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.
I've been strugling with hypochondria on and off since I was a child. But at the moment it feels unbearable.
I'm back home visiting for the holidays and it's triggered all my old fears and constant worries. I live with fear all the time but for the past year I've been able to keep these thoughts and fears under control most of the time.
Now since being home for two weeks it's just been one thing after another. The latest one which is keeping me awake tonight is the fear of rabies.
Last night when spending NewYears eve at my sister's house, her dogs tooth accidentally scratched my arm when we we're playing. There was no blood or cut. Just a scratch. After a few minutes I found myself in the bathroom, in terror, washing and desinfecting my arm over and over again. And of course googling rabies, calling my friend asking her to call her mum who knows about dogs, and questioning my sister and her boyfriend about their dog's vaccinations (which aparently have expired). But the dog had shown no symptoms of any ilnesses and I'm in a country where there isn't rabies (or hasn't been any cases of it for many many years).
After some hours I was able to calm myself down and even went to see the fireworks. Today I was almost laughing about it. Still constantly checking the scratch. About1.5 hours ago when it was time to go to sleep the fear hit me again. I was absolutely terrified. I kept going on and on in my head about the possibility that maybe somehow I had gotten rabies (I read that the symptoms don't start untill a few days) and that I'm sure to die, because I didn't go to the doctor last night to get medecine/vaccination (of treated right away after the infection, it can be cured).
So, here I am, in bed at 2 am writing this. I know my fears are ridiculous and I don't know weather to laugh or cry. I was crying earlier but I feel a little better now after getting my thoughts out.
I was wondering if anybody knows any support group meetings in NYC? My New Years resolution is to do smth about this problem that is ruining my life in one way or another, year after year. Also I'm happy to hear experiences here and talk. :) thank you for listening.
Due to this whole incident my eyes have been opened to the fact that I suffer from major hypochondria/paranoia, maybe ocd. I've been trying to find support groups here in New York but I haven't yet found any. I'll keep searching.
How are you?
I can relate totally, and I feel your pain. I had a similar scare last summer with something that had me paralyzed with fear until the threat passed, but each month since then it seems I come up with something new to worry about. I hate that it controls my life, and I am trying very hard to work on it. I found out that there is a group called EA (Emotions Anonymous) that meets in many cities and probably has meetings near NYC. It's not specifically for anxiety but from what I understand it could be helpful for those like us and I plan to start going, at least to get a feel for what it is, sometime this month.
Good luck with everything -- I'm here to talk and often need someone to chat with about all this too.
Thank you for sharing. I'm going to check that group out now.
You know, this sounds crazy but just after I'd written my last message, I went to walk this dog that I occasionally sit/walk and she bit me! I couldn't believe it. It's never happened before (she is a rescue and has anxiety- once she almost bit me but I managed to pull my hand away soon enough so she didn't manage to). The bite isn't bad and my skin hardly broke, but I obviously freaked out. I had huge anxiety after that for the whole evening and also the next day. I know this dog has all the vaccinations (rabies, etc) but still it doesn't help knowing that when the fears creep in. My mind will tell me things like: "Maybe she already had rabies before she got the vaccination and the symptoms just haven't started yet" etc.. or that maybe I'll get blood poisoning from the bacteria from her teeth. It's been hell. But now today and yesterday evening, I've managed to not think about it constantly because I've been distracting myself by keeping busy. However, I will not be able to relax until 10 days have passed from the bite and this dog has not showed any symptoms of rabies because then it will be impossible that I would have been infected (only an animal showing symptoms within 10 days can have infected somebody else). Ah, I feel exhausted about all of this. I can't believe my luck, I've never been bitten before. The sane part of me keeps telling me that rabies isn't a think anymore. It's almost impossible to get it, especially from a pet. But the sick part of me keeps coming up with the "what ifs". I keep thinking that after 10 days I'll be cool again, but like you said, I know that there will always be another scare. A hypochondriac always finds something.. So, I guess what I'm saying is that I need to fix this problem in my head. Because it is a problem and not something that can be swept under the carpet.
Good luck to you too, I hope you feel OK today. I think that going to groups and therapy and chatting here will help with this. It's good to know that we're not alone with this.