View Full Version : Average age on here?
always scared
03-01-20, 18:51
I was just wondering the average age of us on here with extreme Health Anxiety . And is your HA getting worse as you age? I know mine is :weep:
nomorepanic
03-01-20, 19:03
But if you start treating it then you can be HA free in the future.
I’m 32. I’ve had it since I was really young but it was never extreme because I didn’t understand it much. But once I had a smartphone around 17ish that’s when I started symptom surfing etc and it got worse. It’s been 10x worse since having kids.
Nicola, did you ever have hypochondria? I’m curious because you sound so relaxed and chilled out lol. Did you get it treated?
glassgirlw
03-01-20, 19:08
I’m 40. Mine started at age 14-15. I went several years with no issues at all, but they’ve come back in the last five or so years. So I’m battling it back again!
nomorepanic
03-01-20, 19:42
Nicola, did you ever have hypochondria? I’m curious because you sound so relaxed and chilled out lol. Did you get it treated?
I don't allow myself to have it - if that makes sense.
I have so many health issues and am having so many tests for numerous health issues that I would be in a constant state of anxiety if I let things get me down.
I believe in "what will be will be". If I am ill then I have to deal with it but I refuse to let anxiety take over as it is so detrimental to my health and I have been told that stress is really not good for me so I just take things on board and let the professionals tell me what tests etc I need.
glassgirlw
03-01-20, 19:47
I don't allow myself to have it - if that makes sense.
I have so many health issues and am having so many tests for numerous health issues that I would be in a constant state of anxiety if I let things get me down.
I believe in "what will be will be". If I am ill then I have to deal with it but I refuse to let anxiety take over as it is so detrimental to my health and I have been told that stress is really not good for me so I just take things on board and let the professionals tell me what tests etc I need.
this is the level I want to get to and what I’m constantly working towards!!
nomorepanic
03-01-20, 19:55
It can be done trust me.
There is no point fighting a constant worry as that makes your health even worse. Vicious circle.
glassgirlw
03-01-20, 20:11
I totally agree. I know I’ve come a long way since I started. But it’s a constant work in progress. I guess as long as I keep moving in the right direction then that’s positive!
This is such a great response. I would love to be able to be this way as well.
I don't allow myself to have it - if that makes sense.
I have so many health issues and am having so many tests for numerous health issues that I would be in a constant state of anxiety if I let things get me down.
I believe in "what will be will be". If I am ill then I have to deal with it but I refuse to let anxiety take over as it is so detrimental to my health and I have been told that stress is really not good for me so I just take things on board and let the professionals tell me what tests etc I need.
Well im 33 now. Started getting health anxiety moments when I was 16, which mainly consisted of worrying about something for a few days or weeks - much nicer than worrying for months! I also developed general anxiety but it didnt affect my life and was pretty managable.
Stress and anxiety got worse after having my first daughter 5 years ago, along with many family deaths and two stressful house moves.
Then 18 months ago following the death of my beloved dog, my health anxiety kicked in full time and ive had worry after worry since - of which has also affected my everyday life. Ive probably worried more in the last 18 months than ive done in the past 18 years.
always scared
03-01-20, 21:30
But if you start treating it then you can be HA free in the future.
If it was only that easy for me I would have done it a long time ago.
nomorepanic
03-01-20, 21:35
It is not easy at all - I battled and still battling anxiety for a long long time but I am doing everything I can to help myself and about to start CBT again - never give in and keep at it
I'm 36. I had no health anxiety until I had a baby at age 31. My mom had it and it must have just laid dormant in me until the hormonal wackiness and giant life change of motherhood. I'd had about 3 or 4 random times of anxiety before that, each of which would last a week or so, but it was more general anxiety/panic attacks.
I started seeing a therapist a year in and it helped tremendously. Each time my anxiety comes back, I'm usually able to get through it faster than the last time because I still have my therapist and I also have a bottle of lorazapam for absolute emergencies/severe panic attacks, which are rare.
I find that my biggest triggers are increased stress and lack of sleep. If I let those things go too long eventually I'll have a panic attack and then my health anxiety will start to flood in.
