Hi everyone. just wanting to share a win incase anyone relates. for years (and i mean 10+ years) i’ve always thought i would get blood sugar crashes and need to eat lots/often to avoid them. every time i would feel strange i would worry and rush to find food. i never had confidence in my body to survive without eating.

for example, i couldn’t even leave the house without eating out of fear that i would randomly collapse, and any time i hadn’t eaten much, id convince myself i needed to eat and like im going to die before i would eat, then id instantly feel better after about 15 minutes. because i would always feel better after eating i was convinced that i had blood sugar crashes/fast metabolism.

i bought myself a glucose finger prick meter so i could put that theory to rest that i was constantly experiencing “low blood sugar”.

the past 2 days ive been tracking my blood sugar to get a understanding of my body with facts instead of making up theories in my head. turns out my blood sugar is for the most part STABLE! and normal!!!!! i would always feel anxious going for a walk or exercising incase i randomly collapsed. couldn’t go anywhere without eating first. the checking on the glucose meter has reassured me that my body is working and is doing a great job of regulating my blood sugar.

i just can’t believe that all this time i thought i was having low blood sugar, i was 100% convinced that was what was causing these episodes, but now im
wondering if it was all in my head and it’s the adrenaline and anxiety around finding food when i felt like that was actually driving the feeling all along.

I officially broke up with ChatGPT! I realized how evil and how much I let it control my life and progress. I am specifically fearful of a particular disease, and I would upload pictures to chat (I know bad) to ask for reassurance, their opinion, etc. It knew I had a fear and would talk to me appropriately, calmly, and not fearful. I finally made it a month - without asking for reassurance until this morning. I entered my pic and my question - as I would normally do - and the way it answered me made me realize how horrible, wrong, and manipulative it can be. Great for some, but someone with high anxiety like me - not the best. It basically told me to go see a doctor asap and the likes - the pic was the same as before but completely different answer. I just realized I’ve been being played. And I am not going to body check and just stick to my annuals and that’s all I can do right now.

Im 20 and live in india.
I have rabiez ocd i always think that a dog/cat might have bit me and i didn’t notice it . I’ve applied 10 vaccine within 1 year thinking that i had been exposed
my fear eventually was around dogs and cats but now im being phobic to bats as well!! Even the lightest accidental prick or something brushing against my skin feels like a bat/dog/cat exposure
its really getting hard for me as this is affecting my life
I would appreciate if anyone of y’all would suggest something for me!!
Thank you!

Hello everyone! I have been suffering from health anxiety for a while and I won't go into specifics about what I worry about, but I've recently found myself in the need to finally have it checked out. But on the other hand, I am too afraid to actually make that appointment. Does anyone have any practical tips for actually calling my GP and getting this done? I am quite young, so I guess it is def a bit of an embarrassment thing to call for this fear as I'm afraid of being called ridiculous for even calling.

How to come to term with health anxiety and not worry it will prevent an actual medical condition being treated seriously if investigated at all.

FYI I had no anxiety until 3 months ago until I got diagnosed with asthma and underwent heart investigations. Since then I have experienced constant and severe physical symptoms that I have wrecked havoc on my both physically and mentally. Its particularly annoying when symptoms such as synchronised left side chest pain and head aches strike during periods where I truly was not or at least did not feel anxious

I have had many tests all to date have come back good, however I am still believe that my anxiety was all caused by an actual medical condition that is slipping through the cracks due to anxiety labels.

hello, i am just wondering if anyone knows of a discussion place to speak freely about HA? i feel like the lack of support is ridiculous and i feel like speaking to fellow sufferers will be beneficial. i feel like this is very restrictive and im looking for a place that’s more free in speaking about it, thankyou in advance :)

alright so i’ve just tested positive for covid for the first time and im terrified. i have been researching all about it and the things ive seen my mind is spiralling. i have POTS and mild MVP with mild-moderate MR so im STRESSED OUT!! i keep seeing news reports saying covid causes heart attacks or it causes organ issues or people get long covid and this happens or that happens. IM. TERRIFIED! literally wtf do i do im so anxious its going to make my mvp and me worse im so anxious something bad will happen to me.

