Aa
Can anxiety make you think you have health issues?
Anxiety is literally controlling my boyfriends life.. I don't know what too do anymore. Can anxiety cause you to convince your self that you have varieties of health problems. My boyfriend can come up with a new health issue he has every few days to a week, from diabetes to testicular cancer, brain tumors.. He can come up with just about anything! And he will research it on the internet and freak him self out about it and totally convince him self he has what ever it is he thinks he has at the time. Than he will forget about it and move on to something else. He can obsess over a illness for weeks at a time. Its all he ever talks about anymore and quite frankly its getting on my nerves. Its ruining our relation ship! He never goes to the doctors though, he will just complain about how sick he is or how scared he is of dieing but he will never see a doctor.. I just want to know if this can be from anxiety. Or is he just dramatic. PLEASE HELP!!
By all means, speak with his mother. Especially since you've seen his condition worsen over the past year. It's possible his mother has no idea this is happening.........people can hide a great deal from each other. He might not have wanted his mother to know for a number of reasons. Perhaps he feared she would think he was going crazy or just trying to get attention. Perhaps he was afraid she WOULD take him seriously and take him to the doctor and he'd find out he actually did have some horrid disease. Maybe HE'S afraid he's going crazy. Anxiety/panic and hypochondria are terrifying conditions that can destroy peoples lives. It's impossible for the person who is suffering from these conditions to explain them to anyone who has never experienced them, and even more impossible for that person to try and comprehend the absolute nightmare of these experiences. I know you have tried to help him by reasoning with him, but you have to understand that for those of us with panic and/or hypochondria, all the reasoning in the world will not convince us we are OK.
Your b/f needs badly to see a psychiatrist for a diagnosis of what he is suffering from and a referral to a therapist who will lead him out this nightmare.
That you are standing by him through this dark period in his life speaks volumes about what kind of person YOU are. He's lucky to have you.
I wish you the best and hope you'll let us know how things are going. And know that you can write to us anytime you need or want to talk. We're always here.
Peace
Greenlydia
Your b/f needs badly to see a psychiatrist for a diagnosis of what he is suffering from and a referral to a therapist who will lead him out this nightmare.
That you are standing by him through this dark period in his life speaks volumes about what kind of person YOU are. He's lucky to have you.
I wish you the best and hope you'll let us know how things are going. And know that you can write to us anytime you need or want to talk. We're always here.
Peace
Greenlydia
Thank you so much for the comments they are very helpful.. He was very shy when we first met so I doubt he would complain about that infront of a girl he likes. But we have been together for 3 years now. He used to have alot of panic attacks/anxiety attacks, when we first were together they have progressively worsened over the past year.. I'm worried about him and now he is convinced he has all these diseases and different things wrong with him. And I tell him "its called ANXIETY and its all in your head, you dont have diabetes or cancer" But he never listens, I love him very much but he just needs to go to a doctor. I can talk to his mother about it, he listens to her!
In my humble opinion, your b/f is suffering from pretty severe health anxiety which is being exacerbated by hypochondria.
He needs to first of all have a thorough medical work up to rule out anything organically wrong. If they find nothing and are left with a dx of anxiety, he needs to get into therapy to find out what the root cause is behind this fear.
Has he been like this since you met him or is this something new? Has someone close to him died recently? This can often lead to fears of our own mortality and manifest itself in health anxiety and hypochondria.
Do you feel you can talk to his family about this? A close male friend who may be able to convince him to see a doctor?
You are in a tough positon...........you care about him but it's frustrating and to be perfectly honest, a total drag, when someone you're close to does nothing but talk about their "illness de jour." I was a rgaing hypochondriac many years ago and realized I was driving everyone I cared about away. I finally got to the point where I was sick of listening to MYSELF whine all the time and realized I needed help.
I hope it doesn't come down to that for your b/f but, sadly, it might have to.
But if you, his family and friends can't convince him he needs help, perhaps an ultimatum will wake him up..........get help or I'm gone! It's a harsh statement. Tough love is not easy and doesn't always work. Idealy I would suggest you speak with a professional for advice on how to handle this, but that can be expensive. Can you talk to your parents, a religious leader, a trusted adult, teacher, school nurse.............?
I think it's very commendable that you are concerned enough to write to us and try to find a way to help him.
Perhaps others will post with more ideas.
I wish you the very best
Peace
Greenlydia
He needs to first of all have a thorough medical work up to rule out anything organically wrong. If they find nothing and are left with a dx of anxiety, he needs to get into therapy to find out what the root cause is behind this fear.
Has he been like this since you met him or is this something new? Has someone close to him died recently? This can often lead to fears of our own mortality and manifest itself in health anxiety and hypochondria.
Do you feel you can talk to his family about this? A close male friend who may be able to convince him to see a doctor?
You are in a tough positon...........you care about him but it's frustrating and to be perfectly honest, a total drag, when someone you're close to does nothing but talk about their "illness de jour." I was a rgaing hypochondriac many years ago and realized I was driving everyone I cared about away. I finally got to the point where I was sick of listening to MYSELF whine all the time and realized I needed help.
I hope it doesn't come down to that for your b/f but, sadly, it might have to.
But if you, his family and friends can't convince him he needs help, perhaps an ultimatum will wake him up..........get help or I'm gone! It's a harsh statement. Tough love is not easy and doesn't always work. Idealy I would suggest you speak with a professional for advice on how to handle this, but that can be expensive. Can you talk to your parents, a religious leader, a trusted adult, teacher, school nurse.............?
I think it's very commendable that you are concerned enough to write to us and try to find a way to help him.
Perhaps others will post with more ideas.
I wish you the very best
Peace
Greenlydia
Yes, it could be anxiety causing his problems. No unqualified (medical) person can give a diagnosis online. Can't imagine any Doc.Psych giving him a diagnosis without seeing him. How yoiu decide to help him is down to you. If he refuses to see a Doc/Psych it could well doom your relationship. Talk frankly/honestly to him & what options you have. ~Good luck!
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