike, we all share this overwhelming feeling of doom.

Now i have not found a solution to this problem, but i have learned the reason for most of the anxiety, and that is the internet, had the internet never existed i probably would have never developed health anxiety or at least not to the degree i have it today.

Bottom line is stay off health sites and stop searching google, because the symptoms you read about can be linked to tons of benign conditions or normal bodily functions, a head ache can mean a brain tumor sure this is true, but its highly unlikely, a head ache has many many causes that are benign but you will only accept the negative results found online. Lymph nodes can swell and stay swollen for the rest of your life, swollen nodes rarely indicate cancer, no matter what the size is, if size meant cancer most people in the world would have cancer, in fact in a primary care setting swollen lymph nodes have a 0.4% chance to be cancer under the age of 40, and only 4% chance over the age of 40. Heart palpitations are almost always benign as well in fact I've never met anyone who has never experienced palpitations. What I'm trying to say is if you're rational you can easily distinguish between worrisome symptoms and normal or benign conditions or symptoms.

I've been doing this a long time, and it has consumed my entire life, I constantly tell myself I have cancer and that I won't be around much longer, and for what? When I sit and really think about it I realize that I have no rational reason for these assumptions, I just have a few small palpable nodes, a clear blood count and ultrasound should provide some reassurance or at least for a rational thinker.

We are not put on this earth to worry about tomorrow, we can spend our days worrying about cancer or some other deadly disease only to die in a car accident next week, we need to take it one day at a time and focus on the moment and worry about tomorrow when it comes, that's the key to happiness.

I'll tell you what, write down your symptoms exactly as you experience them, and then read them back to yourself as if someone else had wrote it and ask yourself does these sound like serious symptoms, and think about what you would say to that person, I bet you will see that your way of thinking is completely distorted by your anxiety.

I hope we can one day find a solution and finally live life as it is meant to be lived.

We have a lot of rain coming in and when it passes I will be kayaking a very rough creek because the water will be very high and strong, and I'm doing this because I want to have fun, no matter if I have 1 year left or 70 I want to live every day as if it was the last day I'll ever see the sun rise.

Good luck everyone and best wished much love from here stay healthy and think positive.

Beautifully written and wondeful post. I hope you're doing better now a days, it really is a struggle but I think even with this mental illness, there is a profund insight to be found with in it all (like with most things), you just have to dig for it. I think I, and like many others have found a sense of compassion and/ or the ability to understand and practice thankfulness for our health and well being (even if we doubt it daily).

Goojd job with this post :)

---------- Post added at 18:48 ---------- Previous post was at 18:46 ----------


I was a bit different to most HA Googlers (for want of a better term lol). I didn't search out symptoms to confirm that I had whatever illness I suspected. I searched illnesses in the hope that the symptoms I had were not known symptoms of those illnesses. They usually weren't but there was no joy in that because soon after I would develop the symptoms of the illness I was trying to reassure myself I didn't have. Power of suggestion and all that. So stupid.


Yes, I've done this, it's times like that the "ignorance is bliss" saying resinated with me more than it had ever done before in my lifetime.

[braginskaya]

I get this so much! Initially I avoided searching symptoms at all for fear that I'd discover something awful, but eventually I caved in and started googling for a sense of reassurance and it only made me feel worse because of course, whatever symptom you look up comes up with either cancer or some other progressive and fatal disease even though most of them are rare, especially for my age/demographic. Now I'm hooked on it when I know if I just left my little symptoms alone and vowed to see a doctor if (and ONLY if) they got worse I'd probably eventually forget about them and be fine.