I think it's about accepting that there are ways to manage it though,no matter how old or young you are. Rather than putting the shutters down and admitting defeat.
At least with HA you do have a choice..whereas with a diagnosed condition/illness you don't and just have to cope with it because it's a fact.
If it was only that easy for me I would have done it a long time ago.
I agree with Nicola. Definitely not easy at all! We've had to go into debt to afford my therapist, but my family knows that it's something I need to be well. I've been in therapy for almost 5 years to keep my anxiety under control. I went from weekly to twice a month to monthly. Fitting in weekly therapy with a 1 year old at home who was still exclusively breastfeeding was not easy at all! But, it had to be done.
I've not had formal therapy for HA but have been very disciplined with myself and have certain "rules" which help me.
I'm 26 and work in a cancer centre...and have/had health anxiety.
I obsessed over glioblastoma (a very malignant, uniformly fatal) type of brain cancer for seven years. It's also incredibly rare. Anyway, my GP referred me for CBT and I haven';t looked back. I can now say I'm over my fear of GBM (although I throw occasional, short-lived "wobblies" every now and again).
I'm not qualified to talk about mental health illnesses etc, but I think health anxiety is a bit like a chronic condition e.g. asthma etc. I don't think anyone ever truly gets "cured" of it, and we'll always still have the odd "wobbly" as I call them.
E.g. I vomited blood twice last year - and my first thought (on the second occassion) was alcoholic cirrhosis. Yes this can be a presenting symptom, but I lacked the main risk factors: although alcohol misuse disorder is on my personal medical file, I haven't drank THAT much. Cirrhosis takes at least 10 years of drinking a bottle of vodka (or more) a day. My LFTs were normal. And it's also worth noting that vomiting blood is usually the last thing an alcoholic does - the blood loss is so severe this is actually the usual way cirrhosis patients die, rather than the cirrhosis itself. But still I did obsess and worry over it for a while. Normal anxiety in that situation or health anxiety? I don't know. I feel a mixture of the two.
The other night I had a VERY violent hypnotic jerk in bed. I worried briefly this was a seizure, but quickly forgot about this by morning.
Personally I've never heard of a 60/70/80-something year old being scared of death - which is what I think the underlying mechanism of health anxiety is. But then again, by your 70s onwards, death is moreso a normal part of life. Whereas at our age, death is certainly an abnormal "thing" to encounter
good luck
ankietyjoe
04-01-20, 00:07
It's not inherently age related, it's just as you get older you're more likely to have been practising being really good at HA for longer.
I'm 48 and don't have it at all any more.
I'm 49, started when i was in my early 20's. Anxiety about my own health has lessened, but anxiety about my children's health has increased. All in all, i manage fairly well about 80% of the time. The other 20% - yikes.
At least with HA you do have a choice..whereas with a diagnosed condition/illness you don't and just have to cope with it because it's a fact.
:yesyes:
Positive thoughts
Personally I've never heard of a 60/70/80-something year old being scared of death - which is what I think the underlying mechanism of health anxiety is. But then again, by your 70s onwards, death is moreso a normal part of life. Whereas at our age, death is certainly an abnormal "thing" to encounter.
My mom is in her 60s and her HA is worse than ever, which I think is a good motivator to try and nip it in the bud as early as possible. Hers gets worse over time as she enters age groups where scary things are more common. It's like no she's just waiting on a diagnosis of something and it's much harder for her to manage.
SnowyGreen
04-01-20, 05:25
'
I'm 41 now and pretty much had health anxiety my whole life. Then last year I was diagnosed with cancer (it's all gone now), but now I don't have health anxiety anymore either... so that could be the cure :yesyes:
A harsh "cure" but I can see why, Snowy. You have to deal with the reality of a diagnosis, not the constant fear of it and the "worst" has happened now so you know that you can cope with it because there is no other option?
I'm 41 now and pretty much had health anxiety my whole life. Then last year I was diagnosed with cancer (it's all gone now), but now I don't have health anxiety anymore either... so that could be the cure :yesyes:
Congrats on beating the beast fellow warrior and survivor! In the time I've been on the boards I know of three others that have had something serious going on. All three faced it head on while their anxiety took a back seat. All three are doing well and their anxiety has remained in the back seat since. You can fear all you want but when push comes to shove, you do what you have to do.
