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Is anyone here a hypochondriac?

I really would love to speak to someone who understands the debilitating side to this type of anxiety. :frown:

It's just difficult, especially when most people just tell you to stop worrying over nothing (which may be true). :colonhash:

I think my anxiety goes as far as to make me feel like I'm experiencing symptoms of the feared condition and it definitely makes me distrust what doctors are saying (recently I've been advised by 4 health professionals and still feel the urge for further proof) :colonhash:.

Does anyone else understand this anxiety? :redface:

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Oh yes. I convinced myself that I was seriously ill on several occasions last year and had many trips to the GP as a result. I do trust the doctors though.
Reply 2
Yeah I suffer badly from this too. I've always been told its another symptom of my OCD but health anxiety/hypochondria can exist on their own without any underlying condition like OCD.

I've had it ever since my OCD first developed, so since about aged 5ish. I got therapy for that and OCD as a kid and then again throughout my teens and adult life but its stuck. I have lost count how many illnesses I have diagnosed myself with and so far, all predictions I've came up with have been wrong but this still doesn't settle my nerves and make me realise its just my anxiety playing up, not my body being in any of kind of health danger. I check my body almost every minute of the day for signs of illness, I even take pictures of my body to compare areas day to day at times, especially recently when I had a fungal infection on my scalp. It sounds extreme but that is what OCD and/or health anxiety makes you do.

I have this every single day to some extent. One day, it could be my swollen lymph nodes that have been swollen for years that convince me I have lymphoma even though they have been checked numerous times by the doctor. The next day it could be heart worries because I keep getting chest pains and palpitations even though I know they are caused by anxiety and stress. The next day I could have a migraine like I've had a million times in the past but I'll think its a stroke or brain tumour. No amount of logic can get rid of this. The more you try and use logic to try and show yourself that you are fine, the further deep you bury yourself in it feels like. You have to wait to come out of the worry on your own and that could take hours, days, weeks, months.

Its hell. It makes you feel not safe in your own body but not brave enough to go and get checked over in case there is actually anything wrong so you live in a continuous loop over worrying what could be wrong but too scared to do anything about it.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Plagioclase
Oh yes. I convinced myself that I was seriously ill on several occasions last year and had many trips to the GP as a result. I do trust the doctors though.


Le pauvre Plag
Original post by Plagioclase
Oh yes. I convinced myself that I was seriously ill on several occasions last year and had many trips to the GP as a result. I do trust the doctors though.


Are you totally fine though?

Ugh, I just can't deal with this anxiety. At the moment I am pushing my mum to allow me a private ultrasound scan to calm to down my anxiety and so that I can get some definite proof.

Even though I'm sure my blood results came out fine and 4 people have told me it's nothing to worry about. Ugh :-(
Original post by Spock's Socks
Yeah I suffer badly from this too. I've always been told its another symptom of my OCD but health anxiety/hypochondria can exist on their own without any underlying condition like OCD.

I've had it ever since my OCD first developed, so since about 5ish. I have lost count how many illnesses I have diagnosed myself with and so far, all predictions I've came up with have been wrong but this still doesn't settle my nerves and make me realise its just my anxiety playing up, not my body being in any of kind of health danger. I check my body almost every minute of the day for signs of illness, I even take pictures of my body to compare areas day to day at times, especially recently when I had a fungal infection on my scalp. It sounds extreme but that is what OCD and/or health anxiety makes you do.

I have this every single day to some extent. One day, it could be my swollen lymph nodes that have been swollen for years that convince me I have lymphoma even though they have been checked numerous times by the doctor. The next day it could be heart worries because I keep getting chest pains and palpitations even though I know they are caused by anxiety and stress. The next day I could have a migraine like I've had a million times in the past but I'll think its a stroke or brain tumour. No amount of logic can get rid of this. The more you try and use logic to try and show yourself that you are fine, the further deep you bury yourself in it feels like. You have to wait to come out of the worry on your own and that could take hours, days, weeks, months.

Its hell. It makes you feel not safe in your own body but not brave enough to go and get checked over in case there is actually anything wrong so you live in a continuous loop over worrying what could be wrong but too scared to do anything about it.


At the moment my anxieties disease of choice is Lymphoma. I have completely and utterly convinced myself I have it and it can't be detected in my blood results and the doctors are confusing a swollen lymph node in my armpit for a cyst. I mean my anxiety has taken me as far to itching and feeling itches on my legs (that is apparently a symptom).

