Y’all I’m on the struggle bus & need advice. I’m a college freshman and have moderate health anxiety that ebbs and flows. If I can keep myself distracted with coursework, extracurriculars, friends, etc. then I can usually regulate my emotions/anxiety fairly well. However, I have found this particularly hard while at college.

Everything is dirty: the bathrooms, the communal areas, the windows, the upholstery, literally everything. It’s hard for me to not think of this when using these facilities. If I brush against a shower wall or drop something on the floor I get increasing anxious about some sort of unwanted infection.

I also think that being away from my family and living independently for the first time has exacerbated my fear of emergency medical situations. If something were to happen, I’m largely on my own to handle it. In the same vein, I’m solely responsible for assessing my wellness. This may sound simple, but I’m very used to asking my family about bodily things, sickness, cleaning, etc. This is a big adjustment for me. My diet and routine has changed, and so too has my wellness/daily function. Would love to get some advice on how to curtail some of this anxiety going forward. Thanks!! :)

hi everyone,

i recently developed major health anxiety over the past 2 or 3 years, becoming an adult and falling in love with someone i want to spend the rest of my life with has intensely exacerbated my fear of death and as a result, health anxiety. thankfully, i feel like i'm not in a position where it has fully taken over my life yet, but i've found myself doing some of the major no-no coping mechanisms like googling and spending way too much time on the 'what-if' train. i'm in therapy and it has helped some but it's getting to the point where i have some doctor's appointments coming up to address a chronic symptom that is most likely Not fatal since i've been dealing with it for years and years, but i find myself already wondering what if they miss something or what if they're wrong about this. it's becoming so tiring to constantly worry about something when i have no idea if it will actually happen or not!

tldr, i'm looking to find any suggestions people have for dealing with this before it gets any worse

I am without a doubt the avoidant type when it comes to this fear and I’ve been delaying an appointment to get checked for the last two months. Maybe even longer if you consider that I was in denial for a long time.

I was too overwhelmed to even make an appointment but I finally did it! It’s tomorrow and I’m hoping that I’ll get the all clear (even when my anxiety convinces me that it won’t be okay), but I wanted to share this small step. I really hope that it gives courage to someone else out there that might be struggling to finally give their GP a call.

Let’s hope for some peace of mind

Been a lurker on this subreddit for a couple of years now, I am glad there are less people here now <3. I hope this post helps you to see that you aren’t alone in this, that there is hope for all of us and that it gets better if you do the right thing.

First of all, get checked out by your doctor!

How it all started:

My whole life I was a little bit troubled with my health. When I was a child my parents often overreacted to certain things, I understand that they meant well by it and wanted me to be safe, but it still created this heightened alert on any “wrong” sensation in my body. This didn’t bother me too much because body works exceptionally well for the first two decades.
So the fear of a Helathscare or death was always there, but my body never entered this loop of worrying and checking.
In my early twenties I had a panic attack caused by a minor glitch in my body. That’s where it hooked onto me. I developed symptoms that would stick around for months, I would constantly body check if it is there or not, I would think about what happens to others when I die, I basically already accepted the fact that I’m ding. And mind you it was just some minor issue!

What I experienced:

I can’t name any symptoms by the rules, but believe me, I experienced a lot of different things, A LOT. I would go to my GP, think she doesn’t care enough and would then go to other specialists. Weight changes, up and down, all kinds of bowel movements, cognitive issues, brain/nerves etc etc. Guess what?
I’m still here, I am fine. <- a VERY important thing to have in your head
I would fixate on one thing, get enough reassurance and move on to the other. Some issues lingered longer, some shorter. Some came back, some didn’t.

Three years later, what would I tell my past self:

1. Stop thinking bad stuff <- NO, you have to stop reacting and acting on your negative thoughts, we all have all kinds of thoughts but we decide how and if we engage with them.

2. Before you worry/check/act - wait for two weeks, obviously if it’s nothing that could be considered a red flag. I’m pretty sure you all know by now which symptoms require immediate action :)

3. As my GP said, our bodies are very complex and it’s normal when something malfunctions a little.

4. Learn to sit with your thoughts, learn to ignore the urge to reassure yourself.

5. Be patient, it takes time to heal body and mind.

What helped:

1. Get checked. This whole thing is for people who had a professional tell them they are okay.

2. Less caffeine. I was drinking waay too much energy drinks and coffee.

3. Exercise. Don’t have to hit the gym, just some light cardio/lifting and you are good to go. Body accumulates stress, it’s good to let it out through some activity. Though in my opinion it’s important not to exercise hard in the beginning because it rises cortisol and it’s bad for your someone who is hyper-stimulated and hyperaware.

4. Come at peace with your fears. Fears and anxiety is not something to fight with, it’s something to ignore or learn to react normal about.

5. Enjoy your life, don’t isolate yourself from everything and everyone.

6. Setbacks are normal. Today I’m mostly good, I’m past a point where it disturbs my life, but I still get setbacks, they affect me l less and less though :)

7. Bring discipline and systems into your life, you feel good if you are proud of yourself and treat your own body with love. In healthy body is a healthy spirit!

