when to make a doctor appointment

[Frangibelle]

I'm curious if anyone has advice on how to know when it's appropriate to take your concerns to a doctor. It's become very hard for me to distinguish between something that is no big deal and something that is worthy of closer investigation. I just don't trust myself to know when a thing is doctor-worthy.

I used to go to doctors and be reassured to have a pro check me out, but at some point I had a bad doctor visit, and since then I'm afraid they'll be flippant. (I was concerned about my gallbladder for 5 years before they decided to do an ultrasound, and then told me I had to get it out within the next few months. Which I did, and that turned out just fine.)

Here's what's up now, just for an example. A week ago I had unusual poking pain in my stomach, and it went away with an antacid. The next day, I had intermittent moderate pain in my right side that came in waves every hour or so, for a few seconds at a time. Strange, but not terrible. And it was gone by the next day.

I looked at the appointments available with my doctor online. An in person visit was weeks away, but there was a telephone appointment available in a week so I took it. After a few days I started feeling silly about an appointment where she can't even examine me, and I canceled it. Since then, I'm very aware of mild discomfort in that area in the evenings. I'd feel silly telling her all about the thing that's pretty much gone away. I expect her to shrug and be done with me.

So I go back and forth, should I forget about it since it's improved? Or is the lingering feeling a thing that I should discuss with her "just in case"?

I saw another post where someone who usually avoided doctors got a full physical and was reassured to be given a clean bill of health. I sometimes wonder if that's the thing for me to do, then I can list all the minor things?

I might be rambling. I just would really love a definitive way to know when it's time to see a doctor. I need a check list or a flow chart :blush:

[StarsDie]

For me I ditched googling symptoms entirely.
Once I did that, I developed a much better idea of when to see a doctor. If I'm freaking out about what something might be without having googled myself into a frenzy over it; that's usually a sign that it's worth checking in with a doctor about it.
Back when I would google everything, I would pester my doctor a lot more for frivolous things.
Getting rid of googling symptoms has made a significant impact on my health anxiety.
I do also have the benefit of messaging my doctor. So for things that I'm on the fence about, I'll send him a message on my 'patient portal'. I sometimes have to wait to get a response, but it's better than trying to play doctor myself when I know that it can make things worse.

[pav1984]

This is a tough question. Thinking back when I had health anxiety, I think there was a kind of urgency to get reassurance. I remember going on holiday once and experiencing concern and wanting reassurance. Thinking logically you could say don't worry about it when you are away, enjoy your holiday and get checked when you get back however, to the one suffering it isn't so easy and worry can set in.

My doctor put it in a nutshell, he said something like health anxiety is a fear of death.

I found that I was healed of health anxiety when I started taking Christianity more seriously. My advice is to put your faith in Jesus. If you haven't put much thought into faith in Jesus research. Look at the evidence and go from there.

[Frangibelle]

Thanks for your replies. I've made an appointment for a physical to ask my questions and let go of overthinking about it. I'm making sure not to look anything up, knowing that I can ask about it when I see the doctor.

From now on, rather than looking things up, I'm going to try asking myself, "would another person see a doctor for this."

I actually don't fear death, it's more about opening up a can of worms regarding healthcare, since it's given me trouble in the past (not to mention the cost of healthcare here). I don't want to neglect taking care of myself either. Sometimes I decide to try to ignore something and I hear my mom's voice in my head - she was angry when her sister died because her sister never took herself to the doctor enough to catch things early.

And although my anxiety isn't related to death, fear is fear and faith is faith. It's a good reminder not to let anxiety take over.