Anxiety causing symptoms

[Mandyhieronimus]

I have had multiple health concerns lately and I know my anxiety plays a HUGE part in it all. I’m just wondering if anyone has ever convinced themselves that they are having symptoms after reading about different diseases. I have read about people doing that but I wanted to hear firsthand from some real people who may have done this.
My latest stems from a breast cancer scare that I had that lasted over a year, I’m pretty much over all of that when I get a weird tingling sensation on and off under my lower lip. So what do I do? Well, I google of course! And what comes up? Something called numb chin syndrome that happens when you have metastatic breast cancer! It’s a very poor prognosis so I of course just knew I was dying. So that was about a month and a half ago and since then I’ve had random tingling and reduced sensation in my chin. It’s also happened all over my face and head but anytime it happens in my chin I start flipping out and thinking I’m dying. I’m exhausted from worrying about it all the time. It’s gotten so out of hand that I check my chin by placing hot and cold things on it to make sure I can feel it and pricking my chin in spots to make sure I haven’t lost feeling. Please tell me I’m not the only one that convinced themselves of having things until you have symptoms. I don’t even know if I’m imagining it bc I’ve convinced myself I have this or if I really do, in fact, have loss of sensation.

[Vixen5]

Hey,

You aren't alone.

This happens to me all the time, although slightly differently. I tend to start with a small pain in my chest (probably the result of anxiety in the first place) and then I start to think to myself... "i hope I don't get a pain in my arm because that's a symptom of a heart attack" and then of course, the next thing I know, I have aches in my arm or hot sweats and palpitations.

I think it's quite common with health anxiety and anxiety in general, and although it is scary in the moment, I try to just breath through it and take my mind off it until I don't feel it any more.

[flappergirl]

Yes, my anxiety causes me symptoms which I then worry about, which in turn makes the symptoms worse. And so I worry more and so on. It’s a vicious circle.

Often it is hard for me to identify that it is anxiety. I am always surprised to find out from docs that it is fortunately all ok and in my head. I never used to be like this. I don’t feel I worry about things before I get symptoms and then the HA jumps in. I think that I internalise stress rather than dealing with things. I’m just adding to the pile and then my body will suddenly throw up some random symptom. I don’t get the same one, it just moves around my body so I go through it all again every time. Because it is new, because i have physical symptoms I stress and then end up going to GP and getting more stressed with the checks. It is exhausting and a big waste of my energy and I wish i dealt with things better. I am trying.


Good luck to you

[GiantMogwai]

Might just be tension in your chin from grinding your teeth or clenching your jaw which commonly happens with stress. Also stress alone can cause tension which can cause some tingling. Tension headaches are another example of this sort of thing.