- What is it?
- What are the symptoms?
- DIY self diagnosis
- How we can help
- Want to know more?
- Personal experiences
What is it?
Health anxiety is an anxiety disorder that is often housed within the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) spectrum of disorders. Those affected by health anxiety have an obsessional preoccupation with the idea or the thought that they are currently (or will be) experiencing a physical illness. The most common health anxieties tend to centre on conditions such as cancer, HIV, AIDs, etc. However, the person experiencing health anxiety or illness phobia may fixate on any type of illness. This condition is known as health anxiety, illness phobia/illness anxiety or hypochondriasis.
Those who are affected by health anxiety/illness phobia are convinced that harmless physical symptoms are indicators of serious disease or severe medical conditions. For example, if a person experiencing health anxiety or illness phobia feels that their chest is getting tight, they may believe that they are having a heart attack. Those with health anxiety frequently misinterpret physical symptoms of anxiety as a sign of an impending physical health problem.
What are the symptoms?
One of the main symptoms of health anxiety is that the individual may scan their body for signs that they are developing a physical illness. For example, a person experiencing health anxiety may interpret their headache as a brain tumour. Some people affected by this disorder may also link non physical problems to having a serious illness. An example of this is may be someone who forgets where they have put their phone or their house keys believing that this means that they have Alzheimer’s disease.
Some individuals who experience this type of anxiety disorder are so convinced that they have a certain physical illness, that all of their focus will be placed on obtaining a diagnosis. They will go to as many doctors as they can and if they do not receive confirmation of a diagnosis, they may continue to seek second, third and fourth opinions from other doctors. In such instances, many different tests (such as MRI, echocardiograms and in some cases even exploratory surgery) are requested by the person experiencing the health anxiety or illness phobia. Unfortunately, these tests are often not enough to convince them that they are not physically ill and can therefore be taken time and time again. Often, a lack of diagnosis is attributed to poor medical care or an under qualified doctor. It is important to remember that repeated visits and consultations with health care professionals are due to the fact the sufferer fully believes that they are experiencing a physical illness, rather than due to attention seeking behaviours. The medical profession often refer to the symptoms experienced by sufferers of health anxiety as “medically unexplained symptoms”.
Many people experiencing health anxiety or illness phobia will spend a large amount of their time carrying out excessive checking behaviours where they will look for marks, lumps, sores and rashes on their body which may indicate the onset of a physical illness. These checking behaviours also include asking friends and family members to assist them in checking. The anxiety experienced around the possibility that they may find something to indicate illness or around the idea that they may catch a particular illness can lead to high levels of anxiety. This in turn can increase physical symptoms of anxiety (such as an increased heart rate, chest pain or tightness in the chest, dizziness, blurred vision, confusion, dry mouth or sweating). Upon noticing this increase in physical symptoms, the sufferer’s idea that they are experiencing a physical illness is reinforced.
Media campaigns on specific physical illnesses can also cause problems for people experiencing health and illness anxiety. Often, watching programmes relating to physical illness or reading about specific conditions may lead those affected to feel that they have experienced symptoms of that specific condition.
An individual can exhibit symptoms of health anxiety or illness phobia for long periods of time or may be symptom free for equal amounts of time. Conversely, people affected by health and illness anxiety may refuse to go to the doctor or any other medical practitioners for fear that they will get the worst possible news (i.e. that their suspicion of having a physical medical disorder will be confirmed). Therefore, instead of becoming overly focused on the feared illness, they will avoid any reminders relating to symptoms of the illness and will stay away from people who may be ill. Additionally, they may try to avoid any places where there are likely to be people who are ill (such as hospitals and doctors surgeries). They may fear that any contact with people experiencing physical illness will cause them to catch that illness (regardless of whether or not the illness that they are focusing on is contagious).
Some individuals who are affected by health anxiety may not tell anyone about their fears as they are convinced that they will not be taken seriously.
Health anxiety and illness phobia is found to occur equally in both men and women and can develop at any age.
Although the causes of health and illness anxiety are not always easily identified, there are certain factors which may trigger the disorder:
- Having a serious illness as a child.
- Having a close family member or friend with a serious illness.
- The death of a close relative/friend.
- Being affected by an anxiety disorder.
- Having a belief that being “healthy” means that you do not experience any physical symptoms or sensations.
- Having close family members who themselves have health anxiety.
DIY self diagnosis
If you can answer YES to most of the questions it is likely that you are affected by health anxiety.