Positive thoughts
always scared
04-01-20, 13:30
Congrats on beating the beast fellow warrior and survivor! In the time I've been on the boards I know of three others that have had something serious going on. All three faced it head on while their anxiety took a back seat. All three are doing well and their anxiety has remained in the back seat since. You can fear all you want but when push comes to shove, you do what you have to do.
Positive thoughts
https://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/images/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by SnowyGreen https://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/images/buttons/viewpost-right.png (https://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?p=1917896#post1917896)
I'm 41 now and pretty much had health anxiety my whole life. Then last year I was diagnosed with cancer (it's all gone now), but now I don't have health anxiety anymore either... so that could be the cure :yesyes:
Congratulations to both of you.
I wasn't going to post anything anymore. The last few days have been the worst by far with this new panic of mine. I just wanted to let you know how my effed up mind works after reading this post and I can't shut it off. Instead of taking this reply positively like a normal person . I took it and cried and had panic attacks all night long confirming my fears that I too may have cancer. Please forgive me I don't mean any disrespect. I know I need help but...
But that is your choice. If you choose to live like this you can do but it's not living , it's existing under the control of irrational thoughts no matter how rational you believe them to be.
Congratulations to both of you.
I wasn't going to post anything anymore. The last few days have been the worst by far with this new panic of mine. I just wanted to let you know how my effed up mind works after reading this post and I can't shut it off. Instead of taking this reply positively like a normal person . I took it and cried and had panic attacks all night long confirming my fears that I too may have cancer. Please forgive me I don't mean any disrespect. I know I need help but...
I understand how you feel. You're in a bad place right now. You know there's a positive message to take from these success stories, but you can't access that right now. Getting help is a good idea. It's OK to step away from here for a while, too, if you're really primed right now to acquire new worries.
Edited to add that I'm in my forties and I have had HA since I was a teenager, which started after my Dad died of a heart attack,. Although I had regular old anxiety and social anxiety pretty much as long as I can remember, back to before I even started school. I have found HA gets harder as you get older it's harder to rule out diagnoses just based on your age anymore. I think the Internet has both helped and harmed - there's so much information available, and serious illnesses are frequently presented as the only answer to symptoms. On the other hand, there are groups such as this one, so I no longer feel like the only person in the world with this problem.
Pamplemousse
04-01-20, 18:45
55.
Had it since I was ten and the severity of it varies. CBT just doesn't work for me.
I am 23. I have had health anxiety my entire life...ever since I can remember. It has evolved throughout the years. I remember in grade school I basically lived in the nurse’s office, always asking to leave school because I was sick. I would constantly have her check my vitals signs. I was 7-8 years old, healthy, and from a great family. There was nothing in my childhood that brought on my severe health anxiety. As I got older I became obsessed about lymph nodes and lymphoma. The fears changed and I have been convinced I have had cancer, diabetes, MS and severe Illnesses. My healthy anxiety peaked even more when I was pregnant. As I’m getting a little older I am able to rationalize a little more. Medication helps and I have Vistaril to take when I have a severe panic attack. I am also starting therapy soon to hopefully end this and not live my entire life in fear.
Capercrohnj
05-01-20, 04:35
43. I've always had anxiety but it gas been worse since being diagnosed with Crohn's and gastroparesis plus all the lovely surgeries, complications and symptoms related to those. I'm currently being investigated for another illness (hyperparathyroidism). Yah another without any treatment available except surgery. If I get this diagnosis it will explain and tie together all my symptoms. If not? Well I guess it's in my head.
34. Had some form of anxiety ever since I was a kid, but it started to really manifest as HA predominantly in my teens. That said, I've had severe HA episodes far more frequently as I've gotten older, unfortunately.
29 here ( 30 this year) had anxiety in all forms since I was a young teenager.... can happily say I have been health anxiety clean for approx 6 month.... my new motto was lifes to short to worry about things I cant possibly change, so why spend my 1 life full of worry... don't know how but it worked, and finally feel like I can actually live my life!
