Hypochondriac Anxiety

[for_today]

hello everyone,
Im a 21 year old male and im a worrier, my mind always wanders to the worst case scenario in every possible situation. I have been dealing with anxiety for awhile now and im starting to realize all of my anxiety leads back to my health. For example my anxiety brought chest pains and I convinced myself that I had a heart problem, which I didnt. Or when I hook up with a girl whom I know is clean I can convince myself that she had something and I contracted it, even when I have no symptoms of anything... Ill just have great anxiety and have the "what if" mentality for everything in my life. When its at its worst it consumes me for days, it will be all I think about. I wont want to eat, go out, work or just generally do any of the things that make me happy. Does anyone else experience this? if so what works for you?
Thanks

[kimicheerz]

Hi guys! I have the same problem, just over a couple weeks ago I started having a sore throat so I did the worst thing possible and looked it up on the internet. Sureenough 2 of the things that came up were hiv and cancer. So the first thought that ran through my mind was hiv since I had hooked up a couple months prior.. I've been tested and I was negative. But I am still convinced I have it because why would my lymph glands be swollen, why are they still swollen? The dr perscirbed me with amoxicillin for sinus infection but lately I haven't been feeling hungry, I can't sleep, I'm so anxious my stomach feels like its turning in nots... Everytime I think I have a symptom I literally start having a panic attack and loook it up on the internet.. I think I'm going crazy and I don't know what to do:((

[inconfusionalways]

OMG! you described me!! I didn't think their were many others with the same problem. My anxiety started in the "Hospital" I had an adverse reaction. since then, I am always panicking that I have a heart problem and that I am going to have a heart attack. I was having a siezure or an  attack when they gave me Benadryl in the IV. What makes it worse is that I am bipolar and the combination of both is terrible. Not only do I have anxiety but I am paranoid about taking meds because I might feel the same way as I did on that day. I have taken Zoloft, Seroquil, Zanax and Geodon. and I can't take it for more than 3 days because I panick with the side affects and end up in the hospital with an anxiety attack followed by Angina of the heart. CRAZY HUH!! I don't know what to do. I tried exercising and it worked for a while but one day I was on the thread mill and I put my hands on the heart monitors and as soon as I saw my pulse went up I panicked and ended up In the hospital with an attack. So, now I have a fear of exercising and especially workout machines. It's all about my health when I panick or have an attack. I have to treat the Bipolar to treat the paranoia and get rid of the anxiety but it's impossible for me. I feel like I am on a carousel and it doesn't end. And my mood swings are bad. really really BAD! thanks for reading this

[mjh1773]

hi i am in the same boat. i have fought with anxiety and depression for th e last 20 yrs. i have recently started getting chest pain and shortness of breath heartburn etc i am confinced i am having a heart attack i am eating normally and not lost any weight. i am waiting for these symptons to start every morning when i wake up.why is this happening i am goin to the doctors tomoro to see if they can help. it really makes you feel physically ill.

[miche31263]

I am the same too.  Had it since 11 years old, when I watched my mom die of cancer.  Since then, scared of everything, and obsessed that something wrong with my heart or some other terminal disease.
Went to a counselor today who said I couldn't be treated.  We anxious people "will always be this way".  Wow, what a feeling to be told that.  Only costed me $125, and a whole lot of crying.  

[kennebug]

Its like you are stating my life. I cant watch any of those medical shows now. I was diagnosed with GAD but it sounds more like hypochondriac anxiety because most of what I worry about is related to health and dying. Mine, my parents, my husband, my children. And one of my children has a lot of things wrong with her for real so I am always worried about it being caused by some greater terminal reason. UGH. I cry a lot just wanting to be a NORMAL person. My husband is the opposite of me and I wish I could be like him. I tell him that all the time. Family and friends say "well just stop worrying or put it in gods hands" Yeah dont they know I wish I could do that!! WOULD love to do that. My brain just won't cooperate!

[cj29]

Many people here have experience with health anxiety.  My first issue with panic/anxiety had come from concerns about heart health.   In my opinion, we can become so sensitized to what we think is the problem that we notice every little symptom.  For example, I noticed every palpatation, pain, twinge, tightness in the chest, etc and justified these feelings as something wrong with my heart even though doctors and tests said otherwise.  Anxiety can be a very powerful issue to deal with, but you can successfully confront it in my opinion.

Have you considered therapy or medication?  For me, the most important step I took in dealing with this was to learn about it through talking it over with someone who knows about it.  There are definitely several approaches with this that you can take in my opinion.  Look into both group and individual therapy...I find both to very helpful in confronting anxiety and the issues that lead up to it...keep us posted!

[johnathank88]

I experience everything so just said, it's like you were telling my life stroy, I have been dealing with hypochondriac anxiety since I was 14, worrying about everything, I cant watch E.R related shows because of the diseases and cancer on it because I will start to think I have it and start worrying for days upon days, that's how bad it is. I wish there was some way to get rid of it. I pray to god everyday and night that it would and I just want to live a normal, healthy life.

[benthic_man]

Depression and anxiety go together hand-in-hand. Working together, it becomes more difficult to identify and treat the root causes of both of these problems. I have had great luck with CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy).
     Because anxiety is sometimes just disruptive and doesn't present as a crisis (with the exception of true anxiety attacks), many people don't seek medical attention and try to simply cope with the problem. This is a terrible shame, in my opinion, as anxiety really degrades our quality of life.
            Different treatments work for different people, but treatment starts with a medical visit. Tell your doctor about your suspicions, and ask for a referral to a mental health professional. Your doctor may prescribe medication to help keep you functional during the first part of treatment. I requested no medication for professional reasons, but responded well to CBT and some psychotherapy, starting about a year ago.  It's been about 6 months since anxiety has been a major issue for me.
    One almost universal treatment that your doctor AND a mental health specialist will order you to undertake is exercise. Simply taking a daily walk has almost immediate benefits. I dropped 50 lbs in the last year, and now jog and lift weights daily, and I started exercising late in life. Every anxiety sufferer benefits from exercise. Start with a 30-minute daily walk.

[plomeli]

Hello!!! So I am 33 and I've been dealing with this horrible issue for about long 18 years. It started after my mom passed away when I was 15. She was sick for about 7 years and apparently I became traumatized I think. So after going to therapy and having many, many bouts with this all I've been able to understand is that there is some sort of OCD attached to it. I will get a symptom....let's say a stomach ache then all of the sudden I am freaking out, "what if" it is stomach cancer or pancreatic cancer, then it turns into full blown hysteria were I become obsessed with every single sensation in my body!!! I can stay in this horrible state for weeks and my last episode was 3-4 months. It was really terrible and ended up on medication because I couldn't eat for about 9 days straight and lost about 15 lbs. So in conclusion what does work "somewhat" is therapy its called CBT which helps change your train of thought and the medicine has also helped me. A lot of people don't like the idea of taking medicine but I would rather take it then to be going crazy. It does take a while to work though.  Some people run from doctor to doctor or ER to ER and have all kinds of tests done and having to wait for results and even though they tell you you are fine you can't accept it. You might accept it for a little while then it comes back or you move from disease to disease!!!! So do not google symptoms because if you type in hiccups you will get a cancer diagnoses lol!!!  Also, working out can be great because it reduces the anxiety!!! I'm still looking for solutions myself but I wish you luck with figuring out a solution!