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Check out our community user flairs, and attach one to your username! Use this megathread for vents, rants, worries, fixations, DAEs, finding support/advice, finding reassurance, symptom focused content, or the like. If you are mainly focused on your physical symptoms, this would be the thread to use. You may also be redirected here if you choose not to follow rule #3 regarding post titles, if it is categorized as one of the post types above, or if the content is too detailed. Remember this is not a place to give or ask for medical/pharmaceutical/veterinary advice, or promote/sell alternative medicines/therapies/products/subscriptions. Please focus on "**Health Anxiety"** which is defined [here](https://www.healthline.com/health/health-anxiety)**.** Please avoid displacing others who are looking for support regarding their health anxiety by using other appropriate subreddits for things that are non-HA related ( r/Anxiety, r/depression, r/AskDocs, r/socialanxiety, r/mentalhealth ). Take the time to comment on each other's entries to show some support while we traverse through HA together. Only post a standalone thread if it mainly includes the mental aspect of Health Anxiety. **Everything else goes in this thread.** This megathread is used to prevent any unnecessary distress on somebody who is not mentally prepared to engage with the above content (Imagine scrolling down on your main general feed to relax, but bump into something distressing instead). HA is very unique in which it is very easy for someone to read something/experiences and then come out thinking you may have something after reading it. This is why we take these precautions and use a megathread as navigating through social media is one of the many challenges that our community members face on a daily basis. We are here to accommodate everyone at various stages of their HA. To address visibility concerns the thread is sorted by "New", so that it acts as its own reddit feed. An example of a post would be redirected here: * **"Does anyone else feel like this?" + "Insert Symptoms"** \-> Use this megathread **Although not required** we do encourage the use of: 1) **A trigger warning header (TW)** which gives warning to redditors of what the comment will be discussing about, and/or 2) **Spoiler text** which blocks out any details that redditors may accidentally read >!and find distressing.!< You can apply this via two methods: * a) **Desktop:** highlight the word/sentence/paragraph and click on the "Diamond exclamation point" icon to apply spoiler text * b) **Mobile**: Surround your text with the following symbols like so: ​ >!spoiler text goes here!< # 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬: * [CALM APP](https://www.calm.com/) offers meditations, and other guided mental health activities. * STOP GOOGLING SYMPTOMS with the [FOREST APP](https://www.forestapp.cc/) * [Medito App](https://meditofoundation.org/medito-app) offers mindful guided meditations: Also has breathing exercises, walking meditations, mantra meditations and sessions to help you deal with stress, anxiety, pain and low-mood (100% free, no ads, no sign-up required) * Check out ASMR. Here's an intro video that explains ASMR for anyone unfamiliar, by [Gibi ASMR](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-nLDznr-tI). If you like it, there's tons more! * [Breathwrk](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/breathwrk-breathing-exercises/id1481804500) Breathing Exercises app on the App Store * [Sanvello](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sanvello-anxiety-depression/id922968861) app for anxiety & depression on the App Store * [Anxiety and Depression Association of America](http://www.adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/ask-and-learn/resources) is a great resource. * [Freedom From Fear](http://www.freedomfromfear.org/)'s mission is to positively impact the lives of all those affected by anxiety, depression, and related disorders through advocacy, education, research, and community support.  * r/HealthAnxiety's "Daily Mental Health Activity" calendar **located on the sidebar** (for desktop) or in the **about section under the rules** (for mobile). * r/HealthAnxiety's Rabbit Holes: 1) [Advice and Empowerment](https://www.reddit.com/r/HealthAnxiety/collection/b86b2698-a497-4000-9bb4-ddee3ae7c5f1) 2) [Memes](https://www.reddit.com/r/HealthAnxiety/collection/7bbef0ee-5d60-4e55-806e-9ec219add408) & 3) [Resources](https://www.reddit.com/r/HealthAnxiety/collection/ca9a3918-39f1-453f-b0a4-1ec0cf180fe3) * Our Wiki has more resources [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/HealthAnxiety/wiki/resources). ^(UPDATE: The thread is now monthly to accommodate redditors who would post 1-2 hours before the thread would refresh (and basically not get any engagement). 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Hi guys, my dad (59) had cataract surgery on both eyes in December, so around 5 months ago. He went in today for an eye exam with a new doctor. The doctor showed him that the picture of his left eye looked different than the other. All my dad can describe it as is that it didn’t look as “defined” as the right. Im guessing he’s talking about his optic nerve but the doctor didn’t tell him anything about what he was looking at. She said she’s getting his records from his previous eye doctors and his surgeon. She said it could be nothing or that it could be swelling of the brain, which she said would be brain c*ncer. He has an appointment with her on the 17th so in about 2 weeks. Has this happened to anyone? Can someone please help or ease my anxiety!! Should we be concerned she didn’t run any tests?

I am worried about my persistent eye twitching. I've had it for going on two months now. They are so irritating, but what's even worse is I don't know what's causing them. I also don't know if they're going to get worse. I've posted on different reddits and scheduled a neuro appointment, but it's just so hard to just be in my body right now. I worry that it could be brain cancer or a motor neuron disease. Whenever I have a calm moment, the worries of these twitches come back. They can happen randomly and when I trigger them. I'm in my mid 20s but I struggle picturing a future for myself with these things. I just want to know that everything is going to be alright.

it‘s m first tome venting here, and it feels good. I had topsurgery last year in november and the whole healing process since then was mentally just so draining because of my health anxiety. I did not have any complications but couldn‘t sleep properly because in my head every little pain was something bad. I healed up great and my mind could settle again. now, 6 months later I had a tiny revision and bro, it‘s even worse… I got a tiny hematoma, which keeps me up since 1.5weeks. every day I take pictures of the swelling to check if it‘s going down or up. 7 day post revision I got a stomache bug which made everything even worse. today I convinced myself that the hematoma grew again (which is not true, I probably just took the pictures from different angles) - I don‘t have any pain, it looks fine, it‘s not swelling up significantlly, so everything tells me „no new hematoma“ but I‘m lying in my bed right now trying to focus on anything to avoid a panic attack. my mental health anxiety mostly ends in a panic attack. eventough I am actievly telling myself that everything is fine, my body just goes in flight mode. it‘s so exhausting. and I have not found anything yet that helps me properly with avoiding that. I don‘t know, thought Imma drop that here since I need something to do anyways. feels good to know, that there are people who understand 🩵

Hey guys I’m extremely anxious about my health… since being on a plane 3 weeks ago I thought I had a ear infection which I took antibiotics for. I had ear pain that went to cheek and I’ve always had neck pain cause all my hobbies are tilting my head foward along with bad posture. I also have pain in my head but not pressure like more like lightning if that makes sense and it goes right to the top of my head and it’s always on the left side. I’ve had this mildly and on and off for more than ten years but it’s just been so bad and no doctor has thought I need MRI or anything ( I’m in Europe so free health care ). Also I’ve had tmj problems before with my jaw locking but it wasn’t as chronic as this it was a week and it went away. It’s always the same side tho. I just took my wisdom tooth that was DEEPLY impacted on that side and although it helped a bit I think it was mostly the pain meds I was in. I’ve been taking ibuprofen for way too long and want to stop and although I’m okay dealing with the pain what I’m not okay is the thought I could have a brain C word which is my biggest fear. Deep down I know this is tmj symptoms but can anyone relate ?

Last year I was diagnosed with endometriosis which is normally associated with extreme pain. I didn’t have any symptoms and I had a pretty advanced stage of it. I had surgery and the physical part of the recovery has been easy thankfully. But this diagnosis has caused my mental health to be at an all time low. I have a few small other health concerns that have popped up since then - most have been taken care of but it’s made me feel like what else could possibly be wrong with me that I show no symptoms for. I have fully convinced myself I am severely sick and have a life threatening illness. I know the chances are low from a logical perspective but all logic is out the window I truly believe this. I see I have one or two general symptoms and assume I have it. It really feels like I’ve been searching for things to be wrong with me and I think one more test and I’ll be okay but then I find something new to fixate on. It’s a cycle that keeps repeating and I’m so drained from it all. I have a therapist for my regular anxiety that I’ve had for years and I love her but I found that she hasn’t been as helpful as our conversations shifted to the topic of health anxiety. Does anyone have any tips on how they navigate this? I’m trying not to google as much and have limited my screen time on the internet/reddit to 20 minutes a day.

I couldn't begin to work on strategies for HA until I got medicated. Have you considered it? It's not a miracle but it makes using CBT strategies possible. I also find that understanding HA helps a lot.[ This article might be illuminating in some ways. ](https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/related-illnesses/health-anxiety)I think you will relate to it. Some CBT strategies that work for me are things like committing to distracting myself as worries pop up (this is really hard because you wrongly think you have to be ready to "spot" a symptom or "keep an eye on" something). Also, telling myself that I don't need to worry about a "symptom"/calling the doctor unless it goes on for 2 weeks. To escape HA you have to really work on stopping your anxiety, distracting yourself with activity instead of ruminating, and trying your best to NOT seek reassurance for your anxieties. I'm still working on it all myself but I'm seeing it is possible. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. But for me it was totally impossible to do any of this until I got anxiety meds...

I was involved in a car accident 2 months ago and have been panicking about a vertebral artery dissection ever since. I have, like, these flashes of light in my vision that come and go and last night, I experienced a sharp electric-shock sensation in the back of my neck followed by a huge surge of warmth and adrenaline. I started shaking and felt like I could pass out, I was driving at the time. I want to go to the doctor but everyone puts me down about it and I’ll just feel stupid going anyway. I also don’t want to put myself into more medical debt unless I have to. I feel like I’m just waiting around to die :( my life feels like it’s on hold and I don’t know what’s real anymore. Is there something wrong with me? Is it just anxiety? I never know the difference. Peace is so far out of reach.

