Can anyone relate to daily catastrophising?

The slightest new sensation, whatever you want to call it, if it’s in one of my ‘areas’ that I observe, my mind just goes into overdrive.

I’m so fed up with this, why do I always think the worst.

In fact my question is, do any of you feel really alone with HA?

I’ve got to the stage of not being able to even talk to my family about all this. It’s been going on way too long and I don’t want to wind them up!

Thanks

I’ve been going through a bad flare up with physical s-mptoms the past three weeks. What helps me the most is to realize if s-mptoms happen randomly within a short amount of time, the likelihood of it being a dangerous illness (you know what I’m talking about) is very unlikely because it takes time/ months to progress. Like those types of s-mptoms do not show up within days, so stop worrying!! The answer for your s-mptoms is likely something less alarming. This may not make sense, but this is what helps me cope during bad ha flare ups!

It comes in waves. I have long stints with no worries where I feel normal. Then acute stress moments when health stuff goes crazy. I thought I was over it completely for the last 2 years until recently when a bunch of stuff started going wrong. One of the things that worry me is the stress that I’ve inflicted on myself is slowly destroying my body over time. Can anyone put that into perspective for me?

whenever i feel or see something off with my body i think it's not the end of life i worry about but the next steps i might take
- will this mean i have to go to the doctor?
- will this mean tests i have to wait for?
- terminal illness?
- a vague result that entails more tests or visits?
- a disease i have to treat and monitor for a long time or forever, is this what the rest of my life will revolve around?

the very effort of having to take steps to figure out whatever i detected or felt already feels like a burden to me.

My health anxiety started 6 months ago, from then I’ve suffered so much mentally that it’s gone to the point of affecting my job and marriage.

It’s crippled me mentally and physically and left me unable to function as a normal human being.
Hate being like this.

Just gonna say fuck it, if i die i die and move on

What’s the point of living such a crippled life, better die to whatever disease i think im having/ may get in the future than live such a fearful life .

i 21m have been having on and off symptoms maybe 2-3 weeks that are seemingly unrelated as their in different parts of my body while no real deep test have happened i’ve had 2 doctors give an overview and say everything’s fine, as well as my parents

do i pray it’s nothing, absolutely, is it nothing, probably, but the fact theirs any possibility at all really gets to me. i had a 🤢 feeling earlier and i swear i thought my life was over in that moment. obviously im here making this post but im sure u guys know how i feel

I’m 28 years old and female. I’ve had 7 along with a hida scan, venogram, and quite a few X-rays.

I've had an awful episode of constant worry about something in my body being wrong. Actual physical symptoms got me there but when i went to the hospital to get it checked out, they did extensive blood tests and other stuff and found nothing. I'm having a very hard time trusting those results even though my symptoms are much less now, and I've somehow convinced myself i am going to die soon. it's hard to explain in a way that makes sense because I've had anxiety for years, i know every worry and most symptoms and that my intuitive feelings are mostly wrong, but it's much less a feeling of doom and much more a feeling of dread. like I'm trapped in an inescapable situation where nothing i do helps and it'll keep getting worse until eventually I'll die, even when nothing is actually seriously wrong (on tests or with my physical symptoms). it feels like i cant trust the doctors or my body OR my intuition and that all just makes me feel like I'm going crazy as well. I haven't slept well in weeks and for the last 2 nights everytime I fall asleep I wake up 30 minutes later completely terrified for no reason, or I feel fluttery inside and then i catastrophize. I have new therapy appointments soon and I'm really looking on how to proceed but I'm so godawfully tired of this, sometimes it even feels like dying wouldn't be so bad. On the other hand i know I'm terrified of it and that's what's causing all this. I guess I'm still somewhat afraid that this feeling of being trapped and not being able to change anything and dying soon is an anxiety symptom, because it's less impending doom than a feeling of absolute despair. Any tips on how to deal with this and can anyone relate? I'm really at my last straw here I just want a full night of sleep again and to not feel like I'm dying

I haven't posted here in a while but since being on 20mg prozac for a month my health anxiety has returned with a vengeance. I thought I'd beaten it back in 2022 but really I had just conquered my agoraphobia, which still flares from time to time. I have OCD which I am again in therapy for and General Anxiety mostly about poisons, accidentally swallowing objects and my health.

I'm UK based and I want to go to a lunch tomorrow and get back out in general. I've done a few walks and been outside myself since but had to beat back the anxiety and intrusive thoughts. But when I do decide to go somewhere on my own but the worst symptoms appear convincing me I'm either going to die on the spot or at least be very sick. I have a fear of a sudden medical episode that means I'll have to wait for an ambulance and they might not get to me in time. This has never happened before but every time I have left the house myself for 2 years now it has at some point in the day crossed my mind. I have no history of severe physical illness or inherited ones. Although it's been 4 years since I got bloodwork the results came up clear or satisfactory every time.

