Linking others' health with my own

[Katie55]

Is it classic HA to link another's disease or health issue with oneself? If I'm fixating on a medical condition and convinced that I have it, I seem to see it mentioned everywhere and take it as a sign.
Anyone else?

[chibear]

Yes. I’ve been there. One time when I was worried about lymphoma, I saw a lymphoma commercial air on tv and convinced myself it was a sign. I don’t have lymphoma, of course, but my HA made me believe I did. Just remember that it is your HA. The universe isn’t trying to tell you anything. Your HA is just probably making you notice those things more than you usually would.

[Mindprison]

You're more likely to pay attention to media that is related to your current worries.

They've always been there, you just haven't noticed them because you haven't been looking for them/worried about it.

[Katie55]

Thanks for your replies. Yes it does make sense that it's HA causing this feeling. My mind knows that underneath but of course that niggling feeling of "fate" comes to the surface!

[tryingtosurvive1]

yeah, people with HA do that a lot

[CG5246]

Yes, I have done this many times. The most recent case was a classmate of mine from middle school posted on Facebook about her stage IV melanoma. All of the sudden my HA was triggered and I thought about all the times I had not used sunscreen, how I went to a tanning salon for a month when I was 19, and how I have a few "weird" looking moles.

I made an appointment with the dermatologist and she took pictures of a few moles but said they were all completely normal and fine, and she'll see me in a year.

So yep, it's all the HA :doh:

---------- Post added at 12:44 ---------- Previous post was at 12:36 ----------

Also the opposite case where I was already worried about an illness: I was on my way to my gynecologist for a breast exam because they felt very lumpy to me, and I was worried that I had breast cancer. While I was driving to this appointment, a radio commercial comes on the air talking about how it's important to get breast exams. This made me worry even more because I thought it was a "sign".

I went to the appointment and had a physical exam and an ultrasound of both breasts and there was absolutely nothing wrong with my breasts. No masses, no cancer.

It's all HA!

[axolotl]

Is it classic HA to link another's disease or health issue with oneself? If I'm fixating on a medical condition and convinced that I have it, I seem to see it mentioned everywhere and take it as a sign.
Anyone else?

It's just confirmation bias, once you start subconsciously looking you'll start noticing things more and see significance in it. If you started thinking about, say, people eating crisps, you'd suddenly start seeing more people walking down the street eating crisps. There aren't more of them, it isn't a sign, is just your brain has been told it's something to notice and treat as significant

[Katie55]

Thanks everyone, all makes sense. I used to think when I was at school that if I learned a new word I suddenly heard it all the time so this is an extension of that

[axolotl]

Thanks everyone, all makes sense. I used to think when I was at school that if I learned a new word I suddenly heard it all the time so this is an extension of that

That's exactly the same thing. :)

[Bastett]

Oh yes, I can relate! My recent bout of HA madness began when I saw an article about some musician I went to university together. He drove me home from parties once or twice. An article said that he is battling cancer, there was a picture of him without hair and eyebrows. It wasn't specified which cancer he had but that he had found a lump on his body and it turned out malignant.

So I took it as a "sign" that I have something like that too. Since I didn't know what cancer he had, I couldn't concentrate on just one and went into madness about many of them. First being oral cancer because of a lump I felt on my soft palate. Got it checked by a professional oral pathology oncologist, it wasn't even a lump. Then my neck lymph nodes acted on and I thought lymphoma and practically read all the information on internet which concerns lymphoma in pregnancy... Then right when I became pregnant I had small multiple petechiae form on both of my upper arms when I strained or coughed, or scrubbed my skin.. So my mind jumped to leukemia, given the lymph nodes and petechiae. Petechiae can also be caused by increase in blood volume from pregnancy, that I also read, but of course my mind concentrated on the worst case scenario. My blood work came back fine and nothing was off so leukemia fear was dismissed by my doctor right away. She also said I did not have lymphoma because, well, my lymph nodes did not seem enlarged to her. I didn't believe her. Then I thought throat cancer because I have sore throat from acid reflux. ENT said no cancer there. I found a lump in my breast and went to breast ultrasound ASAP and it was all clear, it is just breast changes due to my pregnancy, no lumps or masses. I did the ultrasound twice with different specialists just to be sure.

Then I went back to lymphoma thing because obviously I had run out of illnesses to be afraid of. Went to lymph node ultrasound and tadadadada, the BIGGEST of them all was 0.5 cm short axis, that is clinically insignificant and didn't raise any worries in doctor. In fact, none of my nodes had risen any worries in any of 4 or 5 doctors I visited because of them.

Now I am quite fine but still the thought of terrible illnesses linger in my mind because... I don't even know why!


During these 10 weeks I've thought I had 5 different types of cancer. I was convinced about every single one of them. I also have seen more commercials about cancer or news stories. I don't look at them, I don't open them because that makes me think that just reading about them would somehow make me contract them.

[Fishmanpa]

Just a look at the trends on the boards affirms that. You should have seen it during the ebola scare! :huh: Nodes, moles and all the diseases du jour seem to come in cycles as they trigger others.

Positive thoughts