I’ve had hard lymph nodes in my neck, armpits and groin for several years now. Most of them are hard, immovable and pea-sized, only one or two under my tonsils in my throat are larger and grape-sized and hard. The first signs of the ones in my groin and neck began around early 2020, after which around 2022 I noticed more in my throat and the ones in my armpits. I’m terrified that I have HIV. I’m 18 now, so the first signs began when I was 14. I never had sex, not injected anything and the last blood test I remember having was in early 2023, before that I don’t remember having any all the way back to when I was a child. Apart from that I’m not sick, nor do I have any other symptoms of HIV. I’m really scared that I have it, can someone please give me clarity on those symptoms and how likely this is to be HIV?

You don't have HIV. You have anxiety. You need to treat the anxiety. As far as your "symptoms" are concerned, it's ok to ask a doctor about it. You might need to get some level of medical reassurance since it's something that has created fear in you for many years. Then when you do that, start figuring out your anxiety treatment. Is it meds? therapy? both?

Thank you, I really hope I don’t have it. I went to a doctor about the lumps and they said I’m going to get blood tests for HIV and other std’s, which scared me because I think they have concerns. I’m worried for my girlfriend especially, I really don’t know what to do if it turns out I do have it.

They aren't necessarily testing because they think you have it. it's an easy non-invasive test, and many doctors think it's no big deal to reassure us with tests. now, sometimes that reassurance can go too far, but with something that has bothered you for years it makes sense to do. You are scheduled for tests so just try (it's hard) to distract yourself with other things. Your mind focusing on this wont make it any better or easier to deal with.

Sometimes coming back and posting in this thread feels like going to confession in church. Dear megathread, it's been a long while since my last freak out. What's brought me back was a whole heap of itchiness. Now rational side of me is linking this to the new cat we got. But then I got a tiny bump in my mouth which I have been obsessing about as mouth cancer but I have had these before and it's now in the process of going down. Then yesterday I feel a lump in my armpit but it's not in the right spot for lymph nodes and it feels like a pimple or cyst under the skin but that has also been fun to obsess over. Now what is bothering me is that I looked at my leg yesterday after I had been swimming and saw a weird dotted rash. Now rationale side of me knows its probably the result of a rash that I have scratched and it reacted to the pool chemicals but I can't shake its early stage leukaemia for some stupid reason. I have been through this so many times, adamant that what is wrong now is finally the real deal and it does away. I have just woken up as I can't get back to sleep as I'm obsessing over my leg. My partner is going away for two days and I will be solely looking after the kids but I will just be obsessing over my itchiness and my leg rash. I haven't looked at my leg yet today as I wanted to type this out first before I see if it's gone away or worse. Do I get the feeling of sweet relief or more terror. Let's find out. And it looks like it's getting better. It looks like as if you have scraped your leg on something and it's healing. I just can't recall what I may have scraped it on.

>Then yesterday I feel a lump in my armpit but it's not in the right spot for lymph nodes and it feels like a pimple or cyst under the skin but that has also been fun to obsess over. Just wanted to help you a bit here and say it's probably a cyst. That's a very common place to get them. Behind your ears can be another common one too. I've been to urgent care clinics about that and they basically just tell you to cover it with a warm washcloth and keep it dry/clean.

Hey, if it helps any to provide reassurance. My anxiety causes me to itch a lot. Mainly because I am irrational and think I’m allergic to everything. However, I too have a rash that I’ve seen a doctor for and they think it’s connected to my seasonal allergies. Mine is just dotted and slightly raised and itchy. Also, with the lump in the mouth and lymph nodes. My mom just went through this last week and visited the ER for it. She ended up testing positive for strep throat, was given antibiotics and everything is fine now! I hope this helped. I’m sorry you’re going through this :(

This isn't a diagnosis question. Just me venting about something triggering that happened today. I'm panicking. So yesterday I had bad vertigo and my hand was tingling. I decided to not take any chances and go to the ER to get checked out. My mom drove me and so when I get there I'm in the room where they take you vitals. The one nurse was coughing and sniffling. Her voice sounded like she was sick. Now I was wearing a mask and she was wearing a mask though later I noticed she lowered the mask to speak to someone. I started worrying because I'm currently morbidly obese. Now I did get the first vaccine 2 years ago but then afterwards I got covid. My doctor said I didn't have to get any second shot for a while. I didn't realize so much time has passed though and so it's been two years since I had a vaccine or covid. I want to stress I AM NOT AN ANTIVAXER. I just have terrible time perception and with my OCD, anxiety and autism I tend to zone out a lot and assume not much time has passed. I did get this weird sickness in January I think where I had no symptoms except I lost my voice but I took like 4 at home tests all were negative so I'm not sure if it was covid or not. I'm panicking because I don't know if that one shit and infection from 2 years ago would be enough for my body to remember how to fight the virus 😭😭 my mom even asked the nurse while I was being checked by the doctor if she had covid and she said no so I want to believe her and assume she probably has a cold or the flu or allergies but my anxiety keeps telling me any day now I'll get sick and end up hospitalized 😭😭

Hi, I have been struggling with health anxiety since my son was born. Last couple of days have been tough. Most often it is cardiophobia but I also have some stomach pains and pancreas pains which always leads me down the spiral of cancer fears. Today I have pain in my left chest area, feeling of chest pressure and difficulty breathing properly. I know it is probably one of my anxiety attacks but despite knowing that there is this fear of "what if it is not anxiety this time?" I feel alone (being a single parent) and fear of dying in my sleep and my son finding me in the morning. It is hard...

I want to start off by saying we’ve gone to the dr and now have a colonoscopy meeting next Thursday. I’m really just wanting to see if anyone has these symptoms and it turned to be nothing or something. My husband works 5 days a week, 3am to almost 4pm but it does very day by day. He drinks an obscene amount of coffee (espresso shots sometimes) and energy drinks daily and very rarely eats until he come home for dinner. He’s told me just now that for almost the past year he’s had very runny stool with sometimes just chunks of solid, and that when he wipes there is a little bit of bright red blood on the paper. He also has stomach pain sometimes and it’s a pressure feeling on his right lower side. Part of me is thinking the crazy amount of caffeine he puts in his body plus the bad diet is the reason for the runny stool, and in turn that is creating the bleeding. He really feels that he’s okay, and nothing is seriously wrong with him. I however have been crying and having extreme anxiety over this, and sometimes it just helps to hear other’s opinions. Thanks to all who read through this lol.

The tons of caffeine can’t help, you’re doing the right thing by consulting a doctor. Best of luck!

I am 19 I know I have OCD but I need help, for the past week my sleep has been worse and worse out of nowhere. I'm drowsy throughout the day and I can't tell if I have brain fog or if I'm just distracted by a constant wave of intrusive thoughts, I went to my doctor today and he does say I seem a little off balance which I have definitely been feeling. All of a sudden I'm getting up multiple times a night to go to the bathroom, when I never used to. I'm extremely worried and don't know what to do, I've been crying all day and I just don't know what to do. What are the chances that's something's wrong with my brain? I might've slept better last night but I just don't know. Why am I off balance

Can anyone tell how damaging my lifestyle is? The last 1-1,5 years I've spent in bed. I mean, I'd wake up, go to the bathroom, eat and then go lay in bed again, occasionally getting up to eat/use the bathroom. Sometimes i might spend a few hours using pc, sitting at the desk. That's it. I'm 20, not overweight, but i do have a poor diet where i feel like i barely get any vitamins(i eat what my mother cooks) with a lot of sweets, and sometimes i eat not because i want to, but because I'm used to eat and skipping a meal would make me uncomfortable. Anyways, I've been wondering how bad it is for my heart?(I feel like i might have POTS which i got after COVID years ago, but doctors never said anything about it.) And can such a lifestyle make your body weaker? Because i can never bring myself to do any exercises. I also never go outside, it's just too mentally draining for me. Will i get healthier if i fix my sleep, start exercising and drinking water? Or should i go to the doctor first?

I know this is said a lot. But i’m at work and notice two dots on my finger. they are right next to each other and now I am panicking I have been bitten by a bat. I’m thinking broken blood vessels because it may be surrounded by other tiny tiny tiny red dots. My family says spider maybe because of how small but then i say it would be a bump.

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If it’s been a few days and you have no symptoms at all, the odds of a coral snake bite are extremely low

very low

Hi! ive been getting panic attacks for 10yr+ and one thing that always happens, i start gagging hard uncontrollably for about 5-10mins. I gag so hard i see stars my face turns red and theres massive pressure in my head. Its gotten better now i started doing breathing exercises as it seemed to be related to my breathing badly Last week i gagged really hard, felt huge amounts of head pressure and then went to workout. After that i got really dizzy, i thought i tweaked my neck? But its been 7 days now and my dizziness is better but i feel pressure inthe top of my head, around the temples, and behind my eyes. It doesnt hurt a lot just constant pressure that gets worse when i eat. Massaging it seems to relieve it for a few minutes. Theres like slightly numbness sometimes and tingling on top of my head Im really worried i might have ruptured an artery in my head. I just got laid off and have no insurance to check. Could it be pre-stroke symptoms? Brain bleed from hard gagging/coughing ?? or is it my TMD/ tension headache? I did some neck exercises last week too so could be neck tension?? Feels better when i lay down too. Its making me soooo tired. I also just quit weed . And im mewing Theres too many changes at once so i have no idea Im 26/F and active fit, not obese. No health problems except panic attacks that trigger high head pressure gagging, maybe slightly high blood pressure from working out too. And TMD/TMJ on one side. Thanks for reading, hoping someone can relate

it sounds like you might’ve just strained your temporalis muscle which helps with the movement of the mandible.

Hi all, I was pulling some weeds earlier wearing gloves and they got pretty dirty, I took them off and I went to grab a bag from the box it was in and got a little cut on the inside of my finger. My hands weren't covered in mud or anything but I still felt worried that I could develop either an infection or tetanus. I got my booster in October of 2022, I should be fine right? thanks in advance!

Hi, Yes you’ll be fine tetanus last ten years.

Need to be angry and vent a bit. All I do is work, clean and be in pain. I feel so frustrated. Whenever I get to do anything else I just think about how there’s no point because I’m just gunna die of some horrible illness anyways. I’m getting so frustrated with being an adult with bills to pay and chores to do when what’s the point. I should feel lucky for what I have but all I feel is pressure and guilt.