During the past 6 months:
- Have you experienced a preoccupation with having a serious illness due to bodily symptoms that has been ongoing for at least six months?
- Have you felt distressed due to this preoccupation?
- Have you found that this preoccupation impacts negatively on all areas of life including, family life, social life and work?
- Have you felt that you have needed to carry out constant self examination and self diagnosis?
- Have you experienced disbelief over a diagnosis from a doctor or felt that you are unconvinced by your doctor’s reassurances that you are fine?
- Do you constantly need reassurance from doctors, family and friends that you are fine, even if you don’t really believe what you are being told?
Anxiety UK strongly advises that people seek further information and guidance from their GP who will be able to make a formal diagnosis.
How we can help
Anxiety UK is a user-led charity with more than forty years experience in supporting those living with anxiety. By becoming a member of Anxiety UK, you will have access to a range of benefits, including:
- Access to reduced cost therapy within two weeks of submitting your therapy request
- Access to our helpline (available Monday-Friday, 9:30 am – 5:30 pm) staffed by volunteers with personal experience of anxiety
- Receipt of four issues of Anxious Times, our quarterly members” magazine
- Access to the members only section of our website, featuring regular support surgeries facilitated by anxiety experts
- Access to specialist helplines, including the psychiatric pharmacy helpline and the psychology information helpline
And many, many other benefits that will help you manage your anxiety long term. To become a member of Anxiety UK click here or ring 08444 775 774 today.
Want to know more?
The Anxiety UK site has information on a range of resources to provide more detailed information and help.
Recommended reading
“Overcoming Health Anxiety” is an excellent self help resource based on cognitive behavioural therapy. It provides information on a range of techniques to look at the thoughts and behaviours that keep health anxiety going. You can purchase this book from the Anxiety UK shop by clicking here.
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Personal experience
Do you suffer from health anxiety and want to share your experience with other people? Post your personal experience in the comments box below where it will be sent to our moderator for approval. Many people find this part of the site very useful when trying to understand their disorder so your comments really do make a difference. Please note, all comments submitted to the Anxiety UK website may be used by Anxiety UK for (but not limited to) publicity and promotional material.
If you would like to make contact with others who are living with similar experiences, you can do so via the Anxiety UK pen pals scheme which is a service available to all Anxiety UK members (in both electronic and hard copy format).
I have had panic attacks all my life.
It is five o’clock in the morning. I am so glad I found this site. I have had panic attacks all my life.I have all the symptoms of anxiety, but I believe I have some sort of cancer or incurable disease. I am a hypochondriac. The problem is I also have a phobia of doctors. I continue living with a morbid fear of a disease, but even more fear of going to the doctor. I am taking medication, because for some reason I am not afraid of counseling. People don’t understand. They think I would be running to doctor’s tests. I am so jealous of those people who are able to take all those tests to rule anything serious out. On the weekends I just dwell on my stomach problems and am sure I have colon or stomach cancer. I am so depressed because I want to go to the doctor, but I am terrified to go.I wish I could know the answer or find a magic pill. I am 58 and dealt with this panic and fear all my life.
Eva
thanks lisa for your comments.health anxity isterrible it takes your life away,i to try thr breathing ,it does help but if you have a strong feeling in yiur head it is hard.iam waiting to get cognative therapy it is a 4mth waiting list .i to wish calm and peace to everyone ,we have to help oneanother.
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hi everyone, ive just found this site and realise (thank god ) im not the only one feeling like i do. lookin back ive had health anxiety for as long as i can remember im forever checkin my self for lumps etc my mind is always thinkin where is cancer goin to be in my body, its taken over my life and i hate it all i want is to feel normal and it seems the older i get (nearly 53 ) the worse my anxiety gets as the chances of gettin cancer gets higher, at the moment im panicin about bowel cancer and womb cancer ive even started checkin bowel movements closely (gross i know ) but where do i go from here ?? my doctor has prescribed fluoxitine which made me feel sick which in turn made me panic i had stomach cancer i cant see it ever getting better im crying as i write this but i know you will all understand how it feels and i thankyou for takin time to read this good luck to you all x
i’ve only discovered that i possibly have ‘health anxiety’ in the past few weeks.
it started off with me getting symptoms of some ‘tingling’ feeling in my middle finger and numbness on my left side – i googled this and all these scary things like MS came up. i stayed in that weekend literally just googling things and that’s when this chronic dizziness started in my head – i felt weird, lightheaded – spaced out and in my own world. since then i went to the dr’s who did some blood tests and to add to my anxiety, they said it looks as though i have a viral infection of some sort and not to worry. excuse the pun.
they repeated the tests and it showed my infection was calming a bit, but the next lot of tests showed that the infection had gone back up but only mildly. this obviously added to my anxiety and they are now doing checks for some scary hings.
i haven’t been able to have a night’s full sleep in the past 3 weeks. i literally google all the time just looking up my symptoms and hoping to find a cure online but i’m starting to think that this dizziness/spaced out feeling all the time is my anxiety.
i literally google myself to sleep – no wonder i wake up all the time!
i pray that we all get through this – we all have to remember that we are in control of our brain. mind over matter.
