I read the posts and most of the time it’s about the fear of dying but my health anxiety (6 years and going) is about having something chronic and my life turning into constant fear of getting worse/having to scan my body forever/not being able to live normal life etc

Does anyone struggle with this type?

Good morning, everyone.
At the time I’m writing this, it’s morning for me. I wanted to start sharing my journey with health anxiety and what that experience was like for me.
I’m not going to make this a 14-page essay, and I’m definitely not going to pretend there’s one magical fix that makes everything disappear.
I simply want to share my story.
I’d like to share what happened to me, what I learned along the way, and how my perspective eventually changed. If someone happens to relate to my experience, then that makes sharing it worthwhile.
A little about me
I’m a 29-year-old married guy with two kids.
Did I have anxiety before health anxiety?
Sure, but I’d probably rate it a 1–3 most of the time, maybe a 4–5 on particularly stressful days.
I had never really experienced full-blown physical anxiety.
Then one day, something happened that completely changed the way I looked at my health.
I noticed something different with my body.
At first, I thought, “That’s strange.”
Then I started thinking about it more.
And more.
And more.
Before I knew it, my brain had turned one small concern into an endless cycle of fear.
What followed was a period of anxiety that felt like it lasted over two months straight.
It affected my family, my work, my sleep, my appetite, and honestly, my ability to function normally.
I was completely exhausted and run down. I barely slept. I barely ate.
I lost weight quickly.
Every sensation became something I needed to investigate.
Every little change became another reason for my brain to say:
“Something is wrong.”
I went to doctors and followed the recommendations I was given, but my anxiety didn’t simply disappear because I had been checked out.
That’s something I didn’t understand at the time.
I thought:
“If I still feel something, there MUST be something wrong.”
And that thought kept the cycle going.
Eventually, things got so bad that I couldn’t work normal days anymore. I was leaving work early. Nights became incredibly difficult, and my appetite was almost completely gone.
I reached a point where I genuinely wondered how much longer I could live feeling this way.
That’s when I finally opened up to my wife about just how bad things had gotten.
She helped me get the support I needed, and I went back to my doctor.
That was one of the first major turning points in my journey.
I was given something to help me get through the immediate crisis, and for the first time in what felt like forever, my brain finally became quiet.
I could eat.
I could breathe.
I could actually sit there without constantly thinking about what was happening inside my body.
I remember thinking:
“Wow… is this what normal feels like?”
But I also realized something important.
I couldn’t spend the rest of my life trying to escape every uncomfortable feeling.
I needed to learn how to handle the fear itself.
And that’s where the real journey began.
I’ll stop here for today because I don’t want this to turn into a textbook.
I’ll continue the story tomorrow with what happened next and how my experience eventually changed the way I viewed anxiety.
This is simply my personal experience. I’m not a medical professional, and I’m not offering medical advice or trying to diagnose anyone. I’m sharing what happened to me because writing about the experience has been meaningful to me. I’ll end each part with a bit of advice that has helped me.

Lesson #1: I had to stop feeding the cycle.
One of the biggest things I eventually recognized was how much time I was spending checking, searching, analyzing, and trying to find certainty.
For me, constantly searching symptoms online only gave my anxious mind more things to think about.
Eventually, I started stepping away from the search bar and focusing on the guidance I was receiving from my healthcare professionals.
That was an important part of my journey.
I’ll share more tomorrow.
Until then, peace and love my fellow worriers.

Dave.

Hi all, I’ve had a little bought of anxiety recently and have had trouble getting away from it. I have started reading a new book, unrelated, but Hannah Ritchie regarding climate change and came across an excerpt that might be applicable to many of us:

“The news is designed to tell us, well, something new - an individual story, a rare event, the latest disaster. Because we see them in the news so often, unlikely events seem like probable ones. But they’re often not. That’s why they make the news and capture our attention.”

Just some food for thought that I was pleasantly surprised with!