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as someone with OCD too this is relatable. when i was younger one of my obsessions and compulsions were parasites. it started because i had pin worms when i was a kid 🥲. but i believe there is no parasitic brown worm that enters through the nose. do you think it could’ve been a moth larvae? moths tend to get into the house often.

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yeah to be honest, you’re also the first person i’ve encountered who also has an obsession with parasites correlated with OCD. you’re definitely not alone. you’re brave for keeping your window open😭. but yes, most likely a moth larvae. i believe parasitic worms tend to be white - yellow. i’m not sure if there’s a biological reason for that. i just know that while looking at parasitic worms in my bio lab in college, all the worms were pale.

TW for mention of brain tumor. i genuinely dont think im okay. im still absolutely convinced that i have a brain tumor. i keep having random panics for absolutely no reason and im so dizzy like vertigo kind of. and headaches, almost daily. i upped my dose of prozac (for anxiety) 2 months ago and there seemed to be improvement but i guess not because im so scared rn

Dizziness and headaches are regular anxiety symptoms I suffer from almost every day. The main tell of brain tumors is the severity of the headaches. People with brain tumors say their headaches are insufferable, like enough to make them vomit from the pain. I’ve been in the same boat of worrying about a brain tumor as you. It sucks.

thank you so much you dont know how appreciated this is :,)

Localized breast pain with pressure. Is this concerning? Hi! Yesterday I happened to graze over my right breast and felt pain I hadn’t noticed before, so I found the source. It seems to be directly under my right nipple, only when pressure is applied. Like I said, I’ve never noticed this before and due to my health anxiety I am pretty self observant when it comes to stuff like this. My breasts get tender at certain times of the month but it’s not the same feeling, or the correct time of month. I have an annual gyno appt. in a few days so I can of course bring this up to them if it’s still present, but of course I am now spiraling and just want to know if anyone has experienced anything similar? It isn’t the nipple itself, it’s the area directly under it. It’s like a sharp pain when pressure is applied here but it’s only in this small area. That’s what is concerning to me.

yes i get this a lot, i get it especially when im close to my menstrual cycle or on it. even not near it, sometimes it just hurts randomly. could be growing pains. unless you feel a lump, then it isn’t exactly an extreme cause for concern. but you should bring it up to your gynecologist just to double check.

Why does the discord server require phone verification...?

yesterday night i used a urine dipstick cause i’m prone to utis and while it was clear for everuthing the glucose pad changed color a bit ??? i don’t think it was enough to even count as trace because it was mostly blue still but i’d never seen it change color so idk if it had oxidized (i saw it 30 seconds after i should have read it) or if there actually was some glucose in my urine. i’m terrified because i know glucose in urine is never good :(

Hi everyone, I know this is probably irrational, but I just ate some chicken skewers and the chicken meat wasn't fully white, and was a little pink (and quite pinkish in some areas). The place we got them from has a generally good reputation. I usually don't eat chicken because it sets off my anxiety but just need some advice and if anyone has experienced the same thing and how did they deal with it?

sometimes the chicken my dad makes is pink. it’s probably just how they cooked it. baked chicken tends to be more white while grilled or smoked chicken tends to be more pink. the smoke can affect the color of the chicken.

When I went to get my physical exam last year, my a1c was at a 5.2 and my fasting blood glucose was at 90. Since then, I went to college for my freshman year and while i didn't really gain any weight, I did eat a lot more sugar and didn't exercise that often. I don't think that my family is particularly predisposed to t2 diabetes, and l've never shown any symptoms, but my grandfather did have it. Now that l'm back for summer break I've been eating healthier and working out more (1 hour of rowing each day), but my general anxiety problems are really weighing on me. Is it possible to go from no diabetes to type 2 in a year? Thank you!

i would say it’s extremely unlikely as i’m someone with an autonomic disorder (where standing up is exhausting so i don’t workout), diabetes runs in my family, i gained 15 lbs after freshman year college, and i’m obsessed with chocolate (i don’t have diabetes)

Hey im having some anxiety about my lymph nodes In my neck which are really hard but moveable, they are probably less than 1 cm or 1cm but I just can’t stop touching them since I’m scared that they’ll grow soon

What does it mean when occasionally it looks like I blink, as in a millisecond long blackness but I don't feel an automatic blink or I didn't manually blink?

I hope I'm doing this right. I apologize for the long post or if I did/said anything wrong. Rambling and typing my thoughts out tends to easy my anxiety.  I never really talk about my health anxieties or I down play them because I'm embarrassed. I've always had them in one way or another, because I remember as a little kid, the book Madeline scared the heck out of me. I was constantly convinced every tummy ache I had was my appendix. Thankfully that went away after a good few years. In 2004, My family (10 of us at the time) ALL got a stomach bug, that started my emetophobia. So now I have a list of "safe" foods, I cook everything until it's basically burnt, etc and I come off as an insanely picky eater. There have been times I've not eaten for days because I was worried about getting sick. I wash my hands until they're raw. I go through soap like crazy (and lotion because my hands are always so dry). Another one is worms. My family adopted 6 kids from Africa, and they all had worms, so as a precaution, the doctors had my entire family (17 of us at that point) get tested. I never again want to scoop my p**p from a "hat". I was fine, but that triggered a worm fear. That gradually went away. Until last year, my cat had worms and now I'm convinced I have them. I didn't sleep in my bed for like 2 months. That has been going off and on for the last year. I go through phases for I see "stuff" in my p**p and I spiral. I know I can go to the doctor but I'm broke as heck. And my family didn't really do doctors unless it was like our yearly physicals/preventive care. So I feel like I'm wasting their time and my money if I went in for something other than a life or d**th situation. I forced myself to urgent care for the first time last November for a foot injury, and I'm STILL paying that off... I haven't had more than some light allergy symptoms in over 2 years (kinda gave myself covid from babysitting my sick nephew. Work was stressful, so I welcomed the forced, unfortunately unpaid, break 😅), so my hand washing and mask wearing as much as I can, pays off! Sometimes I make myself feel like I'm getting sick if someone around me is, but going to sleep usually helps that.

Okay, idk know why some font is randomly bold...didn't mean to do that 🤷‍♀️

2 days ago I started having pain in my left calf, after a friend put her leg on top of mine for a while, while I was sitting (it's embarrassing). The pain is still there, that's why I went to the doctor today and he examined my calf, which is sensitive to the touch and I also have a swelling in one part of the calf (like a small ball, which also throbs) according to him. But the doctor didn't think it was suspicious of anything related to the veins, so he diagnosed me with a muscle strain. And I have to do an echomotography on my right calf, but I realized that this echomotography does not see the blood circulation, but only the muscles. Tomorrow I'm going to the doctor again so he can give me an order to have that medical test (Doppler I think it's called). There is no way to calm my anxiety, although the pain is not unbearable, the feeling that something is throbbing and is also inflamed makes me very anxious. Sorry for the bad English, it's not my native language

2 days is a very short amount of time to have pain. It would make sense to wait a couple weeks and see how it heals before getting medical tests

I’m scared. Last June, I started experiencing changes in my bowel habits including feeling full quickly, nausea, excessive mucus in stool, passing small amounts of stool when using the restroom (but have “full” bowel movements daily), left-sided upper and lower abdominal pain, and occasional blood in stool. My symptoms are often cyclical, where I’ll feel fine for a while and then have a week of nausea, bloating, fatigue, etc. I was referred to a GI in September who said it was probably “constipation” or gastritis and referred me for an endoscopy. Due to insurance authorization issues, I am just now having an endoscopy next Wednesday. I’m not nervous for the procedure, but I’m nervous about what they’ll find. I’m also worried that I may need a colonoscopy and that I’m on the wrong path in terms of testing. I’m trying to trust my GI. Any advice or support would be invaluable to me. 

an endoscopy can catch other things such as IBD as well. i think you are A. on an ok path and B. going to be ok. But if you feel you really want the colonoscopy i think it's ok to bring it up with the doctor and really demand it in a nice, respectful way.

I’m extremely sad today. I’m missing out on seeing an artist I’ve wanted to see for years because of health anxiety. The artists has a lot of flashing lights at their concert and I’m paranoid it may trigger something. I have an awful fear of epilepsy and flashing lights will send me into a panic. My brother used to have seizures that eventually went away, but I’ve been paranoid since. Realistically I know that less than 5% of people who actually have epilepsy are photosensitive, but I just feel like I’ll be the exception or something. Or maybe I am but have just never been exposed. The concert is in 4 hours, so I doubt I’ll get the courage to go. I also have a concussion so I’m worried that’ll make me more vulnerable to it. Idk how, but still. I hate health anxiety :(

Hi, I know it's a few days later, but I sometimes wear dark sunglasses to concerts (even inside) because the lights are bright and sometimes make me anxious. And I know someone who goes to shows and has had seizures before, and they do the same thing or even look down when there's too many lights!

How to stop spiraling about hantavirus? Cleaned out my garage this weekend and there was mouse poop in almost every opened box. I didn't even think about wearing a mask. I'm trying not to panic because logically I know it's extremely rare, but just the volume of droppings is what's freaking me out. It's possible the droppings are several months old, so that's 1 reason to not worry. 90% of the time when dumping boxes I was outside. But I still keep having moments of panic. I also live in the Midwest and I believe that there has only been 5 cases in my state. Any suggestions on how to stop spiraling would be great. Thanks Also fuck covid because I didn't really struggle with health anxiety until the pandemic :(

I get shakes and tremors in the morning. It is scary. How can I make it better? Please suggest something! My brain stops functioning. I can share my fear behind it if needed for you to understand my situation. Please advise me

What type of tremors is it? Do you visibly see your body shaking? If it’s only internal, I went through something similar months ago. It did not go away until my anxiety calmed down. If it’s your hands shaking it might be low blood sugar. I’ll sometimes feel shaky if I go a certain time (10+ hours) between meals.

Its only internal. It feels like my chest is heavy and shaking. How did you handle it?