I cant believe there are so many of us out there feeding our mind with health anxiety. I do as you all do and I cant believe how rational, pragmatic and grounded I am with other peoples problems, yet me – !!!
The most destructive element about this disease is the way it totally takes over your life, I really cant cope with it much longer. I have terrible dark days and cannot make myself see sense and rationalise my own feelings. You have all been there I know. Just thought it would be nice to contribute and maybe posting a reply here may off load some of my bad thoughts.
hi trace, i understand what your sayin, do you ever get the feeling ….. why cant i feel normal ? how i so want to feel normality, but it just seems so far out of reach, x
I feel like that so often.
Why can’t I be normal like my friends who seem to get along fine completely unbothered by all the illnesses which could strike us down.
Oh blimey Cheryl I know just where you’re coming from.
I’m the same age and the older I get the worse I get.
Trembling and shaking when I find some horrific sign of illness – I’ve been there all too frequently in the last three years.
All I try and tell myself is that I’ve been up this road before and it went away for a few years so hopefully it’ll go away again, as will your anxiety.
I can’t offer any more help but to say you’re not alone. Just look at all the sufferers who’ve posted on this forum.
hi mike, thanks for replyin it feels good to know someone has the same feelings, i honestly cant remember the last time i ever had a full nights sleep i seem to get to midnight then im awake tryin not to think negative thoughts but its my worst time, i do know that ive been worse since ive had access to the internet im like so many on here googling my symptoms looking for reasurance only to scare myself even more, every day i tell myself not to do it but i cant help it, at this moment in time i cant see any light at the end of the tunnel, but this site does help a little reading other peoples thoughts, once again thankyou mike and good luck x
Cheryl im doing exactly the same thing as you, ive been googling my symptoms for hours on end and its really starting to effect me. Im terrified i have something wrong with me and i think half the problem is im worrying and thats whats giving me body temp changes and general aches and pains. I hate thinking and feeling like this its breaking me.
hi ben and everyone, here i am again just to update, been for a rigid sigmoidoscopy today doc says he thinks everything is ok but just to be sure goin to do a flexible one and i will be sent for within a month, oh my word i cant tell you the panic i went into i tried to tell him i had this phobia with cancer but he says he has to do this other test just to make sure everythings ok, by the time i got home i weas in pieces the outcome was my husband phoning the hospital and askin if it would be a good thing for me to go private and have it done quick as i was a jibberin wreck, the lady he spoke to told him it was just routine procedure but that means nothing to me in my present state, i just have it in my head he must think there is something higher up in the bowel. im sorry to be unloading my fears on you all but it feels like your the only people who will understand my fears, ive tried to tell my family how i feel but i dont think they understand the way my mind works believe me i wish it would just give me some peace , so there we have it folks im still no happier and i ask my self will i ever be ?? take care all of you xxx
oh by the way forgot to say the doctor told me to stay off the internet googlin my symptoms but as you will know its easier said than done !!!
Googling is absolutely the worst thing to do – but we all do it!
If others are like me as soon as one ‘illness’ is rectified another takes its place.
I can have five or six ‘illnesses’ in the course of a year. As I calm down over one another pops up to torment me.
It’s absurd!
Just wanted to say that I think I have anxiety :( I have beleived for the past SEVEN years that I was dying. It made me misserable and has made me a different person. I am 20 now and I have litterly only just told my family I thought I was dying I was sick of being alone!!! But once I reeled off all my symptoms immeadiately it all sounded a little ridiculous. I am also scared to death of doctors but my mum forced me to go and the doctor says I am absaloutely fine… Which of course is kind of hard to believe when you have thought something for so long!!! I feel stupid for spending my teen years thinking I’m never going to grow up, it’s not much fun at all! I am still worried every time I get a ‘symptom’ but I am trying to live my life to the full now but still easier said than done!!! I don’t know what triggered this for definate but I have always had a constant fear of being ill such as when I was 8 and I first heard about brain tumors, if I banged my head I thought I would get one!!! Stupid!! And my nana was diagnosed with cancer when I was 10 and died 4 years later, this just made me worse!!!