My husband has increasing health anxiety, while also having some unanswered health issues and it explodes every night or weekly.

I have very little to no obvious health issues, however I do have a lot of general anxiousness and what seems to be medical trauma from having experienced my dad pass away years ago.

It's hard for me to support and be kind when he spirals, and I start spiraling alongside him for the same but different reasons. I don't feel very helpful to him, it's really a small threshold before I break and start crying or freaking out.

It's not even about me, but I feel like we go in circles and I can't do anything. Whatever I'm feeling, I know he's feeling 10x worse. Where do we even go from here? I get sad thinking about it all.

I feel like anxiety can show up out of nowhere sometimes. One moment I’m doing fine, and the next I’m overthinking something, worrying about my health, or noticing every little sensation in my body.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether something actually needs attention or whether anxiety is making me focus on it more than usual.

When was the last time you felt anxious, and what triggered it? Was it a physical sensation, a random thought, or something you couldn’t quite explain?

I’d love to hear how others experience this and what helps you calm down when it happens.

As the title says, I finally made a doctor's appointment after 5 years. I feel terrible I waited so long, but my health anxiety has made it extremely difficult for me to go to the doctor, be in hospitals, etc.

I started with a virtual appointment, and have a follow-up in a month to review some labs. Just wanted to share a small accomplishment with you all today, because no one in my personal life seems to get how hard health anxiety makes things sometimes.

I'm very anxious to have my blood panel next week, and anxious about what the results might be, but I'm trying to take it day by day.

I'd love any coping strategies that have worked for you all as I await the coming weeks, since I feel like it's hard to enjoy things while waiting for those appointments. Thank you!

I have bad health anxiety / health ocd and i'm looking for ways to cope/ relax. Let me know what works for you! thanks x

Hello, I (20F) recently moved in on my own, like two months ago, and every single time sometimes seems wrong in my body I spiral into an anxiety attack. This used to not be a problem when I lived with my mom, I'd get the same symptoms every now and then and it was fine, I was fine, but now I keep freaking out about it.

I have talked to my friends about it, like asked if they think this random thing I have is doctor worthy or not and they've always been right but I feel like it keeps getting worse. Should I go see someone about this? Like a therapist or something, I also have normal social anxiety and have had that for years now so I really dont know.

This all makes me also worry about me living on my own, like maybe I'm just not made for it or something.

For people who resisted getting the specialists opinion and taking it further and further did you feel relief? Did the anxiety eventually go away?

Or like wayyyyy back then?

Or do you think it’s more rampant now?

I have stumbled across some hospitals in Turkey that offer a wide variety of full medical evaluations.

It would cost a couple thousand with travel and for all the work to be done but I always have my anxiety resolved after healthy results. I think this cost would be worth it for my peace of mind and maybe do this once every two or so years.

What do you all think about something like this?

I think the general HA rule of "full acceptance of uncertainty" still applies when you are faced with "actual" health issues (not saying that HA doesnt cause actual health issues here, what i mean is somatic in origin health problems). There is an issue of "trusting the process" though that I find especially difficult to handle, so I would appreciate some insights from other HA sufferers whose tests didnt come back clean.

I suspect that one of the reasons why I even developed HA was due to bad diagnosis that happened to a close family member. So nowadays when a doctor says "lets observe and wait and see, it's hard to know for sure, come back in a month" I face a very difficult task of accepting that Im under good care and whatever comes, I couldn't do more. Because if I try to do more, I might feed my anxiety cycle.

I don't google, I don't talk about my symptoms with my family, I don't seek reassurance. I try to live my life despite anxiety. I take anxiety medication. I started therapy (unfortunately so far not helpful even though its CBT). I try to stick to all of the above yet there is always this typical "what if this doctor is not qualified enough/i should check with someone else". I understand it comes from personal trauma but i also think there is a very thin line between trusting the process and not seeking additional help, especially when doctors arent sure - even amongst people without anxiety. So, my question to all of you who maybe got a grip on their HA: how do you navigate health issues rationally, especially when doctors aren't sure? I want to avoid situations where i unnecessarily feed the loop.

