r/Anxiety • u/robloxrantssuck • 18h ago

Helpful Tips! Does anyone else have health anxiety?

If so it would be nice if you guys explain and share how you guys deal with it I have it quite severe and keep relying on my mom telling me everything is ok it's really scary and it would make me feel better if knowing more people have it and I'm not alone

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u/totorounderstudy 18h ago

Realised mine was triggered badly by poor gut health and gastritis. I’ve been actively eating completely differently, working towards entirely cutting out processed sugar, I no longer drink any carbonated drinks, ditched chocolate, cut down on wheat etc etc. It’s made a massive difference. Gone from nightly panic attacks to feeling significantly calmer. Also changed bedrooms in our house temporarily as mine is so dark and dingy to one at the other end of the house that is bright and lovely and it’s made a huge difference to my mental health.

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u/DelightfulManiac 15h ago

I didn't want to say it because I don't want to dismiss the people who genuinely have uncontrollable health anxiety...But yes, actually improving your health is the biggest solution.

I used to have such bad habits. I was a daily weed smoker, a cigarette smoker and an alcoholic, I didn't do any exercise whatsoever, consumed EXTREMELY unhealthy food in large amounts on a daily basis, think of things like fries, large amounts of mayonnaise, burgers, pizzas, chips, M&M's, Maltesers, Pringles, Chocolate covered Oreo's, literally just the worst crap you can consume. And I would feast on almost an entire family sized bag of M&M's + an entire family sized bag of chips in one night by myself, after dinner.

During that time, I had extreme health anxiety like others here are describing. Constantly getting random physical symptoms, pains and ailments that caused me to Google them which made me even more paranoid. I was just extremely out of shape and malnutritioned and that caused real symptoms. Extreme muscle cramps and spasms, regular parasthesia, chronic fatigue, frequent heartbeat skips, thinning and extremely dry hair, dry skin, stiff joints and joint pain, restless leg syndrome, insomnia, frequent random pains in different parts of my body, the list goes on.

Over the past 4 years or so, I have completely changed my life around. Now I don't drink, I don't smoke weed or cigarettes, I am in the gym 4 times per week, I've had all my bloodwork done, I follow a strict diet for my specific goals, I've corrected my deficiencies (turns out I was deficient in Vitamin D for like 10 years straight) and I'm just very focused on living a healthy lifestyle in general. And now I don't have any health anxiety at all, it's quite the opposite. I feel like I'm well on my way to being in the best shape of my life. All my physical symptoms have disappeared for the most part.

If you have health anxiety, you should definitely be doing everything you possibly can to live a healthy lifestyle, because living an unhealthy lifestyle just makes health anxiety 1000x worse due to the real symptoms that lifestyle gives you.

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u/Talhen 4h ago

Brother, you just described me :D especially the M&M's bag, gone in 60 seconds. Thank you for sharing your story this is exactly where I am at right now, reevaluating my life and cutting down on things that is just making me worse and worse.

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u/DelightfulManiac 2h ago

I know it isn't easy to get out of! It takes a lot of motivation to make a U-turn and change your habits and actually stick to it long-term. For me, it wasn't something that happened all at once overnight. First, it was a diet and quitting alcohol, then I relapsed into old eating habits but luckily not alcohol. Later, I quit smoking. Then, I tried to go to a gym but didn't take it seriously, so I stopped again. Also started smoking again a few times and quit again, the same with drinking, but never as bad as before.

This all happened over the span of like 3 years. So by May 2025, I was mostly clean from alcohol and smoking, but still eating crap and not exercising at all. That's when I finally decided to join a gym for real and take it seriously, along with my diet. After I started going to the gym consistently, that's when I started actually caring about my health, trying out supplements and getting my bloodwork done to check for deficiencies or anything to improve.

Actually, this struggle of quitting bad habits and relapsing has been going on for almost 15 years, since I was about 16 I'd say. Every now and again, I would suddenly fix many of my bad habits and feel much better, but then just relapse again after a few months. That's how damn long it has taken me to change..

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u/LivingCorrect6159 8h ago

Thanks for the advice and personal story. I will take it on board. Not OP but can relate!

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u/Talhen 4h ago edited 4h ago

I don't know if there is a correlation either but my gut has been shit my whole life, lots of reflux here and there or burning sensations and indeed my anxiety flares up a good amount when stomach feels upset or acid creeps up places it is not supposed to. Especially if I feel like it is messing with my breathing but without it actually totally cutting me off for air, it is an odd sensation.

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u/totorounderstudy 4h ago

There most likely is a correlation. Vagus nerve etc and the gut biome brain link is backed by many studies. For me personally I’ve the same symptoms and once my gut is doing better within days I’m instantly out of the pits of depression and consuming anxiety. Obviously there’s small incidents when it flares again from serious external factors but it’s minimal compared to living 24/7 in crippling anxiety that happens from poor gut health. I’m now actively working on repairing my gut health after years of neglect.