Hypochondria Support Group

Hypochondria refers to excessive worry about having a serious illness. Hypochondria is often characterized by fears that minor bodily symptoms may indicate a serious illness, constant self-examination and self-diagnosis, and a preoccupation with one's body. Many individuals with hypochondriasis express doubt and disbelief in the doctors' diagnosis.

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Sunshine0 03/12/2018

Deep down I know it's crazy for me to think that a headache is a brain tumour or a random pain in my leg is a blood clot, but I truly can't help it. My mind immediately goes to worst case scenario. I want more than anything to just get a random chest pain and be able to brush it off as nothing, but I can't. Even though I'm young and fairly health I assume it must be a heart attack. It's extremely exhausting to spend your days thinking that you are dying.

When my hypochondria first started bothering me I was in my senior year of high school. I legitimately believed that I was going to die before I made it to graduation, and I was too scared to tell anyone or even go see a doctor. Now I see doctors regularly but I always feel like I'm annoying them with my millions of questions. I mean, that is their job but I just feel like they think I'm crazy. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and I list of symptoms I want to bring up and I'm afraid to.

Is anyone else like totally unable to watch medical shows? I've always been a very worried person and an over-thinker but my hypochondria really developed when I first started watching Gray's Anatomy. I had to stop watching, as much as I loved it, it was making me extremely depressed and anxious. I recently watched House M.D and I was fine the whole way through, but when I finished the series it really made my hypochondria bad again. Curse medical drama shows for being so damn interesting but really messing with my head.

littleenginethatcould 03/13/2018

Hi, I understand exactly what you mean, I even avoid driving by the hospital or drs offices because it makes me cringe. I hate being around people that talk about scary health stuff as daily conversations for example my mother in law. Every time you see her she’s talking about how someone is sick or dying or someone died. It really makes my hypochondria go through the roof. Some days I just want to scream from feeling tired of worrying or fear of illness and death. I’m like dammit why was I cursed with this. It’s depressing.

Krustyb 03/31/2018

Hi- I completely understand how you feel. I was convinced I had the illness shown on each episode of House! My mother is always ringing me to tell me about someone who is I'll or dying- totally freaks me out.
I haven't told anyone about my anxiety and often suffer in silence. My symptoms are mainly at bedtime and I often wake up in the early hours thinking that I'm having a heart attack. I always find school holidays bad for it too- idle mind wanders I suppose. I've learned to deal with it better recently, especially when a full blown panic attack happens, and I can go for weeks without thinking about something bad, but as soon as I get an ache or read an article- it starts again. This is the first time I have wrote about how I feel and hope that it will help me deal with this.

Winkerbeans 04/02/2018

I totally understand. I swear my husband is so tired of taking me to the hospital. Its terrible.
I had a blood clot in my lung almost a year ago and despite my great blood tests and the chest xrays and all the tests. I for some reason am convinced I have one.
I think about how I'm gonna die constantly. Its exhausting. The past 3 days have been horrible. I've had non stop anxiety. The hospital gave me seek xanax and one extra pill. But that only helped a little.
It's so rough. I feel crazy constantly.
And I can tell my husband is tired of it

nikkix27 04/04/2018

I’m exactly the same way. I can’t watch medical shows and I can’t listen to people talk about others who are sick. It absolutely terrifies me. In my mind if someone has something, I have it too.

inside_its_storming28 04/06/2018

I gave up social media and watching the news. I avoid any and everything that could bring up illnesses and people dying. Everything seems to be a trigger.
@Winkerbeans my husband is too sick of all this. It’s causing a rift in our marriage. He doesn’t get how I just can’t turn it off. It’s frustrating to have no one to talk to I hope this forum helps.

BestmyTrying 04/11/2018

Hey, no worries. I don't watch medical shows either. I'm sitting here now trying to diagnose myself now.

blizzard2014 04/28/2018

Winkerbeans. I also have the same issue. I had blood clots too and I am always thinking they are going to come back and kill me. I have dreams of collapsing to the floor, or coding in the ER. I feel like I'm dying too, but the medical issues I have are not bad enough to cause these issues. So I am a sick person but making myself more sick than I actually am. It is normal to have fear after blood clots. To the original poster, don't feel bad about worrying about blood clots. They can happen. But you would have some significant signs. Your leg would be red, purple, swollen, and very warm/hot to the touch. In extreme cases like mines, you would be unable to walk. In all honesty I kind of wish I would have had a fear of blood clots before my diagnosis. I had never in my life heard of blood clots and thought my leg injury was a sprained ankle. I waited 4 months to go to the hospital. That caused some complications for me long term. Who knows, maybe your vigilance will save your life one day as long as it doesn't totally consume your life.

blizzard2014 04/28/2018

but in the end, some things we really cannot control. Stuff just happens. One person dies of a small blood clot while another person like me with all of their lungs clotted up for four months without treatment survives. Life is just a crap shoot sometimes. We could be sitting at a stop light and some crazy mad drunk driver run into us and kill us. Mortality is a hard issue to deal with. I hate it. It's like life dangles this huge buzz kill to us each and every day. But all we can do is press on.

littleenginethatcould 04/28/2018

Blizzard2014 you are so right about that. We just never know. So as hard as it is to get through our anxiety we gotta remind ourselves to take it a day at a time. Someone always has it worse but when we are going through it we feel alone.

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