Hi all…
wow I cant believe I am not alone.
Since xmas I have been suffering severe headaches on left side, my husband booked me into a private clinic to see a dr as i was up for nights on end thinking i was dying and not wanting to sleep convinced of havng a tumour or blood clot or something, it got so bad that i took myself of to hosp before seeing dr at clinic, they worried me and said they thought i may have a slow bleed to brain, so kept me in, did CT scan, lumbar puncture 3 times as first two didnt work, and a full MRI and MRA scan, all over two days, to which i got the all clear that nothing was wrong and could have migraines. Such relief at having life back and being a good mum to my kids without leaving them.
they didnt tell me i may suffer lumbar puncture headaches, which were so severe i was in bed for a week, this all started the panic attacks thinking i was having heart attack, pains in chest and left arm all the time.
since then i have gone from bad to worse…
at the moment, i have pains in left breast and a lump so convinced i have breast cancer although right breast feels same but no pain, i have ulcer in back of throat and red throat, dr has seen it and given me a mouth wash but i am convinced its cancer, pain in the top of my back, again convinced cancer.
constantly tired, sometimes have dizzy spells, sometimes i have terrible heartburn and indigestion, convinved having heart problems.
My jaw always hurts, my fingers on left hand twitch from time to time, left arm and side of face feel tingly from time to time.
WHAT is happening to me, i find it so hard to accept this is all anxiety. Dr just seems to say yes anxiety to all my symptoms. I just dont get it, I have googled which makes it all worse, but I am trying to help myself too, I have had hypnotherapy, it relaxed me but obviously didnt help long term, I am in my third week of CBT this week and I have so many self help books I could open a shop, I am starting yoga tomorrow, I just dont understand why I have all these symptoms.
I only hope the Drs are right and i do just have anxiety, although i have to say anxiety is a very scary thing to deal with and i hope I can make myself better.
Sorry to go on but its good to get it all out on here and no i am not alone.
I wish you all happiness and of course good health.
Stay possitive and try and stay off google.
hi there
i am terrible with health anxietyi am the same if it is notone thing it is another.ihave spentmany days and nights worrying about cancer and such.i am on antidepressiontablets at themoment and and waitlng for cbt.i feel for everyone on this sitei now how you all feel , but stay off the googleing you type the symtons in and you only focus on theworst thing.,it is not worth it you make yourselfs worse than ever.it makes you feel a lot bettercoming on this site because we are all in the same boat..so good luck stay calm and carry on
hi there charlotte and chris , our anxiety is a scary thing to us but not to others, sadly ive been told to get a grip and realise my mind is makin me feel these things, my god do they not think i want to feel ‘normal’ i prey every day i will feel better and the negativity will go away but the mind is a clever thing is it not ??. its good we have a site like this to unload our fears because we all understand them only too well, my kindest thoughts are with you all always xxx
Oh Charlotte, I know that you posted this quite some time ago, but I have only found this site to day!
You have me in stitches with laughter – not at you, but because I can feel so much what you have been going through. I too think with all I am suffering from – surely it can’t be just anxiety?!!
I have had a brain scan and that scared the dickens out of me, due to constant headaches, feeling spaced out; forgetting words etc and even my doctor said it was best to check for cancer because I did have certain symptoms. I talked myself into the worst case senario and thought that I could cope if it were cancer and that a positve frame of mind is the key and early diagnosis, so I felt quite positive. I find out that I have a bit of sinus problems, but my head is fine. I asked him to repeat himself and said: but what about all these symptoms? He just said that I had to look else where!!
It is a very lonely feeling. When I see other people just accepting their funny little health issues, oh how I envy them!
My latest is fear of going to sleep in case I don’t wake up! It is only sheer tiredeness that gets me a sleep and then I am amazed when I wake to find I had been asleep!!
I also admit that I look up illnesses, but I can now rationalise a lot better so that is an improvement. The thing is, if we did not pay attention to our bodies, then we could end up missing things – so a catch twenty two.
I do not fear heat attacks because I know what to look out for. Ironic, my friends see me as a sort of doctor!!!
