Hi,
I've been using this forum on and off for the past couple of years but have never bothered to introduce myself.
Though I didn't recognise it at the time, I've suffered from Health Anxiety in one form or another since my early teens. I also think that I am susceptible to depression. My health anxiety comes and goes but mainly manifests itself whenever I have any trivial symptom. I always instantly fear the worst. If I have a headache, it must be a brain tumor. If I vomit, it must be stomach cancer. If there is blood on my toilet roll it must be bowel cancer. I probably visit the doctor more than most (I've been four times in the past six months). Right now I'm worried that I have motor neuron disease (see my thread on the Health Anxiety forum).
What really gets me down about this anxiety is that it ruins my enjoyment of my two young children - because when I am anxious the only thing I can do is worry.
Whenever I've been really worried in the past, this site has been enormously useful to me. Often I have found that I only have to search for my symptoms to see that there are lots of other people in the same boat, with the same worries and mostly unfounded fears. So thanks to everyone who posts here - it makes it that little bit easier.
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