The weirdest things that cause a surge of health anxiety

[JCRyanDenton]

A major thing i often get with health anxiety. Often times the most minor and insignificant sensation or pain can cause me to start panicking. Just now i felt a minor stinging sensation on a localized part of my chest (as in only a small part of it, not enough to be organ related), and at the same time i tried swallowing for some reason, only to struggle. This put me in a panic state for a few seconds before i calmed down.

Does this happen to you? Its something i have always had with my health anxiety and usually its a combination of two things at once that trigger it off.

[Skye Winter]

I'm exactly the same. Most of my anxiety attacks revolve around fears of my heart giving up on me! I'm in my early 20's and at a healthy weight, don't smoke, don't drink... Yet I still panic that I'm going to have a heart attack of sorts. Whenever I get ANY heart attack symptom (chest pain, numb arm/face, feeling weak etc) I have a surge of panic. So I know exactly what you mean, and it sucks.

[xvolatileheart]

Oh yes, I am hypersensitive to every little feeling/sensation/thought, and I can get thrown into a panic in no time. It's really awful and seems so silly afterwards!

[skippy66]

I used to get this as soon as I found out that some celebrity had died of natural causes.

I also used to get it whenever I saw anything to do with the heart on TV, whenever anyone mentioned socially that someone had died, got cancer or had a heart attack.

[spacebunnyx]

yep. this is a characteristic of my HA... mind exaggerates a slight symptom. These are my symptoms:

slight cough - must be lung cancer
Itchy bottom from small piles - anal cancer
chest twinge - heart attack, aneurysm
Headache - brain haemorrhage
Swallowing problems (globus) - oesophageal cancer
twinge in ovaries - ovarian cancer
Slight tingle after eating something - anaphalactyic shock
and the list goes on...!