I’m 36.
In the past I had anxiety about natural disasters. Then i started suffering panic attacks when I was a student nurse.
I learned to control them, and found some peace for a few years.
Then I had a baby, left my nursing career, my mother-in-law died from cancer and BAM, Health Anxiety hit me hard! Really hard!
It’s been 2 years now....
I’m 45 and have had it since I was 5. I can remember being 5 and running to my mom in the middle of the night because I was afraid I’d stop breathing. For me, I believe it started as I was horribly abused by my father as a child for many years. Then as a teenager my mom was dx with breast cancer and lived 18 years. She died when I was 34, 24 days before my 6th child was born. After my mom died I just lost myself. I’m in therapy and on meds and still have episodes regularly.
32 here, anxiety as I know it now began around 16 or 17. But like others here, I now recognize that I exhibited signs of anxiety much earlier. I'd sometimes lie awake late at night afraid that I was close to death, or trying to figure out how many years my parents had left. I also used to watch the Tom Green show on MTV, and in 2000 (when I was 13) he announced he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer, and I was quite sure I'd get it.
These days I still experience some mild to moderate general anxiety, but only miniscule health anxiety. I can deal with that, general anxiety - for me - is very tolerable and doesn't bother me. I sometimes have intrusive thoughts about death, but I no longer self check, poke, prod, convince myself I have X or Y disease, etc. If I have a legitimate concern I talk to my doc about it when I have a routine appointment, and I'm fine if she says all is well.
32 here, seems to be a common age, I had what I now know was anxiety as a kid and it developed in to health anxiety around 10 years ago. At first I thought this was because my Dad died which obviously had an effect but looking back now I think this was around the time I had more access to Google etc so might have been the 2. HA has been through the roof past 6 months, might have coincided with having children in last couple of years. There are recurring themes with others I've noticed.
46 got it when I had my first panic attack 8 years ago and after I started googling.
WiseMonkey
23-01-20, 03:56
I'm 63 and have had HA since I was a young teenager. I don't have it all the time, it comes and goes in flares and is affected by my physical health.
I grew up the eldest child in a very dysfunctional family. My mother had NPD , she used to say she was dying of all sorts of cancers to get our attention but she wasn't ill. I was a very anxious, fearful child with low confidence, there was lots of drama and stress in our home.
Sometime in my early 30's I was diagnosed with CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) and was quite unwell for several months. CFS brings it's own chronic symptoms, which have increased with age. Some of the symptoms can mimic more serious conditions, so I sometimes have to get tests to rule things out.
I'm learning not to worry so much when I feel unwell and when my bloods aren't always normal as it's usually just my autoimmune stuff :)
I am 27 and have had if for as long as I can remember!
I remember waking up in the night as a small child with a numb arm and freaking out that it was a blood clot. I ran to my mum holding my arm tight so the clot wouldn't move to my heart.
I also used to see things of tv like a story about someone with meningococcal and i use to have panic attacks over it at primary school.
We also had a paramedic come to my class when i was in grade 2 and i had to sit in another room because I was to scared to hear anything health related.
As a child I use to think I couldn't wait to grow up so i wouldn't have to worry about any child illnesses anymore. As I grew up I realised adult concerns were worse!
carriewriting
26-01-20, 09:11
I'm 48 and have had health anxiety for about 15 years. I fear being a burden on my kids or leaving them behind. Ironically I've lost so much time obsessing about my health that I could have better spent with them! Also my therapist recently asked me how many of my health fears had come true in the past 15 years and I was genuinely surprised to realise it was zero. Peri/menopause has made my anxiety in general a thousand times worse this past year.
I’m 30. I had my first HA episode when I was very young, maybe 7 or 8. I heard about a woman who had a stroke on tv and later that night I told my parents I thought I was having a stroke! I had lots of worries throughout my childhood. My first really severe HA fear was in college, when I legitimately thought I had a brain tumor. Then it got worse in my 20s after both of my parents had cancer and that’s when I started getting therapy. Still not “fixed” though!
I wonder why it starts. I was actually pretty healthy as a kid and grew up in a loving, calm household. Guess it’s just ingrained.
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