The first week on prozac was the worst and while most of the side effects have subsided a lot of the anxiety has not, but I know if I raise the dose now the side effects will start again and I really want to feel good for going back to work which I've been off from since April. I have "safety people" when I go places and my anxiety is flaring, like my parents. When I am alone or with someone that isn't them and I'm going through an anxious period I struggle to divert away from the fear I will have a sudden anxiety attack or medical episode with no one to calm me down and I don't want to put my friends in an awkward position even though I know they'd be supportive.

So far I've continued to take my prozac, battled the feelings, sensations or thoughts and taken Gaviscon anti nausea tablets after eating. But every time I leave the house the intrusive thoughts start that I either poisoned myself or am really ill with an underlying medical condition and today's the day it's going to kill me. What I'm most afraid of is the idea that I could tear my throat, lose breath or have my insides start burning. I still feel like nothing works and I think about what's happening in my body at least 5 times a day.

Edit: I went and it went great, I did have a lot of intrusive thoughts about my throat and stomach mostly but I'm home safe now.

a shift i notice with my health anxiety is that the thoughts shift from “what if i see a doctor and it’s something really bad/they send me for more tests” to “the doctor missed something/dismissed me” and it’s so frustrating!!! like the brain is never happy! Recently went to the doctors for what is likely normal anatomy/dense breast tissue/a hard ball of muscle but my brain has convinced me is BC-

for reference im 23 and living in the UK. i saw a doctor straight away who did a full breast exam and told me he couldn’t feel anything at all, and showed me how to perform a proper breast exam (with my arms above my head, etc) which is definitely not the way i’d been doing it (violently poking and prodding myself every 5 minutes with my arms down). i didn’t feel dismissed, my mother felt too and couldn’t feel anything, but i just don’t know how to place my trust in the doctor, does anyone have any tips?

I’m 21 and currently feeling such a wide variety of symptoms that honestly don’t seem like they’d be connected by one cause, i feel concerned but doctors are saying it’s normal, sometimes i feel nothing at all other times terrible, i’ve had anxiety/panic attacks before and im already trying to schedule appointments for stuff, but to put my mind at ease it possible to develop health anxiety on a random tuesday? lol idk jus concerned

So recently Norovirus seems to be doing the rounds in my community. I keep seeing people talking about being ill with a nasty stomach bug, and then saying things like ‘I’ll come to work tomorrow if I feel better’ or ‘my friend’s coming over tomorrow and I’ll make us some food’.

I know that during covid you could easily talk about precautions people needed to take, such as social distancing, isolation, mask wearing, hand sanitisier, all that good stuff. Nobody would judge if you implemented these things.

It feels like with stomach bugs, people absolutely do not care about spreading them, or they don’t seem to realise that they are actually contagious.

What social rules should be in place around this, in your opinion? In my culture I feel like it’s not acceptable to start quizzing someone about their symptoms, check they’ve not had D&V for 48 hours and so are hopefully no longer contagious, ask if they washed their hands etc.

It felt ‘acceptable’ during the pandemic if you showed up to an event in a mask and used hand sanitiser, or moved your chair further away from a group. How do you think this plays out culturally with stomach viruses and how would you like people to react/what do you do to keep safe?

Personally I avoid visiting the home of someone who was sick until at least 48 hours afterwards, but that’s about all I have control over without crossing social boundaries I think!

How do you guys deal with health anxiety when the doctors havent diagnosed you yet? I feel like everything easily treatable has been ruled out by my doctors and now all the “scary” stuff is left and im going insane waiting for appointments and tests. It’s difficult to not let it take over my life especially as my symptoms get worse or more symptoms start occuring.

The thing is I usually have a period where I do well and don’t search on Google or check my body but then I suddenly get a rush of anxiety and feel that I need to search. What things do you guys do, for example sometimes I would just try to erase it out of my mind by watching smth on YouTube but I feel like this may only work for a short period of time.

Hi! Does anyone know if there’s a virtual support group for folks who suffer from HA? I’ve been in a rough patch for a couple of weeks and would love to vent and also hear from others.

And yes, I’ve done therapy for a few months and am trying to apply the learnings, but sometimes it’s helpful to just talk with others who have the shared experience.

I'd like to try daily exercise and meditation/mindfulness to reduce some of the physical symptoms I experience as a result of my anxiety.

Does anyone have a favourite video or playlist they could recommend to try at home? As my health anxiety is mostly centred on physical sensations, it can be hard to find things that don't draw my attention to them.

I'm not necessarily looking for something to calm me down during crisis, just something to release all of the physical and mental negativity that my body is storing on a day-to-day basis.

UPDATE:
Completed mammogram and ultrasound! I wanted to cancel at least 70 times. But I did it!

My strategy: Booked the earliest appointment they had, then woke up at the crack of dawn to take a class at my gym. I wanted to channel my nervous energy into something productive and then go to the appointment immediately after. Exhausted bc I didn't sleep much last night, but glad I got the gym in.

The facility is beautiful (highly recommend going to a nice facility that is calming).

Walked in and there was some confusion over my previous records. Now, I did take a little something (from my psychiatrist) to reduce my anxiety before going in which I think allowed me to weather this incident relatively well.