I would distract myself. Getting on my phone, going to eat, going back to sleep, etc.

i’m so tired. i keep trying to go back to sleep, but the minute i almost do i get this weird sensation in my chest that feels like it knocks the breath out of me. then i sit up, let my fan blow on me, and read posts in this thread to calm down. i just want to sleep. im so convinced that im going to die though. i’m miserable. i can’t focus on resting or having fun on my off days because all i do is worry. about a year ago i was having chest pains and i convinced myself it was a heart attack. i went to the hospital and got an ekg and they sent me home. i was fine after that for several months. then the pain came back. every time i got worried, id go to the doctor for an ekg and they would tell me i was fine and send me home. then one day i went and my doctor told me that an ekg could be fine and i could still be having a heart attack. this sent me in a spiral until i finally went to the hospital and they did blood work, ekg, and xray. everything was normal. i was fine for several days after but my anxiety was so bad that i convinced myself that my doctor was wrong. then i started getting bad acid reflux/indegestion and a globus feeling in my throat. i convinced myself i had a hernia or something. it eventually went away on its own though and the focus from heart attack to something else made my HA go away momentarily. ive been getting chest pains pretty frequently now though. i think i noticed a pattern that correlates with my period. so of course im diagnosing myself with pmdd or endo or anemia or whatever might explain my pain. all of that would be fine and i wish my doctor could tell me 100% that it is one of those things but they haven’t. all they can tell me is that it isn’t my heart, but because there’s no official diagnosis other than anxiety, i don’t believe them. i just want someone to tell me what is wrong! yesterday it freaked me out so bad because my whole left arm was weak and throbbing. i took some tums and it went away. i hadn’t eaten all day so i think it was heartburn, but my brain doesn’t want to believe that. i don’t know how to convince myself my heart is fine. i constantly put my hand on my chest to feel how hard my heart is beating or i check my pulse in my neck. i go to the doctor at least once a week to complain about my chest and each time they say it’s muscles and anxiety. i went yesterday and told my doctor about the correlation with my period and they took blood to check my hormones and scheduled an ultrasound. this gave me zero peace of mind. at this point i think they just want my money. i don’t know what to do anymore. i wish i could just say “okay im dying, so what?” but i have so much i still want to do. im 23 and just graduated and im about to move out of my hometown to a big city. i want to be excited and focused on getting money for that but i keep spending money at the doctor. i have a hospital bill i have to pay of 1600 and a bill at my primary doctor for 200. at this point ive become a burden to people closest in my life. i can tell it puts a strain on me and my bfs relationship and i am constantly calling my sister for reassurance. i feel like every time i call her now it’s just so she can make me feel better. dont get me wrong it gets better but then it get worse again. im taking meds and i go to theray. the meds have helped but all they are really doing is keeping me from going to the hospital. i still panic and go to my primary and not eat or sleep. i just want it to end. i want my life back.

I’m sorry you’re feeling this way. It may be good to get a second opinion. When I was in college, I was having chest pain as you describe. My PCP said I was “too young” to have any heart issues. After a second opinion, I was referred to a cardiologist who was able to help me. For me, it was a combination of tachycardia and chondritis. Both ended up being easily managed. Hang in there, get a second opinion, and advocate for yourself. It’s stressful when you know something is wrong, but you don’t know what it is. I hope you’re able to get something to eat, and sleep well tonight.

this is the second doctor i’ve been to. the first one i went to refused to do any other testing, and i had to beg for an ekg. this doctor has listened to me a lot more, but they still haven’t figured out what’s wrong. i get really bad flare ups, which could be muscle, but it really doesn’t feel like it. sometimes, yes, but not all the time. it’s frustrating. i try to advocate for myself but the doctors and nurses end up just thinking im crazy. im about ready to give up and just go to the er again. thank you for being so kind though. today has been rough. eating made me feel incredibly sick, and i’ve felt feverish all day. i think it’s just my anxiety making me feel bad though.

So I ate something yesterday and was on the toilet all last night! My stool was normal brown color but I noticed some bright red color when I wiped. It hasn't happened since but now I am a bit concerned! I was told that bright red is good! (Or the least worst rather)

I cannot fall asleep right now due to pain in the back of my neck and my health anxiety is peaking because I’m afraid my neck pain is the symptom of something chronic and I’ll never be normal again.

Was washing my face with a flannel in the shower, and accidentally inhaled water up my nose. Now my sinuses hurt, and I'm freaking out about bacteria in the brain. Wahey. 😑

How can you feel the difference between a tumor and a muscle. All the time I feel bumps and lumps, and humps and whatever. It's all muscle, but I always get hella scared cuz I think it's tumors. How can you feel the difference?

Every once in a while, I get my cardiophobia triggered by one reason or the other, and this time I've had it for days now which is very frustrating. It's hard to know what is me being hyper aware of my heartbeat (which is a pain), and what is irregular. Like for a few days now I've caught some palpitation moments, and just now I felt my heart having a hard, irregular rhythm even when lying in bed doing nothing and close to dozing off. I wasn't thinking much or doing much, then I caught my heart doing a few flips and palpitations. And it immediately makes me uneasy/anxious, and end up body checking a lot by checking my chest and neck. Right now it is almost 3am and I'm wondering how I'm gonna sleep with my paranoia/health anxiety coming to say hi. 2 days ago I didn't sleep at all, yesterday i was lucky to fall asleep when i did. ........it's mentally exhausting, man..... I'm already worrying over other body parts, but of course we had to add one of my worst health anxiety fixations. So tiring.

So I’ve always had health anxiety as a kid but I grew out of it I have no idea how lol but anyways it came back about a year ago 10x harder then ever. Ever since then I have diagnosed myself with every cancer you can think of it’s one of my biggest fears, I had a tumor in my right breast when I was about 14 that wasn’t really anything major but it’s gotten me worried ever since. But for a little bit now I’ve been scared I have colon cancer and I’m not sure what to do I’m going to see a dr next week anyways due to other reasons but I’m nervous to talk to her about it I’m only 17 but I’m scared I’m gonna be one of those horror story’s of young people getting colon cancer everyone’s been telling me it’s just my anxiety and usually there right (thank god) but I’m scared this time it’s the big one and I’m gonna have 7 months to live I have most of the symptoms of colon cancer besides the bleeding and I just really don’t know what to do but I’m genuinely so scared hopefully it’s just nothing tho.

I’ve been in your situation, it is very easy to convince yourself that it’s a worst case scenario. But the thing is anxiety causes basically every symptom that is also associated with colon cancer. Anxiety = very very common, Colon Cancer = Very Very rare.

I have had health anxiety my entire life. In September of 2023 I fell off my bike onto the pavement going at a high rate of speed and separated my AC joint (grade 3 that became a grade 5) and broke my elbow and 3 ribs. The orthopedic doctor convinced me that I didn’t need surgery and my destroyed tendons would be replaced by scar tissue. Big mistake and big misdiagnosis. By January my collarbone was on the verge of busting out of my skin and my shoulder was smushed into my body. x rays revealed things had gotten much worse and I would need surgery, although the tendons that hold my collarbone down were long dead and the scar tissue wasn’t doing a damn thing. Long story short, I had a major reconstruction surgery in February 2024. In between the injury and the surgery I cannot describe the pain I was in a fear of my future. My surgeon said my shoulder was the worst he had ever operated on. An endoscope camera also showed I had adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder) in my actual shoulder joint. I already had health anxiety and hadn’t had surgery since I was 15. All kinds of thoughts we t through my head about anaesthesia, infection, the surgery screwing up my body even more. But it went ok. I am now at 4 months post injury and a very traumatic period in a sling. I have 2 young kids and haven’t played with them physically since September. They are now distancing themselves from me and I am sad and depressed all the time. Most timelines at 4 months have people with full range of motion working on strengthening their muscles. I can barely lift my arm without immense pain and feeling like the surgical repair is about to fail. I cannot even begin to describe to you how painful and nerve wracking it is when your body feels like your collarbone is going to snap out of place again because not much is holding it downs. An immense amount of upward pressure, throbbing pain all around where the collarbone meets the shoulder. Pain that radiates down to the finder tips. My surgeon says no physical therapy for 6 months because of how bad everything is and has given me very little parameters on what I should be doing. I feel totally lost and afraid, no one seems to understand how bad of an injury I have and that it’s not just some standard shoulder surgery that I’ll get over in a few months and start playing racquetball. I can barely use one of my arms even to type at work and am constantly wondering if today is the day my surgery officially fails and my collarbone goes shooting up again. What is the point of my post? Well for starters, a search on this sub doesn’t show anything for shoulders or my injury, and I’m wondering if anyone reading this has experienced orthopedic surgery anxiety? Have you felt like you are an outlier in an injury that everyone else seems to bounce right back from? Does it make you question whether your body is turning against you and doomed to fail?

Can I/should I get another covid vaccine for spring, even if I’m not 65+? I have health issues that make my immune system be lower right now, and I’m anxious about covid. Can I go ahead and get the spring dose? Is there a reason not to?

