alright heres my story..
i was in 6th grade and i missed school, my mom called and said i have to talk to you. THis was wierd and i thought i was in trouble. She came in and told me my friend nick had a brain tumor. I didnt really understand. Over the 2 years of his life i saw him go through alot and realised cancer a reality. He died one morning and i was a pawl berrer. I then began getting signs of hypochondria, not just for me but for others. Everytime i would get a headahce i would assosciate it with a brain tumor, or whenever i would have a cough i would think the worst Lung cancer. My mom a few weeks ago had her blood cells tested for ovarian cancer. Normal is 30 and she had 32. I freaked out and it ruined my life for like 2 weeks. Looking on the interenet, looking for symptoms and stuff. Couldnt sleep somenights. Turns out she was just fine. I hate this. Does anyone experience this? I always think the worst about things! I am only 17
alright heres my story..
i was in 6th grade and i missed school, my mom called and said i have to talk to you. THis was wierd and i thought i was in trouble. She came in and told me my friend nick had a brain tumor. I didnt really understand. Over the 2 years of his life i saw him go through alot and realised cancer a reality. He died one morning and i was a pawl berrer. I then began getting signs of hypochondria, not just for me but for others. Everytime i would get a headahce i would assosciate it with a brain tumor, or whenever i would have a cough i would think the worst Lung cancer. My mom a few weeks ago had her blood cells tested for ovarian cancer. Normal is 30 and she had 32. I freaked out and it ruined my life for like 2 weeks. Looking on the interenet, looking for symptoms and stuff. Couldnt sleep somenights. Turns out she was just fine. I hate this. Does anyone experience this? I always think the worst about things! I am only 17
I haven't nor do I know anyone that has but I suggest finding a doctor to help you with this. I've always been against most mental problems but as of late I believe more and more that I'm the one who was stupid and that these things aren't something we can just turn off if we want to. Because your issue is related to one of your friends I think your issues start with that but how to fix this I don't know and that should be left for a doctor anyway.
Often, a stressful experience, like witnessing someone die, can trigger hypochondria. I did lose my mom to cancer and I've been feeling very anxious lately. When I was your age, my parents divorced. There was little peace. I was always nervous, worrying about how awful I felt and also about other people's pain. Nonetheless, give yourself a little break, because what son or daughter wouldn't panic, if they thought their mom might have cancer. Also, there is so much violence in the news these days. Alot of people feel anxious. Since your friend's death was traumatic, I wish you could see a therapist, but that isn't always easy to make happen, especially if you don't have your family supporting it. All I can say, is I CAN RELATE. I've gone through such anxiety, in varying degrees. Don't be hard on yourself. That can help alot. If possible, try to talk to someone you can trust. You might do a search about post traumatic shock syndrome, on this board. I've read some posts about this, when I was dealing with the grief about losing my mom.
My Boyfriend parents both died of cancer within two years of eachother. He is always thinking he has cancer. He is scared of getting too. He doesn't talk about it all the time but if anything every goes wrong with him he is like "it's cancer". It seems like if someone you know has cancer or has died of cancer, you will be scared of getting diagnosed with it also. Cancer is a scary thing for everyone. Good luck and you are not alone with how you are feeling.
This is all to common and can be expected when you lose someone to an illness. Disease is never easy to wrap our brains around. Who gets what and why are questions that we should not be burdening ourselves with. I lost parents to cancer and heart failure and i became a hypochondriac at an early age. It can get the best of you if you don't get a handle on it. The older you get the harder it is to deal with. i would suggest a good therapist and let your GP know you are having these thoughts. There is a reason for your mind to play these tricks on you. Unfortunately, the body can back the mind up with Psycosematic physical symptoms. The only thing I would be monitoring at your age is your BP. Though worring about having an ailment will not kill you or drive you nutz, the BP can be affected if you;re family is prone to high blood pressure. Other then that, learn to relax...try meditation.
Stay clear away from drugs and/or alcohol. Esp. Drugs cuz they can cause anxiety and worsen your feelings.
Find a help group in your region. Remember, chances are you know someone that is like you but is not going to tell you.....
You may want to do some research into your family regarding health anxiety.
It can be heireditary to think this way for you. Also, have you been diagnosed with being a hypochondriac? There is a fine line between hypochondriasis and health anxiety but they are very different! One way to know the difference is if you get satisfaction from going to the doctor. in other words, if you are satisfied with the doctors diagnosis when you see him/her and believe that you are fine at that point, i would say you may just have GAD. Generalized Anxiety Disorder. This is very common condition. So get a thorough diagnosis first before you diagnose yourself
Good luck
Last edited by wolfcowboy; 10-11-2005 at 01:03 PM.