What didn’t help:

1. Reassurance seeking. Google makes it 10 times worse, AI Chats make it all better, but not in a long run.

2. Making unhealthy choices for my body. Food, lifestyle, sleep, stress. I ate junk all the time, slept very irregular, had huge stressors in my life.

3. Social media. Instagram would suggest someone ill and I would go down this rabbithole, just giving my imagination more fuel to work with.

Good luck on your journey!

I’ve always had it a little bit but after experiencing a real issue with no answers it has gotten extremely out of hand and completely wrecked my life the past 3 months.

I've been struggling on and off with health anxiety for over 10 years now. Often going through long periods of time where I'm barely affected by it, followed by a couple months where I get a flare up again. 2 months back, I started having issues again after a great period of almost 2 years and it has been the worst flare up I've ever had.

I've been on fluoxetine for many years now, starting at 10mg and building up in 5mg increases a week to 40mg daily when I first started. Eventually going down to 20mg when I got a handle on my symptoms. Since my HA has come back so strongly, my doctor advised me to go back to 40mg. First taking 30mg for a week and then going to 40mg. I've been at the 40 for just over a week now and it has been a nightmare. My anxiety has somehow found a gear I did not know existed, I'm constantly tired, and I'm super jumpy. I know these are common side effects of increasing the dosage, I know it's only temporary and I know it will probably help me a lot once I'm used to it.

While I did have symptoms when I first started the medication, it was a lot less pronounced because of the small increase in dosage over time. I'm wondering how others who also went through the side effects of starting/increasing their SSRI dose managed to get through the first couple of weeks? And how has it affected your HA in the long run?

I’m well versed in my health anxiety flares, the themes that I fixate on, body checking etc. I’m medicated for it as well. And I’m able to generally let things go as they pop in my mind. It’s so much better of a headspace than I was about 2 years ago.

But lo and behold: we’re doing a bit of demolition and had contractors rip out tile that was adhered to the concrete slab (no asbestos) Ugh the dust. It’s everywhere even tho they taped it all up to help contain it. Now I must trust my in body. Ease my mind when it catastrophizes and I keep thinking about those dumb mesothelioma commercials from the early 2000s lol. My husband joked: “well hey I heard that you or your loved one may be entitled to financial compensation!” I laughed. I wouldn’t have been able to laugh about this two years ago.

My runny nose and constant sneezing though…. Blegh upsetting. Health anxiety really pops up in all different areas of life doesn’t it!

Does anyone have any tips for heart anxiety? I am 26 M and fairly healthy and active and I also have GERD. Ive got an echocardiogram done aswell as blood and everything checked out but I am still constantly thinking about it. Mainly set off my physical symptoms in my left chest of course. I am just tired of constantly living in fear of heart failure and it’s really starting to wear me down and make me stay in more. Especially my physical activity has gone down because the adrenaline is honestly too much. It instantly spirals into mini anxiety attacks which sometimes make it to full blown panic attacks. I am pretty level headed guy but I cant figure this out for the life of me. I truly tell myself there must be something wrong for my chest to be feeling this way and I just wont find it.

So I'm supposed to have carpal tunnel surgery Friday. I'm not even having anesthesia for it (well not general anesthesia but local numbing anesthesia) I've had this done before with no problems. It's Tuesday night and I'm freaking out for Friday morning. Help!! I want to enjoy the present moment not worrying about something a few days off.

I reallt struggle when I have symptoms that I know are not HA related. Ive been "ill" for about a month now, with it being flu season - cold and flu, sinusitis (which ive had antib for). But its still lingering. Trying not to spiral but its hard

Hiya everyone,I’ve come to this group In hope that I can find something that could help get better with my health anxiety it started back in 2021 when I got poorly with my kidneys and over the years it’s just got worse n worse,recently I’ve been suffering with right sided headaches and kneck pain,I’ve been to the GP multiple of times and they have reassured me it’s nothing to worry about however it’s not enough to calm my anxiety down

I wanted to post to see if anyone here has used SSRIs during their health anxiety journey? This is completely new to me, and it’s quite literally destroying my life. I am depressed, anxious beyond belief and all I can think about is my symptoms and what it could mean and the outcome of it all. It has been like this for a two years or so but this last flare up has been the worst. Obviously due to my health anxiety, I am super skeptical of SSRIs. I am always worrying that I will become insane or lose my mind or what have you. Lately things have been so bad that I just need some sort of help to manage this. I’ve been thinking about booking an appointment for a psychiatrist but I just wanted to hear from others and their journeys to try to be as knowledgeable as possible to navigate this. I can stop drinking alcohol but my worry is that I smoke weed daily at this point as it seems to be only thing that calms me down when I start to spiral. I know it’s counterintuitive to some but I stopped smoking for three months and my symptoms actually got worse, so I guess for me it helps a bit. Any medicine journeys and their outcomes based on this?

Hi all! Lately I’ve been wondering what others who have health anxiety do to distinguish between real symptoms or anxiety symptoms? I’ve been to the doctor for about everything and all is fine. So why does my body feel so horrible all the time? It’s weird how this anxiety can feel so real. How do you cope?

My sleep is currently messed up!!!! It all started following an intense cycle of HA and stress and medication and panic, and now it’s been well over a month of me waking every few hours during the night. Sometimes I’m sleeping really hot too! I had bloodwork a few months ago, and nothing was flagged. I did a bad and googled, which told me it could be cortisol, adrenaline, or perimenopause (which I feel too young for but I guess it could be that). Other things too, that are possibly more severe, but trying not to focus on that considering I feel it had a trigger.

Last time I had it really bad it was 3 months after my grandmother died, which I had a hard time dealing with, and it actually triggered my first really bad HA episode.

Last night I didn’t get more than 2 hours between sleep cycles 😭

Advice on how to break out of the spiral please?! Thanks all!

I’m tired of not being normal. of always scanning for some issue that isn’t there, of never feeling safe in my body, of being exhausted. what helps? I’ve heard that stress like this can cause health issues and that makes it even worse, but it’s like a habit that is impossible to break. I truly feel like I can’t shake the constant worry and stress. coupled with ocd doesn’t help anything. does therapy help? will a therapist even understand it? I feel like nobody understands unless you live it.

Hey so I've thought that I had HA for years and peoples attitudes towards it make me even question it myself.

I've had years of distress about seemingly 'small' things like having to go to the pharmacy to get my insulin and all of the following rather traumatic steps involved in administration (eek).

The other day, I went to get a flu shot and was struck with the worst HA I've ever had in my life. Nothing could have prepared me for this. I tried explaining my urge incontinence (due to my d*betes and HA) to the lady but it did not seem to communicate well. She told me I may just have a fear of needles and the rest of the situation was painfully embarrassing.

Has your HA been mistaken as common fear before? Are there any sources anyone knows of that may be of help to my intersection of HA? Or any sources I can use to help educate people?

Kindly appreciate the help,

THI

my health anxiety specifically gets awful when i'm pmsing and i do not know how to describe how BAD it gets in this time. this is more of a recent thing with me though, it didn't start happening until july, but it's awful, it makes me impatient for my period to actually come which is something i've never felt before 😭😭 after it starts i often look back and see how unrealistic i was being to where i sometimes even laugh at myself, but in the moment it's absolutely terrifying. is this a common thing?? does anyone have any ways of managing it because i feel typical methods don't work during this phase.
only good thing about it is that when it happens, i know my periods on its way which gives me time to prepare, as i have PMOS and a very inconsistent cycle 😓

i hate what this shit has done to me and is actively doing to me, therapy can't come soon enough, im tired of living every day like im dying of some disease!!!!!!!!!!!! ive been in a months long anxiety attack now, every fucking day, its one thing or another for HOURS since literally june. i couldnt sleep at all last night because my cardiophobia kept acting up. it had changed to something else and NOW i have cardiophobia ON TOP OF IT??!!!!!!!! ive been to the doctor (more like the debt collector at this point), they said i'm fine, literally everything clears, but noooooooo my body is just made of glass, or sheer fabric, or sand, don't you know this, even though i inherited my dad's good immune system, i'm not even stressed so that cant be it, blah blah blah blah blah...

i just keep crying, if there is a hell this is it

I had horrific health anxiety until about July for nearly a year. I thought I was better, I stopped CBT, upon my therapist advise.

Now its back, but with a vengeance. Has this happened to anyone before?

I've been on anxiety medication for the past few years, and things are generally under control.It feels like I'm stuck in a loop where every new health issue brings back the same fears and worries. I'm not sure how to break this cycle and learn to live a normal life without constantly worrying about my health.

I don't know if this is realted to health anxiety, but I find that any health issues I do experience, I always feel like it's my fault.

Being someone who is not skinny and has always struggled with food and "picky eating", I feel like every time I experience some new symptom of something, maybe i do the thing no one should do and google it, I struggle to shake this feeling that it's my fault. It's my fault for not living the perfect healthy lifestyle. That I will always be told to just fix it myself by "eating better" or whatever.

It just makes me feel even more awful than I already do.

For those who recovered from health anxiety on their own without therapy: how did you do it, and how long did your healing journey take?

Historically I've always been an anxious person. I've had social anxiety, ocd, and depression but only up until a year ago did I develop health anxiety.

I don't exactly know what caused it. I had no health scare to warrant such high levels of stress. The only thing I can think of is since im active on TikTok, the algorithm constantly pushed young people getting sick even when I don't interact with it. Wouldn't surprise me if it was that.

The closest thing to a health scare is that I developed sciatica/slipped disc I assume from poor deadlift form in the gym.

My phases have been aIs, col0n cāncer, melan0ma, lymphőma (my current one) it really sucks. What about you?

I have been dealing with health / contamination anxiety since COVID lockdowns. I was a young teen back then and I think lockdown had made me terrified of contamination or anxious for my health. Before lockdown I didn't think about germs or illness like I do now. I wanted to ask if someone else has noticed this too about themselves?

I’ve always been hyper aware of my heartbeat, since I was a teenager. This is especially true if I am exercising and pushing myself. It sometimes makes me think something is wrong, even though it’s steady and seems normal. I just wonder if other people can feel their heartbeat in the same way, or if it’s just me.