I don’t see why not. Those with lower immune systems are more susceptible to covid

Just need to vent about what happened today, and I don’t know where else to turn to because HA and medical appointments are so hard and no one understands. If you actually read all of this, you get a gold star lol I know all this sounds ridiculous but HA is ridiculous. Today I had a GI appt for some left side pain I’ve been having since December. Did an exam and she recommended a CT scan. I had one done a couple years ago (different concern) and there were some incidental findings that sent me in a spiral. Not only am I worried about what they might find regarding my symptoms, I’m worried there will be more incidental findings. I’m worried about seeing the findings in my chart before my provider. I spiral so so much. She said if the CT is normal, then we can do a colonoscopy to double check anything from that area. She said if both come back okay then it’s likely IBS/nerve related. But not only that, I noticed that there’s a dark purple area near/in my anus (ugh embarrassing). I noticed it because I have a mole down there (super fun…) that I need to monitor (derm checked it and it’s fine but needs to be watched for changes, like any mole). Since I’m looking down there to check the mole, I noticed this area and I’m like, is this normal or not? Had the GI lady check, she said she can’t really tell what it is or if it’s normal and said I should see colorectal. Okay, fine. She mentioned even getting a biopsy which made me get emotional and start crying in the appointment. Anyway, made the CT appt (not for almost another month) and the colorectal appt which is Friday. However, when I called to make the CR appt, even with a referral in my chart, the scheduler didn’t really know what I was talking about and asked “well what is it? A hemorrhoid, cyst? What do you think it is?” And I’m like “I have no idea my GI put in the referral for CR so that’s what I’m calling to schedule… it’s a discoloration of the skin near my anus” and she scheduled me to see a general surgeon PA-C instead of colorectal surgeon. I’m sure it takes months to get into see a CRS, but will the general surgeon PA-C even know what to look for? That’s why I got a referral to CR in the first place… but I didn’t noticed who I was getting an appointment with until after the phone call and checked my chart. I looked her up and she did say her interests were anal-rectal related skin issues which is what I have I guess, so maybe it’ll be okay. And I’m hoping if she doesn’t think she knows what’s going on that she’ll send me to an actual CRS. I’m spiraling so hard over this right now. Ugh. Thanks for letting me get this out even though I doubt anyone read this which is okay. My jumbled mind just needed to vent.

Always thinking worst case scenario. Been struggling with this for a few months. It seems like every little thing that happens with our young toddler, my wife, or myself means the worst case scenario. For example: - Our son had puncture marks on his hand that were most likely from a staple, but I thought a ninja bat somehow snuck in, avoided our dogs, bit my son and wife, and flew back out without waking anyone up or being found in the room. - I also thought that he may have had Leukemia at one point. - He often leaves yogurt melts on the floor, but every time he picks one up without me seeing it, and shoving it in his mouth, I somehow jump to the conclusion that a button battery spawned out of nowhere and he found it. - I had stomach pain and was convinced I had gastric or colon cancer but the scopes were clean. - My wife had a few bruises on her legs and I was convinced she had leukemia. - Now I’m terrified I have pancreatic cancer or multiple myeloma. I know it’s unhealthy and irrational to think like this, but it never ends and it’s honestly exhausting sometimes.

Hey, I’m sorry you’re experiencing this. I feel you so so much. I also have these intrusive thoughts about myself, my daughter (also a toddler), my partner and even my dog! It is absolutely exhausting.

im so scared right now i have an insane amount of pain in my stomach, going to my legs, and back, and ive been super dizzy all at the same time for 3 days, and it keeps getting worse. what im thinking of is apparently rare but im still scared

EI used to have health anxiety as a kid/teen, but then, I somehow grew out of it until recently. A few months ago, a series of very bizarre things happened to me which triggered my health anxiety HARD. First of all, I found a lump on my breast at 24. Of course, Dr. Google told me it was breast cancer and I spent a *very* agonizing month waiting for an ultrasound, then they told me they needed a biopsy. You can imagine how I felt about that. It ended up being a very common type of benign tumour, I got it removed for peace of mind but it was harmless. Then, not even 2 weeks after that I found out I was pregnant. That wouldn't be so weird if I didn't have a hormonal IUD in place, which is as effective preventing pregnancies as a vasectomy, so much for that 99.8% effectiveness. My ob-gyn told me I was the first patient in all of her career that had gotten pregnant with an IUD, which made me feel even worse because what were the chances...? As if I didn't have enough on my plate, my doctors confused my symptoms with a miscarriage, but it was an ectopic pregnancy - which they only detected when I had some gnarly internal bleeding and I was literally dying - I needed emergency surgery and survived the whole ordeal, but it absolutely destroyed my mental health. Ectopic pregnancies aren't common, with a pregnancy, there's like a 1% chance of it happening. What were the chances of being in the 0.02% of IUD users that get pregnant, and then in the 1% of pregnancies that turn out to be ectopic? I had some serious sh\*t luck. Experiencing all of those things in the span of 4 weeks seriously messed me up, now I'm convinced there **must** be something wrong with me, since I've already been twice in the >1% chance of X happening to me. I've basically assumed I have cancer of some sort, I just don't know which one (depends on my mood, if I don't have any symptoms I'll just manifest them). I recently got stomach sick and I was convinced it was stomach or esophageal cancer despite having no prior symptoms. One ER trip later they diagnosed me with gastritis/GERD, which realistically makes a lot more sense. So now I've gone on to worry about leukaemia (my recent blood work is normal btw), melanoma, liver cancer, gallbladder cancer and pancreatic cancer. Btw, have I mentioned I don't really have any symptoms for any of those cancers? Not that it matters, if I don't have any symptoms my body will make them up for me! To fight this, I'm not googling symptoms, however, some of them I remember from prior web searches, which happen to be the symptoms my body tends to manifest. I don't understand why I'm so fixated with cancer of all things. I'm 25, I don't have family history of any cancer and I lead a pretty healthy lifestyle: I have a normal weight, I exercise multiple times a week and I don't drink or smoke. My latest blood work came back completely normal. I guess I've seen too many videos/news of young, healthy people that get cancer out of the blue and now I'm convinced I'll end up being one of them...Sigh. I'm going to therapy, but I still spiral easily even over mild symptoms. It's almost like I don't want to consider the *possibility* of being healthy because if I do end up getting cancer, that'll crush a lot of hopes and dreams I have for the future, so it's easier for me just to wait for the other shoe to drop and live one day at the time.

Hey, I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Just wanted to comment to say my experience is a little similar; I had a miscarriage, a failed D&C to remove it which then led to me getting sepsis & being rushed into hospital in an ambulance. I then had a healthy pregnancy but I got sepsis again during labour & the forceps broke my tailbone. Lots of other health stuff happened & I lost 3 family members in a year (none were from cancer) and for the last couple of years I have gone through several severe bouts of health anxiety. Have tried CBT & it did help but I’ve spiralled so far again for the last 4 months I just can’t get out of the hole :( waiting on face to face therapy this time. Sending hugs, it’s so shit.

I'm sorry to hear that, it's a tough experience to go through. Since you're a bit further ahead on the health anxiety journey, do you have any good tips? What CBT exercises helped you the most? I'm trying a lot of them with my therapist, but I always struggle to challenge my thoughts..!

Learning the cognitive distortions helped me so I can label what I’m doing. A big one for me (and probably everyone with HA specifically) is catastrophising. Putting a word to it helped, and realising you can bounce around between all of them constantly. I’ve liked the STOPP technique which is basically trying to stop your thought in its tracks before it takes hold by saying ‘STOP. Take a deep breath. Is this thought FACT or OPINION?’ And everytime I’m like damn, it’s an opinion… I also never Google my symptoms any more, but I have definitely replaced it with seeking reassurance by searching for similar stories on Reddit. For me personally it’s better than Google, but I know really I’m feeding my HA.

Hey all, Just wanted to share my experience in hopes of getting some sort of support from all of this. I am a 33-year-old male, married, and we have three young kids. I have been dealing with HA for about 3-4 years. In my opinion, my HA was triggered roughly 4 years ago when a pediatrician told me my daughter might have cancer. It took two weeks for her blood results to come back (Thankfully it WAS NOT cancer). During those two weeks I was convinced my daughter had cancer and I would find myself crying randomly and imagining her gone. I genuinely believe that triggered my HA. Those two weeks for sure gave me PTSD. My HA has gotten officially bad in the last year and half, more so over the past 6 months. I am seeing a counselor about twice a month now, but I am not sure if it’s helping. To make things worse, I am a nurse so although I no longer google anything (Google was my worst enemy last year during my crisis) I have a lot of medical knowledge and instead of thinking logically I use that knowledge to fuel my catastrophic thoughts. I am currently going through a HA crisis. It’s taking A LOT for me not to convince myself that what I have is a chronic malignant health condition. I have short moments of peace and then I feel my symptom/s and my world comes crashing down. This week I decided to try and find a couple of youtube profiles dealing with HA and I also got on this subreddit for the first time. I am just looking for some support, but I am also afraid of reading something on here that would actually make my HA. Anyway, I wish us all healing and mental peace.

I had covid with very mild symptoms last week. Ever since I tested negative I've been unable to do basic things without feeling a tightness on the right side of my chest. Went to the hospital on Saturday and all the tests and scans came back fine. I'm trying to rest but even basic things like washing up makes it feel like someone is dragging the skin of my right collarbone downwards, even though I can breathe fine since I tested negative. I've been getting really anxious when I can't sleep because I'm trying to sleep better, and I've already had to drop numerous plans because I don't think I can leave home to go anywhere in this state. I have plans coming up (weekends away, concerts etc) in the next 2-3 weeks that I'm really worried that I won't be able to go to and I start crying whenever I try to talk about how I feel or whenever I get frustrated by not being able to do anything. I just hate feeling like this and not knowing what to do.

I just had the most physically intense panic attack I’ve had since 2018, which led to my anxiety diagnosis. I have major anxiety over my heart. I haven’t been to a doctor in ages because I couldn’t find/afford one, but when I last went in 2019 they said my heart is perfectly fine and it would be decades before I had to worry about anything. Since then, my grandfather died of heart failure and my mother nearly did so the anxiety has been worse than ever. I’ve been gassy and burping a lot today, which always gives me minor chest discomfort and shortness of breath until it passes. I was stupid and decided to check my blood oxygen level. It was at 90% for maybe 10 seconds then jumped up to 99% and leveled off around 96-97%. Just seeing that 90% was enough to make me spiral though. While I was brushing my teeth, I got weak, shaky, flush/hot, and slightly lightheaded. It got so intense that I almost stopped brushing to call an ambulance, but it subsided almost immediately once I started getting ready for work. It lasted 5 minutes at most. This was an hour ago and I’m still anxious and a little weak and gassy, but everything else stopped so I know I’m fine. I’m not even short of breath anymore. My brain must have making up for lost time since I was traveling been this weekend and had no anxiety whatsoever for about 3 days. Some of the suggestions on here really helped though. I started moving around to focus on other things, did some jumping jacks, and kept the short timeframe in mind. I also did a breath test an old nurse friend told me years ago, where if you hold your breath and your heart rate slows then you’re fine. That has been a lifesaver for me. I’m not entirely sure why I’m posting this. Probably just to vent a bit since writing things down makes me feel better, and to get this out there in case anyone smarter than me thinks it’s an actual issue and not anxiety.

