I have paranoid hypochondria - help!

To take the latest example, I slept for eight or nine hours all on my right side. When I woke up, my right shoulder was very stiff and I have quite a bit of pain in my shoulder and on the far side of my right breast. However, instead of thinking, "Oh dear, I've slept on my shoulder and caught it - give it a few days and some ice packs, it'll be fine," I went to, "Oh ****, why do I have pain in my shoulder/under my arm/my breast?"

Self-investigated for lumps or anything suspicious and (I'll spare you the details) nothing is different to how it normally is. It hurts a bit more and everything is a little bigger on the right (though I daresay prodding around hasn't helped), but then it always is - I use that arm more, so I've built up more muscle there, plus it's the side I lean on, so I have more bruises, swelling and tenderness of that side, always have. Nothing is different to how it usually is.

And yet, I can't get my paranoid worries out of my mind. It all comes down to my grandmother - she died of a cancer they really should have been detected because she had a lot of the classic symptoms ... and, ever since then, I've been worried that I'm going to die of an undetected disease. Not necessarily cancer, just anything.

So anything that could possibly be a symptom of a bigger disease, even when I have a perfectly understandable reason for it (here, for example; my upper right side of my chest and shoulder hurts because I spent nine hours laying on it and with an elbow digging into it), becomes a cause for concern. For absolutely no reason. And, because I worry, I work myself into a state; I had nothing wrong until I slept on my shoulder, now I'm having a lot of indigestion, dizziness, sudden nausea... It's psycho-somatic - if I hadn't worried, my shoulder would have just hurt a bit!

Is there some sort of help I could seek? There's nothing physically medical, I can't get tested for every disease my paranoid hypochondria makes me think I have for no reason (to take another example, I once walked into a chair and, because I got a few bruises, panicked myself that I had leukemia until the bruises went away. Whenever I get a rash, I combine that with my constant neck pain to worry about meningitis - you see how ridiculous this is!?), but there's got to be some sort of mental help I can get?

TL;DR version: Grandmother died on an undetected disease that should have been obvious to doctors several years ago, now whenever I get explainable and common 'symptoms', I worry that I'm dying of some greater disease for absolutely no reason other than I don't want to die of an undetected disease. Is there some sort of mental help I can get for this?

Reply 1

Anonymous #1

Seriously, help? Just read the last bit if you want.

Reply 2

Anonymous #2

Anyone else read this as "I have paranoid mitochondria"?

No?

:getmecoat:

Reply 3

Ebony19

You're not a paranoid anything just a straid up hyperchondriac like me. We have to live with it. Its not easy mind you. Get some CBT ask your GP.

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

Original post by Ebony19

You're not a paranoid anything just a straid up hyperchondriac like me. We have to live with it. Its not easy mind you. Get some CBT ask your GP.

There is an argument that any hypochondria is paranoia.

And CBT only means compulsory basic training to a motorcyclist, I'm afraid. :wink:

Bump?

I think you are ill, have you seen a doctor!?!?

Reply 7

Anonymous #1

Original post by cybergrad

I think you are ill, have you seen a doctor!?!?

I know I'm ill, it's just all in my head.

Reply 8

Pink_butterfly

I know how you feel!! I watched my Mum die of cancer and i've been a hypochondriac ever since.

I find it quite exhausting to be honest. I get an ulcer = cancer. I get a pain somwehere = cancer. I get a cold/cough = cancer. I have a sore throat = cancer. Basically anything = cancer.

My only tips are whatever you do DON'T google. Its hard at first to wean yourself off it, but don't do it - it doesn't help. Googling syptoms = cancer.

Don't poke it (whatever it is). You'll make it sore and then that soreness will = cancer.

Whatever is it - if it hasn't gone after two weeks, then see a doctor, until then don't waste any energy over it. If you really suspect something bad, then go to the doctor.

When your thoughts wonder off into the cheerful realms of cancer, distraction is the key. I'm at my worse when i'm stressed/anxious/upset so i need to remind myself that its probably stress.

Google 'hypochondria' instead of 'cancer syptoms'. Trust me, it really helps.

Reply 9

najinaji

You poor thing. I've always been a bit of a hypochondriac myself.

Whenever I feel particularly nervy (which is usually when I'm lying in bed, trying to sleep), I tell myself that I'm fine, and usually try to distract myself as much as possible. I watch a comedy programme on TV, play a game, read a funny book etc.

Reply 10

Anonymous #1

Original post by Pink_butterfly

Thank you so much. I actually feel a lot better today, less anxious and more at peace. I think just knowing there is at least one other person out there for whom every ache and pain leads to worries about terrible diseases really has helped.

Reply 11

Henners26994

So glad to finally realise i do have a problem with hypochondria, when i was 15 i had a rather nasty migraine (vision split etc) at the time i was at school and i did not know it was a migraine and i kept quiet convinced that i was going insane and my mind was imploding, I lost the ability to talk for a few hours and it was just horrible. I went to to doctor and they said it was a migraine and nothing to worry about, on monday i went back to school and felt like i had a mental block because i just convinced myself i was now stupid and couldnt see properly. Doctors said i was fine and needed to exercise, over the summer holidays i became more confident than ever, overcoming that was the biggest boost of all. After christmas i had another migraine and shortly afterwards convinced myself i was going blind, i constantly make myself dizzy and i am convinced that the right side of my body is losing its nerves and becoming senseless, when with mates i feel none of this but it can drive me to the point of crying in my room afraid to leave the house, i hate turning to my parents because i dont want them or my older brother to see me as pathetic, all i can say is that there is a way out, you have to get out, do some exercise and meet with friends as much as possible, and when alone listen to music that really connects with you, and calms you, i like to listen to it and read or play pc games, just to relax, joke with yourself about your feelings, make light of it, i have thought of all the symptoms you mentioned and i have none of them, each episode of worry passes and you just have to think "I can't have cancer, meningitis, retinal detachment and a damaged ear drum at the same time, that's what comedy is made of" It's all in my head and i know that, i just have to keep myself occupied and after a while i lose the worry all together. Hope this helps :smile: