Hello everyone, I've had health anxiety on and off for about 3 years. It hasn't been too bad this years despite the pandemic, but last month I got overwhelmed with the fear of losing my hair. It was triggered by an actual health problem, I had issues with my period so my gyno thought we should check my TSH levels that came back slightly raised. While I was waiting for my endocrinologist appointment and knowing the symptoms of hypothyroidism I became convinced that I had hair loss. Suddenly I started to notice hair EVERYWHERE, on my clothes,on my bed, on the carpets. I'm pretty sure it was there before I noticed it since I have long hair and I've always found big hair balls when I vacuumed, but now I get so sad when I find even a single hair. I'm obsessed with taking pictures of my hair to see any signs of balding and sometimes I pull it to see if any hairs come out. Turns out I don't have hypothyroidism(I have to follow-up in a few months)and the doctor said that the levels of TSH aren't high enough to mess with my period or with my hair. I should be relieved right?Wrong!I got even more obsessed, washing my hair makes me so sad and anxious because that's when I deal with most of the shedding. I even went to a dermatologist who said my hair is okay and it's just very fine, which makes it look like I don't have a lot.
I know that shedding hair daily is a part of life and I probably shedded as much as I do now before it came to my attention but for some reason I find it unacceptable to shedd even one hair without getting worried. It's like a switch flipped in my mind and I get very triggered when I see hair. I don't know how to cope with it, even though I've dealt with similar problems in the past(feeling for lymph nodes mainly),because even when I spot taking pictures and pulling my hair I still see a hair on my pillow or my clothes and I get really sad.
I'd really appreciate some tips on how to ignore it, I'm sick of being sad over it!It's worse than when I thought I was dying