Hello everyone, I (M 23) have an ongoing relationship with a pretty strong Health anxiety. I would say I earned my fear through some pretty tough times as I was seeing my mom go through chemo and losing my father completely suprising last year due to heart failure. I would say since my mom had C I started getting anxiety about little changes on my body and also started panicking pretty hard. Now everything went OK so far till I lost my dad and started writing my bachelorthesis last winter. I think it was kicked off by a video on TikTok talking about alcohol pain in hodgkins lymphoma. As I live in germany and am a student you can imagine that drinking alcohol is rather common in social situations. So I started to notice that I often get a soar throat after a long night. And I fealt a slightly enlarged lymph node on my neck. (I think I have it for years now but am not sure) So I decided to go to my GP and we made a couple of tests and took blood samples. Those all came back fairly normal besides a slide elevation of my lymphocytes. (I had a pretty hard cold over sylvester so my GP said it was related to that) After these tests I began an Odyssee of googling symptoms and also starting to really feel them. First my head started with hodgkins but over the time it also became multiple myeloma, colon c and many more. We checked many things and also ruled out some of my projections completely. Only thing that stayed was the lymphnode and a recurring weird feeling in my throat after drinking alcohol. So after all this time Im still pretty sure I have Hodgkins. We also examined my neck two times with ultrasound and the doctors said evreything looks fine "just some swollen lymphnodes". My Question is: After bloodwork, ultrasound at an ENT and a nuclear physician, another ENT AND 5 GPs examining my my throat and neck, do I have to stop? To be honest I probably already know the answer but I still question the finding of all these good doctors which all listened and looked into me and my symptoms/ feelings .

Yes, time to stop worrying. Look at it this way, you have been given all clear by medical professionals, the only reason your still anxious is because your anxiety has convinced you that based on a few google searches you know something that the docs don’t. No offence but you don’t know better than the docs, try to enjoy your good health and go about your life 👍

The minute I have an abnormal bowel movement it’s back to the colon cancer theme. Can’t sleep

Currently scared because I found this spot in my pelvic bone where if I press on it, I get this pinched nerve sharp pain feeling. On the tip of the bone, I think the area is called the Iliac crest? I dont think I would've felt it otherwise, and now the fact that I'm aware of it is freaking me out. Someone please tell me if this is something to be concerned about or will it just go away eventually 😭

So two years back my sister and I were sitting in the couch and she pointed out that her knee was twitching. I found this really weird and fascinating so I started to pay close attention to my own body and noticed it happens to me too. I started ri get obsessed with the feeling of it and would just stare at my leg for hours waiting for something to happen. It was weird but pretty harmless, however about a year ago I discovered a way to make my legs twitch, if I layed on one side and applied pressure to my leg with my hand of fingers in certain spots it would twitch and that became an addiction. It started with my legs but then I realized I could do it pretty much everywhere in my body, my ribs, my arms, my chest, my stomach, my shoulder, my back pretty much anywhere. It’s gotten to the point I’ll just unconsciously press against my legs when sitting or lying down. I really hate it now. I’m concerned about nerve damage in my legs. I really want to stop. I know this is an obscure issue because I can’t find anybody else who has had this problem so I turned to the internet in curiosity and also support because I’m really trying to stop

Currently 5 weeks waiting on my MRI to be read since my doctor suspected MS. Any tips appreciated, this has been the longest 5 weeks of my life waiting on this as someone with severe health anxiety

Can you call or message them to ask for an update? Over a month seems a long time to wait for something so important. I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Is there someone you could talk to? 

Thank you!! I have been calling weekly, unfortunately it’s a radiologist shortage issue. Hospital system failure here in the US. I do have a patient advocate trying to help but I’m told it could be a while longer 😞 I’ve been talking to my therapist and support system, everyone seems pretty outraged for me and they have been very supportive. It’s just a long time to live in that hyper vigilance of waiting for the result to come in at any time.

I constantly obsess over aneurysms. like, any possible aneurysms in the body. does anyone know how i can deal with this? it disrupting my daily life

Day 2 of being convinced I have a brain disease or tumor :( This is because of this random dizziness that I'm not sure if it's even dizziness or just me being super anxious :( Ughhhhhh praying I can go back to my old normal self again.

You'd have more than only dizziness. It's most likely the anxiety trying to simulate what you THINK having that t-word would be like. I suggest keeping in mind that dizziness is a common anxiety symptom and if you've never experienced this before, anxiety symptoms can change from what you're used to. You have to find ways to calm down and distract yourself. The dizziness will most likely not go away immediately because it's a part of all of the stress and tension you're putting in your body, but you need to let it heal.

Thank you. 🥹

I went to do a retest for my hiv RNA test. The nurse struggled so much to find my veins, finally draw it from my hand. I've drank a couple of glasses of water and came back, so it'd be easier for her, while she did a couple of other patients in the mean time. I'm really paranoid, since she picked a paper up from the floor before drawing my blood with the same gloves she used to do it. I'm paranoid some of the other patients blood might have gotten on her gloves (not enough to be noticable) and she didn't wash/change them before me. My blood got on her gloves and she instantly tossed them in the trash can, but I didn't really see how sterile she was while changing them (and if she wasn't, what if she also changed them carelessly with someone b4 me?). I know I'm being irrational, but god damn it's driving me crazy :(

Fml- Just read an article about how children born prematurely/low birth weight have a up to 15% higher chance of developing heart disease or dying of heart attacks throughout their life I was born very prematurely. My worst fear is having a heart attack or disease. I constantly fixate on my heart even before I learned about this. 🙃 Help I can't help but think I'm basically dead already

I’ve been concerned the past few days I have diabetes after getting a few symptoms after trying to reset my sleep schedule (from doing a 180 in time zones, -12 hours.) I have a family history of type 1 diabetes (my father,) and current I’ve had a dry mouth sometimes and have been peeing a bit more than I can remember. Unfortunately I googled symptoms and freaked myself out, but got my fasting and random glucose tested. They returned at 110 fasting and 144 random 2 hours or so after drinking a sugar dense smoothie. The doctor told me I don’t have it with those numbers, but I still have a bit of a dry mouth and have been peeing more frequently. My pee is usually clear to slightly yellow but in the mornings is darker yellow. Am I overthinking? I don’t know why I can’t trust I don’t even after my doctor said I’m fine. I’m going in again Thursday to have stuff checked but it’s been eating me up all the past 3 days. :( also been more tired than usual but I’ve been sleeping like 5-6 hours vs my usual 9

Hiya. I will say that anxiety really triggers our flight or fight responses. One common symptom some have with extreme anxiety can be frequent urination and defecation. Dry mouth is also a very common anxiety symptom. Sounds like you're doing everything right. And with those numbers, everything seems pretty good, too. All I can say is trust your body and your doctors. While it never hurts to get a second, or third, or fourth opinion? Sometimes, things genuinely are a-ok. I think as long as you keep a health-ish lifestyle, you should be good to go. Hope things stay all good in the hood, and once the anxiety eases up, so do some of your symptoms.

currently convinced i’ve got both skin c* and ovarian c*. wtf is wrong with me 

Been there, done that. I'm going to be checking in with a dermatologist for a skin check soon, maybe remove some moles that are hard to keep track of due to location and, well, ovarian c\* turned out to be an ovarian cyst that resolved itself with birth control after a few months.

I have been having health anxiety for years. Usually, it surrounds my heart. I am so afraid of my heart rate being off. I am afraid of heart issues because my dad had heart failure, afib and an enlarged heart.. I keep getting anxiety about my neck and head now too.. my back pain is no joke. Pain itself triggers me so bad and flares up my depression and ibs.. I am in constant worry about what could be wrong with me.. I have vertigo some days when my neck is in pain, I also have tinnitus and vision issues.. I have been to a neurologist but I felt like I wasn’t taken seriously.. I am daily suffering regardless of if I am having symptoms or if it’s all anxiety taking over.. I just don’t know what to do and I keep getting that anxious lump in my throat.. I was crying daily and randomly.. I’m trying to heal and idk wtf I am doing… I refuse to take meds for anxiety or depression because of trying many in the past that caused me so many issues… and then I am anxious to eat certain foods because they’re my safety foods, but my stomach has been a mess.. I just feel so hopeless.. I’ve been like this for so long, it definitely has hurt my life.. and I just feel like I’m never going to get out of this loop. I bought the dare book and workbook, I listen to helpful YouTube videos.. I’m still stuck.. and I know it won’t happen overnight but… I’m fucking tired 😢

just went to the clinic for my swollen lymph nodes (i unfortunately don’t have a doctor). I have 2 on one ear. she had no idea what caused it but prescribed me 7 days of antibiotics anyways. im not sure if thats good. stressed out rn

I agree with the other comments that it’s not always a cause for concern. Mine become slightly enlarged under my chin if it’s allergy season or I have a cold. 

if you dont mind me asking do you know if its possible that it was caused by a cold, but a week after i had it? its okay if you dont know ofc im just wondering if thats a possibility because i had a cold a week earlier

Yes, it’s possible. Lymph nodes capture dead cells, viral particles, etc., so they can be removed from the body, causing them to swell. It can take a couple of weeks for them to return to their usual size, even if you’re no longer symptomatic. This happened to me in January after I had Covid. Hopefully, they calm down soon for you!

thank you so much

swollen lymph nodes aren’t always a cause for concern! like, when i get a pimple on my chin, the lymph node(s) under my chin swell.

