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Mental Health  (Expert Forum)
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Hypochondriasis
Answered by
Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD), bipolar disorder, dementia, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic, personality disorders, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, stress, transitions, and work problems.
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MedHelp Member's Question

Hypochondriasis

by mcarva, Aug 04, 2004 12:00AM
I am a 45 year old woman who has suffered from hypochondriasis since age 12.  During the last 33 years, attacks have been on and off.  I have truly believed I have had such illnesses as brain tumors, lupus, cancer, leukemia, ovarian cancer, multiple sclerosis, tumor of the paritid gland, breast cancer, etc.  The past 2-3 weeks I have relapsed terribly.  My problems always start with a physical sensation of some sort which I then focus on, worry about, research, probe, and then become convinced of the disorder.  A few weeks ago, I started to experience intermittent pain all over my body (it would come and go).  I know that bone pain is a sign of leukemia and I became convinced I had the disease.  I would check my body for purple markes under the skin, check my spleen, check to see how tired or pale I looked and so on.  The pains continued.  I went to the doctor for a blood test.  My white count was 9.9 (I'm usually about 7.0) and I absolutely panicked!!!  The pains got worse and all I could think about was that I was dying.  I spent an enormous time on the internet researching treatments, looking for symptoms, etc.  A week after my first blood test, I went back to the doctor to have another test done.  This time the white blood count was 8.6, however, my platelet count had dropped from 375 to 280.  Needless to say, I panicked.  This convinced me more that I had a bleeding disorder.  I keep checking for purple marks and am convinced I am seeing little red marks under the skin.  I feel that my platelet count is going to continue to drop.  My doctor is very concerned with my emotional health and almost seemed a bit perturbed.  Now I am convinced that my all over pain is bone cancer.  A good amount of the pain is located in my right hip and my upper thigh bone.  I mentioned this to my doctor and did not get an answer.  Now I am convinced the bone cancer started in my hip and has spread to my entire body.  I am so tired of this - I can't seem to break the cycle.  I do know that if I were lucky enough not to have leukemia or bone cancer, I would attribute the pains to another disease.

I neglected to mention that all my other blood tests were normal (including my sed rate which was 5).  During this relapse, I must have checked my temperature about 100x a day.  Needless to say, I started to run a low grade temperature (99.5) and panicked!!!

I'm sorry this is so long.  I'm trying to get 35 years worth of suffering into this little block.

I am not on medication and have been in therapy many, many times (with limited success).

If there is anyone out there who has experienced this debilitating disorder, I'd love to hear from you.  Also, does it sound like my symptoms are bone cancer or leukemia to anyone?

Thank you and God bless!



Doctor's Answer

by Roger Gould, M.D., Aug 05, 2004 12:00AM
Have you tried taking some medication for anxiety.  Ask your doctor about klonopin, or buspar or Paxil....any of these will help take the edge off the anxiety, and that will relieve the hypochondriasis....and a little therapy won't hurt.
Member Comments (7)

by shubunkin, Aug 05, 2004 12:00AM
I feel soooooooo terrible for you. I have gone through the same thing. I ran up thousands of dollars worth of medical bills going to the doctor saying I had this and that only to have the test and nothing be wrong. That was 3 years ago and I want you to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel! It took much time and yes, I did go on Paxil. I am now proud to say I am almost off of it and doing great. I still have my moments but I quickly think back to all those times I was being paranoid for nothing and it goes away. The mind is a VERY powerful thing and if you think about having a pain here or there long enough you will have it! But if you can get your mind off of it long enough you will see it quickly disappears. The main thing I acn tell you is to quit looking up symtoms on the internet! I did the same thing and according to the searches I had  EVERYTHING ! So that would be a start. I will be praying for you to get through this and I would recommend trying a medication. Because I know it is hell to live like this! Bless you, Danielle

by dont, Aug 05, 2004 12:00AM
I feel your pain. I started with what I thought was a swollen lymph node to be lymphoma in December. Then I got a bladder infection and had red blood cells in my urine, thought I had kidney cancer. Then that went away and I got back pain and was again convinced that I had lymphoma. I started having panic attacks and starting twitching all over my body and looked that up and thought I had ALS. I went to see a psychiatrist and I am now on Lexapro, the 6th anti dep I tried. I am very med sensitive and it was tough to find one I could tolerate. I went to the neurologist 3 times to be told I did not have ALS all three times. He did do an MRI to make sure I did not have MS and it was normal. I still twitch and I still worry but the Lexapro is helping with the obssesive thinking. I had panic attacks 12 years ago and twitched then too but was told it was part of my anxiety so I ignored it and it went away. This time when it happened the difference is the internet which can poison your mind. DO NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! look up your symptoms on the net. You can self diagnose yourself with many things by doing this. If I had not done it to begin with I probably would have not even had to take the Lexapro and it would all be behind me. Now I have to recover from the terror I put myself through thinking I had ALS for months. Stay away from those internet sites. If you do it long enough it will be out of your mind and you can begin to forget about it. Out of site, out of mind.

I also agree with the doc. You need to be on some medication to help with your anxiety and obssesive thinking. It will take some time to help you but it will help. I am starting to see the light at the end of a very long tunnel after being on Lexapro for almost 6 weeks. I am also in therapy.



Take care and good luck

by Scared Mom in CA, Aug 10, 2004 12:00AM
Boy!  I have to tell you that while reading your post, you made me think of myself and the *diseases* that I have had.  I completely identified with everything you said!  However some of the things I *actually* did go through (as the parent of a child w/Leukemia.  He was two when he was diagnosed and is almost 18 now).



I have spent years and years convinced that I had/have multiple forms of cancers/tumors, aneurysms, stroke, heart attack, etc.  I find that I don't worry about diseases that are not life-threatening or terminal.  When I try and evaluate why I do this, I think it's because I'm afraid to die.



Also, I work as an Administrator in a Funeral Home and being that I prepare death certificates, I always "scan" the causes section looking for something new to worry about.  I have seriously been thinking about a job change as this is not suitable to a hypochondriac.



If you ever need/want to exchange e-mails, please feel free to e-mail me:  ***@****



angela