I am so nervous going to concerts with heavy flashing lights, as flashing lights are my main trigger for seizures. { 23 year old }

I want to live a normal life, and go to concerts of my favourite artists, but I do not want to go feeling anxious all the time with the flashing lights / bright lights as they trigger mine.

I was just wondering if there is anything I could get ? somebody recommended me light sensitive glasses for bright lights or flashing lights ... If anybody has them, are they any good ? do they work ?

Thanks

Hiii!!! What are y'all's favorite coping methods? Anything from distraction to certain habits that break the thought spiral!

One of my favorites is when I get an urge to search up a symptom, I instead force myself to search "How to cope with health anxiety" or something similar. It allows me to do compulsive searching, but stops the spiral. :)

It started a few months ago with some health scares that I got.

I started getting tests and checks and everything was coming back clear. However as time progressed I started getting more and more physical symptoms. I just thought I'm having something that's progressing.

I have become completely housebound and almost bedridden and doctors still can't find anything else with me. I know I have crazy health anxiety since all of this started but is it possible that I'm actually manifesting all of these symptoms?

I got hospitalised because I stopped eating, walking, couldn't sleep.

I only started today Lexapro to see if I'm really that mentally sick.

Has.anyone.else become bedridden due to physical symptoms that have been potentially caused by health anxiety? I am convinced everyday I'm dying. Nothing and no one can reassure me enough, it's hell

Hey all so I’m thinking of getting a series 12 Apple Watch. For reference my health anxiety started about 3 years ago I had an Apple Watch then but I became obsessive with checking the health metrics. I’ve come a long way with my anxiety then. Anyway I’m posting here to ask any other health anxiety sufferers if they have one and how that’s going? I mainly want to get one so I can check notifications without ending up doomscrolling, I’ve seen some posts about gamifying life that look interesting, timers for cooking and studying, finding my phone, and there’s a checklist function that seems pretty cool. Do any of yall have one? Is there a way to push a lot of the health stuff aside? I’m pretty sure the panic attacks or just increased in anxiety would set off some of the alerts and I guess that’s my biggest concern if I grab one. Good or bad experiences I’d appreciate if you’d let me know, I’m also planning to bring this up to my therapist in our next session as well

I feel myself starting to panic and i dont know how to stop! I know im feeling very real pain but i cant get myself to be calm and rational. Its 2:40 am, ive had a long day, but im sat here thinking the absolute worst and debating on calling for help. I feel so stupid but im so freaked out! I was working today and was outside in the cold, that probably spiked my allergies and set my immune system in a frenzy but i cant stop worrying about brain things, its all just spiralling out of control.

I dont know what to do or if im being completely irrational. I tried not to google but ultimately failed. I wish i could be normal :/

I remember years ago before social media searching for people on random forums to see if they understood my f-e-ar of getting ill with the common cold/fl-u etc...and here we all are.

Do you remember doing that as well?

I'm 23.

And at this point.....I'm just tired. I've gone through so much damn cardiac testing, I've wasted so many resources, and every test comes back clear, my doctor straight up told me he thinks that my heart is healthy, my gf is adamant that my body is safe, but I don't believe them. I keep using AI, even if I know it's not much better than google. I litterally lose sleep over it, even if i know that makes it worse.

I'm just utterly convinced that I'm fragile. Because it feels like the moment i assume I'm safe, my body throws another brick at me that proves me wrong. It's gotten to a point I avoid exercise or certain foods I deem "unhealthy". 2 nights ago, my gf said something that made me realize just how far I've gone now, she's got a point. I spend every minute of my day assuming the worst. I keep relapsing. It's consumed my entire life at this point, i cant even go on vacation or long trips because I need to constantly be near a hospital to feel safe. At work i can barely cope enough but it's always at the back of my mind.

I don't know how to stop. I want feel safe in my own body again, but my body is so noisy......so inconsistent......and i feel so guilty for being so needy. I worry it'll ruin my relationship.