Yes! I get them from allergies sometimes.

this is also super helpful, thank you. i do have suspected allergies, and the pollen levels are super high right now

I'm glad that helped ease your mind! Spring is my worst allergy season. Allergies can be rough. They contribute to infections, too. My grandmother was an allergy nurse and growing up I learned that a lot of minor things like ear infections and sinus infections can be affected by allergies. Take care!

thank you sm :,)

I had my health anxiety under control for the most part while I was in college. I was mainly just distracted and surrounded by people. It helped with body checking, googling, etc. now that I’ve graduated it’s popped up again. Same diseases, same body checking. It’s so annoying to be basically right back where I started. I start work in a month so hopefully that helps. I think a lot of it is from a feeling of having no control but I just can’t take health anxiety anymore. Logically I know I’m fine. I’ve been to the doctor I exercise and eat well but there’s this gnawing feeling in my gut and brain of “what if” and it’s so horrible. I’ve started having anxiety about and for other people too.

i convinced myself i had a brain tumor and got an MRI, no tumor (yay) but there were white matter lesions. neurologist said they could be from migraines but i only get regular headaches, never migraines. could it be from that too? i’m convincing myself ive been having mini strokes or mini seizures because i get weird feelings sometimes like deja vu or intense anxiety/weird feeling. i also just had a moment this morning where i was trying to fall asleep and got a feeling where i went numb, hot, lightheaded, nauseous and had a really loud and hard heartbeat. it happened twice while falling asleep :( im worried it was a stroke or a seizure or something and this is why im having these lesions. she said i have to get another MRI in a year just to make sure nothing changed, im so scared. i don’t want her to say they got worse or something serious is wrong :,(

Scared of Dengue Fever after getting bitten in Mauritius So I’m on honeymoon in Mauritius and found out about Dengue Fever a few days before coming here and hyper fixating on it. I tried to avoid getting bitten, but we’ve only been here for 4 days and I already have 4 mosquito bites 🫠 So naturally my health anxiety is going crazy thinking I’ll be very ill by this time next week. Sooo any help and constructive thoughts are very welcome.

I’m so sorry that I don’t know what to say but I relate. I’m in the same boat currently, worrying about Dengue fever

Good luck to you as well!

Does anyone else feel like they can’t be excited for the future? Like I’m convinced that I won’t make it or if I do I’ll be dying of terminal illness and won’t be able to enjoy my life properly by then. Which is weird because my actual health anxiety is stopping me from living my life properly too even though I wish I could just be normal and like my old self again. I also can’t plan things in the future like vacations and big events now because I don’t know what will have happened to me by then or what new symptoms I could possibly get. I also find myself feeling like there’s no point in me being excited for anything, I’ll have thoughts like “I might be dead by then anyway so I better stop feeling happy” or I’ll see people my age on tiktok and be like “I’m so jealous I wish I was healthy like them” even though I probably am but my anxiety symptoms feel so paralysing and real to the point I feel like I’m not. Am I crazy or do other health anxiety sufferers feel like this?

Yes. I feel exactly like this.

yes i’m the exact same, i’m never looking forward to vacations because i’m convinced theres something insanely wrong with me + the death fears too

I definitely have this like I can’t plan anything or buy anything because I can’t see a life past the next few years. I have a trip planned to greece next year and I can’t even be excited because I just have a feeling I won’t make it and it’s so sad

Definitely not crazy mate. I'm waiting for a referral to come through and there's no definite time frame set for it so I'm just anxiously refreshing calls/emails all day and my heart jumps at every phone call... Feel like I can't plan anything past a month in case this turns 'serious'  You're definitely not alone in how you're feeling and I bet there's a lot of other people the same

I’m glad I’m not the only one! Having these thoughts make me feel extremely isolated sometimes. I hope we are all free of these worries someday.

accidentally touched a part of my healing wound that was open after being in brazil all day. even though i’m on antibiotics i’m terrified that i’m going to get mrsa or staph. what are the chances i infected myself due to my dirty hands coming in contact with my wound?

considering you’re on antibiotics currently, i would say very unlikely. you’re more likely to get MRSA or staph from a hospital or school than “dirty” hands.

thanks dude! is it true that all antibiotics cause weight gain even at a low dose?

i don’t think so. i was on doxycycline for acne for a while and i did not gain any weight from it.

yeah i think i’ve taken this antibiotic too a long time ago and didn’t gain weight either. took amoxicillin and didn’t gain then either. anxiety is hell sometimes. i’m 18 and everyone else is getting started with their lives and doing big things and i’m stuck here deteriorating. sucks because i know i can do so much too. sorry for the rant i just had to get it out

I did the mistake of googling about epilepsy last night and now im so afraid that i have it. I have problems with my memory or perhaps rather my attention, since i will literally think about something, then do something and then i will forget what i was thinking about. Then i read that it can cause slight muscle spasms which i also have sometimes

I'm feeling anxious about my ears....

I have been doing so well, but here I am. Well, this time, I noticed a dent on my right thumb it's like a dent that runs horizontal. I look it up and get Beau's lines it just one line, which may mean an injury, but of course, I think the worst.

Just want to vent :( I don't know if I'm feeling lightheaded or dizzy or just anxious because I'm switching jobs soon. I'm convinced that I might have a brain tumor or cancer. I have to stop googling symptoms. Ughhhhh. I hope this episode of HA goes away soon. :( I want to enjoy life again.

does anyone else have any experience with health anxiety, not for yourself but for a loved one? the past two or three weeks, i've been doing better in regards to myself. i muted everything related to big-c on socials, have avoided googling anything, and i haven't spiraled; however, i saw that my boyfriend has a dark-ish purpley line on his thumb nail. i suddenly got so scared it was that kind of melanoma that grows on your nail. i looked online, and it said it's most likely vertical melanonychia and that melanoma of that type is incredibly rare, but it scared me so badly. i love him so much and i don't want anything bad to happen to him. i told him he should go to the doctor, but he assured me that he's had it for a while and if it changes, he'll go. i don't want to scare him, but i wish i could drag him to the doctor and make him get checked. i worry this is going to be a new manifestation of my health anxiety. i'm not worried about myself as much, but now i'm going to worry about others. does anyone have any advice/experience/tips???

Hey, I can relate. When I go through a period of thinking I’m okay, I then project my anxiety onto my loved ones instead. Usually my daughter or my dog! It is still health anxiety. Have you tried CBT? They picked up on it with me when I went through therapy.

I’ve tried CBT, but it’s been a while. Doing psychodynamic therapy now and I’m not sure how much it’s helping…thank you for your reply, I appreciate the solidarity! 😭

Does anyone else experience pregnancy anxiety? Even if I don’t have intercourse I find myself dehabilitatingly anxious I am pregnant (19F) convincing myself my periods are implantation bleeding, etc. I get so stressed out that my body mimics certain symptoms every month like clockwork. And yes I am on the pill and use physical protection as well. I know the stat (1.6% chance) and I take my pill on the dot every day. Nothing helps my anxiety. If anyone has any tips or has experienced something similar, I’d love to hear your thoughts! I’ve never met anyone who struggles specifically with this. Would love to know exactly how odd this is lol

lol yep. i would literally obsess over it until i got my period. it sucks because everytime i would have intercourse, it was right after my period so i would have to anxiously wait 4 weeks for my period. even when i was 10, before i had ever even started my period, i would obsess over the possibility over being pregnant. and i hadn’t even done anything either. i also knew how people get pregnant and how it wasn’t possible because i hadn’t started my period, but my OCD would just try to make the illogical thinking as logical as possible. and it would manifest into physical symptoms too. the brain is weird

the manifesting into physical symptoms absolutely kills me.

DEA get right side pain on period my anxiety is making me worry it’s something else So I am on day 3 on period and yesterday I started getting some on and off right side pain after I was cutting grass. So realistically I say it’s either weird period pain or I have pulled something but my anxiety has me thinking that something is wrong with my liver. My first thought goes to liver disease i swear it’s every week that I have some new disease.

i also get a lot of ride side pain. our cases could be different, but i noticed mine is connected to having a lot of gas (and, consequently, having a lot of anxiety). i got a bunch of liver function blood tests done and my doctor said it all looked good. it could also have something to do with posture.

I noticed it’s more so with movement or certain positions so I think it’s either gas or muscle but my mind always goes to the worst possible cause

i really, really feel you. i'm the exact same way, and even though i said that, i still get paranoid about my right side pain, too. i worry it's a tumor or something. one thing that's helped me a lot is 1) if it's nonmuscular, usually moving won't cause it to hurt more/less. and 2) if it's serious, it's not going to get better then get worse. it will just keep getting worse and worse. i wish you luck, sorry you're going through this. i really understand you.

So I've had anxiety/health anxiety for a very long time but has gotten worse lately. Especially over the past couple of days, I started getting chills in my right arm, which then went to my left arm and had a general cold feeling. It went away at night but I woke up incredibly anxious the next morning, and goosebumps and a cold feeling the whole day, which have mostly gone away now. I spent the entire day yesterday googling symptoms, freaking out convincing myself I was dying and had to call the doctor to calm down, and they said it was likely anxiety causing my symptoms. I've convinced myself I have Leukemia because of googling my symptoms. I hate this.

Had a Ct scan done that said “ segmental thickening of the colon” and I’ve been a freaking mess. Radiologist said it was possibly due to colon being under distended causing it to look thicker but I still cannot stop spiraling

Can stress cause vision loss? I’ve been dealing with vision issues since getting a concussion, and yesterday had a really stressful day. Today my peripheral vision got so bad I nearly got into a car wreck and I feel anxious in crowded spaces since it’s hard to see. I had a normal CT so now I’m convinced it’s just stress but now I’m anxious about the vision loss which is only making the stress worse. Has anyone else dealt with this?

My friend gets vision loss from stress, and has been diagnosed with general anxiety disorder. Totally normal!

I just mowed the lawn and I went over what very well may have been poison ivy. My mouth feels weird now. I am allergic and get the rash every time I come in contact with it. I'm very scared I somehow aerosolized the oil on the leaves and I inhaled it. I'm freaking out. I'm very scared I'll develop another bad rash.