I just don't know how you can get over something like this, I feel like if I get an ultrasound it may calm me down. I pushed for an ultrasound at the breast clinic yesterday but the doctor refused and told me he doesn't see it as anything to worry about, and that it's just a lump my body has grown under the skin and it's so small that it seems harmless.

For weeks, and weeks I've worried myself over lymphoma and I honestly am losing my ****. :colonhash:
Original post by TheonlyMrsHolmes
Are you totally fine though?

Ugh, I just can't deal with this anxiety. At the moment I am pushing my mum to allow me a private ultrasound scan to calm to down my anxiety and so that I can get some definite proof.

Even though I'm sure my blood results came out fine and 4 people have told me it's nothing to worry about. Ugh :-(


Let's say that I'm less paranoid that I was at points last year. I've actually also had an ultrasound (not privately though) and blood tests which made me happy for a while but there's always SOMETHING. There is actually something bugging me at the moment which I'll see a doctor about soon but it's not as bad as it was at one point last year where I could barely sleep out of fear.
Original post by Plagioclase
Let's say that I'm less paranoid that I was at points last year. I've actually also had an ultrasound (not privately though) and blood tests which made me happy for a while but there's always SOMETHING. There is actually something bugging me at the moment which I'll see a doctor about soon but it's not as bad as it was at one point last year where I could barely sleep out of fear.


That is true, there is always something. The awful horror stories online of people getting blood tests and ultrasounds and not detecting their cancers don't help at all :colonhash:

I haven't slept well either for weeks. I've expressed my concerns to almost every human that has talked to me in the past few weeks, I mean I would have told the post man if I could.

The anxiety is overwhelming, and at points it feels like I'm standing at deaths door.

It got so bad one morning I cried in the car on my way to this family outing. I was convinced I had a type of cancer because I thought I had felt another lump in my armpit, and I cried all the way there and back and then I called my friend up in the evening and cried like a mad woman, telling her I was going to die soon and I see no future. Thankfully I have calmed the **** down since then but I still have that underlying fear that just won't go away.

It's honestly terrible.
Reply 8
Original post by TheonlyMrsHolmes
At the moment my anxieties disease of choice is Lymphoma. I have completely and utterly convinced myself I have it and it can't be detected in my blood results and the doctors are confusing a swollen lymph node in my armpit for a cyst. I mean my anxiety has taken me as far to itching and feeling itches on my legs (that is apparently a symptom).

I just don't know how you can get over something like this, I feel like if I get an ultrasound it may calm me down. I pushed for an ultrasound at the breast clinic yesterday but the doctor refused and told me he doesn't see it as anything to worry about, and that it's just a lump my body has grown under the skin and it's so small that it seems harmless.

For weeks, and weeks I've worried myself over lymphoma and I honestly am losing my ****. :colonhash:

I completely know what you mean about lymphoma. Two years ago I had a really bad ear infection and the lymph node behind my jaw/under my ear became super painful and swollen as did one lower down in my neck .Most people would think it was just because of the infection but nope, me being me but two and two together and came up with lymphoma. I lost count how many times I got them checked out and the docs always said they were tiny but to me they felt huge. The docs wouldn't give me an ultrasound either because they weren't concerned with the size or texture of them. The jaw one was marble sized and the lower neck one was pea sized. I'm not joking, I prodded and touched them no less than 100 times a day. My neck would be all red and agony to touch because I couldn't leave them alone and 2 and a half years on, they are still there and still the same size.

I still worry about them every day even though I know if I had lymphoma, they would have grown but its not nice feeling a lump in your body as naturally, the first thing you are going to think is cancer. I too sometimes think I have other lymphoma symptoms like itching, sweating, tiredness etc and that only adds fuel to the fire :cry2:

My best friend went through a lymphoma scare recently after an egg sized lump came up on her neck. Docs were 90% sure it was lymphoma but it turned out just to be a cyst thankfully.
Thank you, I probably will.
I think I am. I'm convinced that I have a heart condition, though it is most likely due to stress though the symptoms I get that lead me to believe I have it never occur when I am actually stressed. They occur when I am relaxed. I also have convinved myself that I have some kind of muscular dystrophy because the left side of my body is weaker than the right and in general I have plenty of muscle, play plenty of sport, but am still weak.

It doesn't affect me as badly as I have heard it can affect others. I mean I think about them both everyday and whenever I feel something wrong that's the first thing that springs to mind. Also my sporting performance hasn't been 100% recently even though I haven't really lost fitness over the summer holiday, but my mind automatically blames them for this.