It is so comforting to know there are other people who are going through the same as me. I am so frightened at the moment. I have an ongoing ear condition, and am awaiting an operation, however I am really scared that the fluid coming from my ear is brain fluid. I have been crying my eyes out for 2 days. The consultant has tried to reassure me but I don’t believe him. Tonight I am dizzy, have a head ache and feel sure that I will die. I just wonder why was I picked to be this way? I am wasting so much of my life.
hi hannah all of us on here understand 100% what your going through, and its a scary place to but im certain the dizziness and headache is your anxiety playing up. im the last person to say try to think this cos as you will see from reading my posts im suffering badly at the minute with my obbsession of cancer, but i honestly know how scary it is to have the feelings your having and one of the commonist things about our symptoms is we tend to question the doctors answers as i myself have done this past few weeks so just keep yer chin up hannah and i hope and prey for all of us on here there will be some peace of mind sometime soon xxxx
Hi, I was sent the link to this website today by my worried partner and I have realised that I too suffer from Health Anxiety. I too worry that everything I have is Cancer and I always think that I am going to die soon and I am a frantic googler, so much so that I can’t seem to do any work, also I can’t sleep much which makes me even more emotional and my driving has clearly become a danger from tiredness. I’m a little relieved to know that I am not the only person going through this and I am too really sick of this anxiety and want my life back. A tip for all those googlers, I try to ban myself from the internet and on days that I am successful I do feel a little less anxious, also delete internet cookies and history to prevent previously visited websites popping up in the address bar reminding you about the illness that you had yesterday!
i,hanna ive only just found this website and cant bileve it,ive been suffering from this shity condition for four yrs.Ive had scans and more blood tests than you could bileve at the moment i have wax blocking my ear which is causing me to have headaches they siad .Im having it shringed tomorow but if the headaches dont go i know il convince myself ive got a tumor,I JUST HATE FEELING LIKE THIS IT TAKES OVER YOUR LIFE
Hi im so glad i found this site, ive had the same problem since xmas 2009 the feeling that im going to die from a heart attack. Ive been to docs had Ecgs and blood tests and everything was fine but i still think theres something wrong. I get terrible heartburn and chest pains, so bad i dont leave the house im constantly dizzy when i do. I know i have anxiety but when i work myself up i really believe myself that im going to die. I am 30 married with 3 kids i just want to be normal its so annoying!
I’ve been to the Doctors today to check out my ear problem. He looked at me like I was mad when I said I thought it was brain fluid. My hubby came with me and said he was reassured by the Doctor. But not me I still think but what if? What if he doesn’t really know whats wrong with me? He is going to see if my op for my chronic ear infection can be moved forward, but what if even the specialist was wrong and its not an ear infection but brain fluid? I am so worried that I am going to be really ill and die. I feel sick and dizzy and think this may be because I have brain fluid coming out of my ear. A small part of me believes the Doctor but most of me is just terrified he’s got it wrong.
had my ear shringed today, headaches still the same im petrified, cryed most of the day convinced theres somthing wrong. my wife just tells me 2 wise up i wish they could understand i hate feelin like this i want 2 be normal
could anyone tell me if they have been told their headaches are from anxiety plse
Hi Andy i have had headaches in the past and the doctor did reassure me they were just tension headaches. Thing is i tend to clench my jaw and have tense shoulders when i’m having a bad day. I’m finding at the moment that excercise is helping me to shrug off the excess adrenaline thats buzzing around my body which in turns gives me more symptoms!!!
I chuck on my ipod and go to the gym and run on the treadmill, it is actually helping but it is sometimes an effort to get there sometimes :)
I have never in my life suffered from this, I always had a bit of a worry that I would get the big C especially when I had the children, but everyone gets that worry I think deep down.
Only recently I had double pleursy/pneumonia over Christmas and NewYear. I did have a rough time with shortness of breath, giddy spells and feeling I was going to pass out. The second time this happened my GP was anxious that eventhough I did not have a high risk of a pulmonary embolism(bloodclot) he wanted me to go to hospital for further tests. They could not find anything wrong with my blood tests etc and therefore after a couple of x-rays decided to do a CT scan of the chest to rule out the clot. I did not have enough time to make the decision if I wanted to go through the scan after having had two xrays on my chest. It was all of a rush and I underwent the scan. All was clear which I thought would be and I had in fact a nasty virus . But the traumatic events of the hospital and the scan has left me a bit scared I have developed a panic that the scan will give me the C due to the level of radiation even though the GP and Radiologists have explained that it is equivalent to a long flight to NewZealand and back.