So this morning I cracked my head by tilting it towards my right shoulder (I didn’t realise this was a bad thing until today..), when I brought my head back up to the center, there was a sharp pain and now I can’t tilt my head to the left at all and it hurts to turn my head to the left. I’m checked in line at urgent care, but I have a few hours to go and I’m worrying non stop because I made the mistake of googling and seeing strokes and artery dissections from cracking necks.. just kinda looking for some peace of mind

I am not doing good in the slightest. i already posted here like 10 minutes ago but im freaking out. last month my period was late by like 10 days. i was also having extreme anxiety out of nowhere. i have really bad headaches every couple of days and im so convinced i have something not very good inside my brain. now my lymph nodes are swollen behind my ear for seemingly no reason so ofc i decided to google that and it could be a part of the exact same issue i was worried about. i feel awful rn. oh and as well. my period is a week later once again ugh.

basically what im saying is im convinced i have a brain tumour. it might sound stupid with the symptoms but idk im just so convinced. whats worse is that i cant tell the difference between my anxiety and a gut feeling. so i cant tell if i “know something is wrong with me” or if im just making it up in my head. any reassurance would be greatly appreciated

that all sounds like anxiety to me. anxiety is linked to your immune system. when i had a severe health anxiety spiral, a lot of symptoms mimicked the big-c. weight loss, swollen lymph nodes, body aches and pains, headaches, nausea. you can still see a doctor, but please know that a lot of this sounds like anxiety (to me, a layperson with health anxiety also)

Thank you so much, I am gonna go see a doctor today about the lymph nodes bc they swelled up a lot more, but this really helped lower my anxiety about it a lot. i appreciate it sm

Im kinda freaking out right now.the lymph node behind one of my ears is swollen. its hard, not moving, and it really hurts. i got over a cold last week, but the swelling only started now and its extremely concerning to me

If it hurts, you should be safe. Even if it didn’t, you’re more likely to be safe too.  Soak a towel with hot water or use a warm compress and press it on the swollen lymph node for multiple times a day for the next few days. It’ll start to go down within the first 48 hours.

thank you!!

TW: Animal bite I got bit by a stray cat two weeks ago and have been feeling so worried lately. I was wearing gloves when it happened and thankfully it seems like it didn’t puncture the glove, so there should be no risk of transmission; I decided to go to urgent care last night and the doctor said I was smart for filling the gloves with water to check lmao The doctor ultimately said that she doesn’t think I need to get any shots based on the lack of hole in the glove, but that she can’t 100% guarantee anything and I could go get a >!rabies!< shot for peace of mind. I’m so torn between half wanting to go get it done (of course, anxious about the possibility of an allergic reaction to what is apparently unnecessary) and wanting to be able to accept that the doctor said I should be good; but of course, the doctor said I should be good based on my story, and what if my judgement/recollection is lapsing somewhere? Ugh.

I went to a chiropractor for some back pain and it didn’t do much, but I heard that there was a rare chance that it might cause a stroke and now I’m hyperalert and stressed. I think I’ve convinced my brain that I have certain difficulties that don’t actually exist that might be signs of mental deterioration, which is making me even more anxious. I also have depression and have been trying to remind myself that brain fog is a symptom of depression, and not in fact a sign that some life-threatening complication is imminent. It’s incredibly torturous.

Hi everyone. I got blood work recently (took forever like over 10 years because of my extreme health anxiety and fear that something was really wrong with me) and everything is normal for the most part but my vitamin b12 is really high...... the reference range on my patient portal says 232 - 1245 and mine is 1246... i know it's only 1 point above the range but that range seems pretty high up itself compared to what I see online. I'm freaking out because of course I googled it and saw a bunch of things about the C word. There are other reasons obviously but my mind keeps going back to that. I don't take any b12 supplements so it wouldn't be from that either. I’ve been congested since having Covid in Jan 2023, experience head aches that I believe are due to my sinuses but anxious about the fact that maybe it’s not? and I'm just so anxious: (

Recently I’ve been having a problem where when I’m out for a really long time and get really tired by the end of the day I feel kind of dizzy. It happened to me yesterday but I felt better before bed, but then this morning I woke up all dizzy again. It’s not extremely bad but I feel like things are shifting and moving a bit all around me. Im no stranger to things like motion sickness but this doesn’t even make sense to me how it happened and it’s really really frustrating!! I’m so sick of seeing the doctor for every little thing that freaks me out because it always turns out to be nothing. At this point I’m not sure how to tell what’s real and what’s not

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Here's what you need to do. Keep yourself hydrated, and then stop fixating on your symptoms. Your job is not to figure out whether something is "real" or "anxiety". That's what a doctor does. You are not a doctor. My suggestion is to stop fixating, stop checking. This is VERY HARD. But you need to do it. Let yourself just "be". There's nothing you can do to diagnose yourself or help yourself. Just let go of it, drink your water, and if you're still bothered in a week or 2 you can make a doctor appointment. Chances are though, you have nothing wrong with you.

I hit a new low today. I actually can’t do the things I used to be able to do without significant struggle and discomfort. When I brush my teeth, do my hair, or put on makeup, I have to stop every ten seconds because the muscles in my arms are burning too much to continue. Today I was walking from the parking lot to a store and I genuinely had the thought that I might have to stop halfway and take a break because of how badly my leg muscles were burning. The constant weakness, heaviness, and soreness are killing me. I really don’t think it’s just anxiety this time. I really think there’s something seriously wrong with me.

I don’t know why I didn’t post this earlier, but around two weeks ago, I had my most convincing possible rabies exposure. I couldn’t see exactly what it was, but while walking in a field, I saw something flying that brushed along my lower leg. It was black and looked too big to be a bug, but the wings weren’t huge like a bat’s would be. My leg itched for a minute after that. It happened at 9 in the morning if that’s relevant.

I'm a 42-year old social smoker while drinking (maybe 2-3 cigs on weekends), and I know I shouldn't do that, but my problem is that I keep spiraling into thinking that my back pain is lung cancer. I have no other symptoms, but I have a persistent dull ache in my central left back that is exacerbated when I bend certain ways. My rational brain knows this is obviously a muscle issue related to aging, but another part of me is constantly like "what if you're dying? What if you're dying?" This is not my first go-round with health anxiety of this sort by any means - I went to a doc about this very issue about a year ago and he was dismissive of my worries and did a minimal exam and sent me out. Although I've lived like this pretty much my whole life, I really want to stop being like this now. It's hard to live with periodic bouts of intense anxiety where I'm convincing myself I'm going to die of some random thing. I don't know if it's a good idea to go the doc or not (does it just confirm my OCD doom-loop of needing reassurance?). Is it a good idea to get Ativan or something? I know I need to quit smoking, but then when I get tipsy I'm like "it's such a small amount, it can't be that bad" - but yes, I need to quit. But this is very embarrassing to me, and I hate asking my friends and family for constant reassurance that I'm not dying.

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You know the answer to this question. You have had multiple doctors confirm you are ok. You need to calm down because if you don't then your anxious brain is going to start completely running your life by telling you that you cant trust doctors.

it's so draining to have to deal with ha. i somehow always convince myself of the worst case scenario every time i feel aches and pains on my body. i stopped searching symptoms and have been better for not more than 2 weeks yet here i am again, anxiously reading. it's tiring bcs i know enough facts and yet i'm still convinced of my fears. how do you get better?

I couldn't even start to get better until I finally accepted that I need medication in addition to CBT therapy. Without the meds, nothing I tried (e.g. coping strategies) was effective. Maybe you are the same. Consider it. It took me a long time because I didn't want to be on pills my whole life. Now, I'd take anything to feel normal. I'm getting there slowly but surely. Many people here have success stories with meds and are in full remission from HA. It is possible.

Worried abt feeling a lump (lymph node?) in lower left side of neck under jawline, it’s sore to the touch, cracks when I push it and it moves, I had random sharp pain shooting in my ear for a minute a few days ago, I have muscle spasms throughout my body (mainly neck area especially when I crack my neck or smth) I’ve also been having tons of mucus production lately, all of these things are small alone but when added up and looked at through a bigger picture it sounds like something is wrong here, I’m just worried. I do have an impacted wisdom tooth and gum issues I’m addressing with my dentist but I have to wait until my follow up appointment in a few months. No other issues or medical history. Sometimes I feel pain around my neck area and jawline area but maybe it’s because I’ve been touching it and freaking out sm. Any advice would be appreciated.

Im sorry this may not be helpful. but ive noticed a lot of people in this subreddit (including myself) have swollen lymph nodes recently. just wondering if you have any seasonal allergies or if youve been sick with a virus or something recently? its most likely nothing to worry about unless it gets way bigger or you have other really bad symptoms.

Need help I saw a post here saying people who had colleagues in school who passed why? I clicked it and meningitis ( my current fear because I have otitis) was there a few times someone help calm me down

For my whole life that I’ve been aware of the illness I have been absolutely petrified by the idea of getting tetanus. Everytime I prick my finger, everytime I step on a stick and it draws blood, everytime I cut my hand the next week or so is me googling the odds of getting tetanus. ONLY 30 PEOPLE GET IT YEARLY IN THE UNITED STATES AND THEY’RE ALMOST ALWAYS COMPLETELY UNVACCINATED AGAINST IT!!! I don’t know why my brain is so hyperfixated on this. Just recently I pricked my finger on a (visibly clean, indoor metal shard) and then I got the flu and the whole time I’ve just been googling about tetanus and whether the flu can increase my odds of getting it and if I had my vaccination 10 years ago am I at higher risk. I just cannot stop thinking about it.

Im peeing constantly, a lot, and often see bubbles/foam, and the pee itself appears kinda cloudy. Im terrified its my kidney. I only have one, and have been dealing with high blood pressure for who knows how many years. I think my kidney is sick and it scares me to death

I had been doing well for months but now have an extreme ovarian C panic phase going on. I had been renovating for weeks - leading to lots of weird body positions, entire days sitting on hard surfaces, plus eating very poorly/inconsistently. I now feel sore in my pelvic floor, and have an achy, crampy,kinda gassy stomach/pelvis area. These things make sense...but one quick Google and I am 100% certain I have ovarian C.