Do you develop symptoms after reading about it?

[LADennis]

I have noticed that if I read the symptoms of a certain illness or cancer I will suddenly develop them. Is this common for people with health anxiety? The mind is a powerful thing I have discovered.

[NeverRelaxed]

yeah, been there! im trying nt to expose myself to that sorta stuff now...nt as much anyway...but it is really hard nt to google symptoms..I think ive done rly well in nt googling lighteadedness...I guess its cos I know what im likely to find!

[Adelle]

Yep. Every billboard or Tv ad sends me into a panic. I cant watch any medical shows for fear I will discover something. So annoying and tiring. Adelle.x

[jojo2316]

yes! just the other day i heard a programme on the radio where they said that, with some people, the first symptom of their cancer is when its spread to their liver, which manifests itsel as pain under the right rib cage. bang! that evening i have pain under my right rib cage! horrible....

[Cell block H fan]

Yes. Thats why I dont buy Take a break or Chat type magazines anymore.

[barbn]

OMG!! I am sooo glad I found this website...someone gets diagnosed with cancer, I eventually get the symptoms!! My stomach hurts right now and I am nausated all the time (couldn't be from my anxiety or anything like that - of course not!) - so of course I have cancer of some type. If I don't have it now, give me an hour or so and the symptoms will show up! Part of me laughs at myself - the other part crys with worry!!

[Cell block H fan]

Its human nature that when someone we know dies of a heart attack for instance, we start getting chest pains. I remember reading about it, cant remember where though.

[mikhail1028]

This is when my HA all started a month ago i read something about HIV,, and my god i felt all the symptoms are in me,, as this moment on im really scared coz i have sore throat :weep: scares me but sore throat is soo common you can get it anytime of the year im just thinking positively and try to worry on the right direction

[WeeSmallHours]

Yup, this is a common thing. For me it comes and goes. I can be doing fine like I was last summer/fall and things don't bother me. I feel an ache or something and I don't give it a second thought. But sometimes when the anxiety is bad I focus on it, obsess about, read about and eventually drag myself down into a nice depression. I have been bad the past month and I am trying to get out of it.

But of course today I happened to be looking at my eyes in the corners and under the upper eyelid and I noticed a dark band of sorts that goes in a circle around the eye. It is in both, so I am trying to tell myself it is ok since it is the same in both eyes. But I can't remember if it has been there or not. I just was at the eye doc 2 weeks ago and he said everything was fine. But since then, be it concern that my eyes didn't return from dilation quick enough, to trying to adjust to my new glasses, I have been concerned about my eyes. And of course the OCD flares up for me so I am doing things in repetitions to make sure that everything will be fine. Some days can be rough.

[katy20]

i always get this. as soon as i hear about an illness i seem to develop symptoms and then im consumed with worry about it. best not to read about illness' (google included!)

[BKF1515]

Yes, it happens to me every time. I don't want to even know about someone's illness or even accident, because then the same thing will happen to me. Ugh!

[Girl_Interrupted]

Oh yes the power of suggestion, totally messes with our thoughts. Everytime I would read a newspaper I'd focus in on all the articles related to health, and of course any symptoms related to that illness I would develop in a matter of days, sending me into panic overload. The irony is there has not been anything serious wrong with me. My doctor was frusrtated with my complaints with my health and his response was "ur healthy" couldn't quite except it though and would always end up winding myself up and making me ill, not of course from any illness but from my anxiety! Anxiety can make you feel sh*t especially if you put enough energy into thinking u are ill, been there and ashamed to admit it still do it now, 20 years bad habit!