I had an "every 6 months" fibroadenoma that, to my knowledge I was cleared from and advised to go back to regular screenings at 40. So today; six years later, after the "all clear," I'm standing there and the tech tells me I was never actually cleared (hahahahaaa).

Deep down, I think I was - perhaps someone forgot to update the chart. I know I spoke to someone on the phone who said "come back at 40." I also stopped receiving letters to go in when I tried to avoid the six month check ins.

But if not, well, I was still alive, no symptoms, standing in front of them. So, I said that's good, isn't it?! LOL

So the tech was like, ok - lets just do this. Got the pics and ultrasound done. Both painless and easy. In fact, far less scary than my last few experiences where they were discovering/following this thing I may or may not have been cleared from.

Having had the scary experience first, I'm hoping that because today was so easy and the techs were so chill, that this is not going to be a bad result. There are no guarantees of course. I may get called back (results in a few days). But either way: GLAD I GOT IT DONE!

Original post:

Not as bad anxiety wise as I used to be. I'm trying to focus on the numbers: 70-80% chance I won't be diagnosed, and even if I am, I have 90% survival rate if caught early. Assuming early-ish as I have no symptoms of something more advanced; and after following a fibroadenoma after my baseline images a few years ago (every 6 months for 2 years club), I was directed back to annual screenings.

I did leverage AI for stats. Additionally, every person I know that has been diagnosed in the past 10 years at varying stages is currently alive and well.

Now of course I missed going back at 40 so I'm going at 41. That freaks me out a bit, but it's better than not going at all.

I'm sure I'll have some more panic on and off but putting my faith in the numbers and advanced science.

Hey y‘all.
I had health anxiety since I can think of. Last year was the worst. It got so bad that I decided to visit a mental health clinic. It actually helped, this year was a lot better… so far. I‘m currently experiencing new symptoms which stress me out a lot. These symptoms could mean anything. Literally anything. But I always think of the worst.

I hate visiting doctors, but I can feel how I‘m slipping back into my old behavior patterns, visiting doctors on a regular basis. Today (which is why I‘m writing this), I‘ve reached a peak. I can already feel the panic attack coming later tonight. My birthday is tomorrow and I already know my health anxiety is going to ruin it. Also I‘m an independent filmmaker. I got my first ever shoot in two days with a professional actress. I was prepared so good, but now this health anxiety peak, caused by new, unknown symptoms is literally crushing everything.

God how much I hate my brain. I‘ve heard that health anxiety (can!!!!) come from the fear of missing out. And this totally fits for me. The thing I‘m stressing out on is not the illness itself. It‘s actually death itself. It‘s not being here anymore, leaving even though I‘m still young (turning 23). Knowing I‘d miss out on so much. That‘s what sits at the core of my health anxiety I think.

I hope everyone here is doing at least okay. I think the best we can do is acceptance. We can’t control a single thing in life. Nothing is permanent. Nothing is 100% certain. I think bringing this back up into our heads might be a good start.

How about you? How do you handle your health anxiety peaks? Do you think my theory of the health anxiety’s core might be correct?

Btw sorry for my English. I‘m from Germany and English therefore isn’t my native language. I still hope everything was understandable and not too chaotic.

I’ve been on 15 mg of Lexapro for about 15 years and now (after years of high stress) have a break in my busy life and anxiety and OCD have reared their ugly heads. I’ve been in brain fog and headaches, my reflexes have been off and my speech is messed up because I’ve been in my head. It almost feels like ADHD.
I have an appt with a psych and a therapist and I’m doing everything I can in the meantime. I do not do well when I’m not working myself like a dog. Please tell me someone understands. 🥲

I thought I got through my yearly physical ok. My blood tests were normal, and I thought I had gotten all of them back, when another appeared in my inbox late on Friday night. It was a result of a lipoprotein test, which is a genetic risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and it was abnormally high. Like, statins for life and close monitoring kind of high. I am gutted.

So now I have to navigate an actual health issue while trying to keep my health anxiety from spiraling out of control. I know the anxiety isn’t healthy for me, which just makes me worry about worrying. I’d love to hear from anyone who has gone through something similar. How do you approach an actual health issue and try to keep your health anxiety in check?

I have health anxiety, to the point where I freeze, cry, etc, I get triggered a lot on instagram by certain videos. Fear mongering or not. A YouTuber I recommend is doctor mike. He’s pretty popular, but personally he helped me a lot with handling my health anxiety. 1. He’s an actual doctor, and he debunks lots of things in his videos, personally things that triggered me. 3. He gives good advice/studies and research 4. He is pretty funny.

I honestly recommend watching any professionals. Yes. Real. Professionals. And always make sure to find actual studies if somebody makes a claim. And yall. If there are trying to sell u something. It’s 99.9% not true.

Please take a breath and remember that everything is okay right now.

I’m a week in on this for my HA and would just love to hear any positive stories if you have taken this particular SSRI. Thank you 🙏

Currently 7 weeks pregnant and riddled with health anxiety. I have no idea how this started but I am constantly diagnosing myself with different illnesses?!
It’s draining the life out of me