I don't really understand my head haha :/
Original post by Spock's Socks
I completely know what you mean about lymphoma. Two years ago I had a really bad ear infection and the lymph node behind my jaw/under my ear became super painful and swollen as did one lower down in my neck .Most people would think it was just because of the infection but nope, me being me but two and two together and came up with lymphoma. I lost count how many times I got them checked out and the docs always said they were tiny but to me they felt huge. The docs wouldn't give me an ultrasound either because they weren't concerned with the size or texture of them. The jaw one was marble sized and the lower neck one was pea sized. I'm not joking, I prodded and touched them no less than 100 times a day. My neck would be all red and agony to touch because I couldn't leave them alone and 2 and a half years on, they are still there and still the same size.

I still worry about them every day even though I know if I had lymphoma, they would have grown but its not nice feeling a lump in your body as naturally, the first thing you are going to think is cancer. I too sometimes think I have other lymphoma symptoms like itching, sweating, tiredness etc and that only adds fuel to the fire :cry2:

My best friend went through a lymphoma scare recently after an egg sized lump came up on her neck. Docs were 90% sure it was lymphoma but it turned out just to be a cyst thankfully.


If it was an ear infection, and 2 years have gone by and they were tender, I honestly believe you are absolutely fine :smile:

For me I had no infection or illness, the lump is painless and hard although it does move around a little. I'm still pretty convinced which is why I'm desperate for an ultrasound.

I'm so happy for your friend! So very happy. I hate these type of scares :-(
yep very stressful
Original post by Little Popcorns
yep very stressful


Ikr.

I'm really struggling with it today, I think need to go do something to take my mind off it all.
Original post by TheonlyMrsHolmes
Ikr.

I'm really struggling with it today, I think need to go do something to take my mind off it all.
Good idea. Maybe go for a walk or rearrange/tidy your room? Chuck out old stuff you don't need? What a nice film :smile:
I'm so glad that I'm not the only one :smile: My family all think I'm just being silly, but it's so hard to explain how debilitating it is; it's in the back of my mind everyday... It's also mixed with a fear of being ill in public, making it hard to leave the house some days. I feel like I should seek out some help, but I have no clue who to speak to? :/
Original post by Anonymous
I'm so glad that I'm not the only one :smile: My family all think I'm just being silly, but it's so hard to explain how debilitating it is; it's in the back of my mind everyday... It's also mixed with a fear of being ill in public, making it hard to leave the house some days. I feel like I should seek out some help, but I have no clue who to speak to? :/


Awh I understand, it's okay you're not crazy! People think I'm crazy too, sometimes I have genuine meltdowns over this kind of thing. The hardest part is being okay for awhile (despite it being in the back of your head) and then the anxiety suddenly hitting you all over again :-(

I would say perhaps seek out a councillor. However, I did do that myself but she really wasn't much help for me.

What has helped me a lot recently is I've found somebody (by the luck of the heavens :-P) who is sadly suffering from the condition I'm fearing, and just talking to her help relieve some of the fear inside me. I feel like a huge element of hypochondria is fearing the unknown.

I would say maybe go on a forum dedicated to your fear(s) and try and talk to someone suffering from them.
Original post by TheonlyMrsHolmes
I feel like a huge element of hypochondria is fearing the unknown.



What has taught you to distrust your own judgements and those of 4 health professionals?
Reply 18
Original post by TheonlyMrsHolmes
I really would love to speak to someone who understands the debilitating side to this type of anxiety. :frown:

It's just difficult, especially when most people just tell you to stop worrying over nothing (which may be true). :colonhash:

I think my anxiety goes as far as to make me feel like I'm experiencing symptoms of the feared condition and it definitely makes me distrust what doctors are saying (recently I've been advised by 4 health professionals and still feel the urge for further proof) :colonhash:.

Does anyone else understand this anxiety? :redface:


My hypochondria has been very severe in the past few days - my Google history is pretty much just Web MD pages of symptoms of really bad health problems. Went to the GP today but he was busy and he said that it was something minor yet I am still in a constant state of fear. I understand you, many people do :smile:. Everything will be ok <3 Watch a trashy TV show to distract yourself or write something to express your feelings. Seek out a mental health professional too, instead of bottling up your feelings, talking to someone benefits you a lot!!! Good luck X
(edited 7 years ago)
bump :frown:

I would love to speak to another hypochondriac rn :frown:

:frown:

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