I get the same symptoms of heart palputations, head feels fuzzy, not able to concentrate and just feel very fatigued. It has affected my life and my poor husband and parents are besides themselves. I am on an anti-depressant and have started CBT but I do think it will take a while to sort out, the only thing that helps at the moment is the constant reassurance from everyone but this does not last. It is reassuring to know other people are experiencing the same things. It would be reassuring to know if anyone else has had the same experience.
hi clare ,icome on this site often to read peoples comments as i to suffer with health anxiety whitch has lead to deppresion, the tablets i am on give me the runs so i now think i have bowel cancer . looking at your comments it sounds like anxietyi am sure you are fine try to keep busyor dobreathing exerzises.it can help.it is not easy as welli know.there are lots of us feeling the same.not niceat all it is no jokei andy yes you can have headaces it could be tension. just as long as you have checked with your doc .
Hi Everyone, i also suffer from the above, however i can’t get any reassurance because i am terrified of the the Doctor, i have such a phobia of them that i was once on a train and sat next to a man, who started talking to me he was really nice…………….Until i found out he was a G.P i was immediately panicked by this and made my excuses and got off the train ( even though i was 3 stops from home) The reason for this is i believe that he could see i was un well, he knew the signs of cancer, or pending heart attack even by just looking at me!!!!
I have recently been taken to the doc by my husband for a blood test, they said they would ring me with the results, so everytime the phone rang i panicked, and if it was an unknown number it was worse, it was the doctor ringing to tell me that it was the worst blood test result he had ever seen!
I have the usual symptoms of anxiety, but because i won’t go to the doctors, i believe i have left it too late so then the symptom has obviously turned into cancer because i ignored the warning signs.
I have lived with the fear of illness and doctors for 8 years now, and have been on anti depressants and sleeping tablets for the same amount of time :(
I hope we can all find some peace and enjoy our lives one day xxx
I’m the same Debs. Terrified of doctors and even opticians and dentists make me uneasy as they could ‘spot’ some sign of illness.
I had my regular eye test last September and I didn’t sleep the night before so certain was I that the optician would take one look at me and send me to my GP!
Actually I had a very extensive eye examination and all was fine.
It’s ridiculous I know, but at least those on here will understand.
Hey Mike, i know its a bloody nightmare, i won’t go to the opticians, the thing is we are all intelligent logical people, who mostly hold down jobs, look after our family etc. But somehow have developed this fear!!! I mean i’m scared of flying but apart from that i’m a confident happy person……………….as long as i feel well, but if i so happen to get even a sniffle its full panick.
It really frustrates me :(
im the same docters,dentistsopticians anything medical.idonot like going but i make myself ,but i go through hell waitingto be seenthinking oh my god please dont let there beanything wrong,it is anightmare.
hi everyone ive popped on here tonight as im havin a pretty downer of a day, and in some strange way you guys are like my comfort blanket (does that make sense ?) but when i read all your posts i realise im not alone in these awful negative thoughts, and somehow i feel a little better, im trying to stop myself prodding and pokin myself where i feel a twinge but its proving harder said than done, anyway take care all of you speak soon xxx
hi cheryl i agree i find abit of comfort in popping on this site because we are allin the same boat i have been on a tablet calledsertradine i have nad diarrhia for 12 days i though oh my god bowel cancer so that has made me bad.i start a new tablet to night mirtazapine ,it makes you sleepy at first so i am a bit worried about that,the doc said by stopping the sertraline he will now if it is the tablets or not,so of cause i am thinking what if it is not the tablets so in the worry goes,there is no end to it,but by coming on this site speaking to you guys it does help a little.thks for listeningxx
Hey Chris,
I’ve taken sertraline for 8 years, and it does give you the runs, its best to take it after food, and you do get use to it, i know if i miss a couple of days and i take it first thing i will have the runs after i’ve eaten. But if i eat and take it i’m fine :)
Also i get dizzy and fuzzy if i don’t take it for two days as my body and mind i suppose depend on it. i really don’t mind taking it but it certainly doesn’t cancel out the health anxiety, maybe dampens them a little!!
The old ‘what if’ Chris.
I have it all the time.
‘What if’ the headache I had yesterday wasn’t due to my blocked sinuses was this morning’s delight.
I’m constantly checking my body and searching for something to worry about. A mole, a pain, tight chest…..it can be anything.
Utter madness but still it goes on week after week.
hi mike yes i know ,i have just ordered the book healthwhy not give it a try.it does help when you can talk to some one who is in the same boat .it is just as soon as you are getting over one thing something else crops up.
ithe book is health anxiety,i missed putting anxiety.