Hypochondria is driving me mad. Am i the only one? - Hypochondria Message Board

peacekeeper · 07-14-2005, 04:08 AM

I have servere hypochondria. I havent been diagnosed with it, but i do however know that i have it because i have had illness phobias, eg. serious phobia of having cancer, for severel years. Iam only 17, yet it is taking over my life. I think my parents think im screwy, but im not. The fact of the matter is that someone who does not have hypochondria themselves cannot understand or relate to what they are being faced with. For as long as i can remember, i have feared obsessively about cancer. If i see someone on tv who has cancer, then i think i have it. It sounds really stupid but for me it is something which i have no control over. When i was 14, i got headaches, in return, i convinced myself that i had a terminal brain tumour. I was a wreck, it was all i ever thought about. I could not eat or sleep and was constantly crying. My parents just couldnt understand. The thing happens over and over again. I have had (in my mind!) lung tumours, leukaemia, brain tumours, enlarged heart, heart disease, bone cancer. The list is endless.I feel like a freak, i try to hide it in front of my friends, however my closest friend is even beginnig to get sick of hearing about it. I constantly self diagnose myself and read medical journals. I think it all started when i was about seven or eight. I was being vaccinated at school when i saw a boy fitting on the floor in front of me. My heart started to race and i thought i was going to get a panic attack. I think and hope their is someone outhere who can relate to me, and share their experiences of this mind crippling disorder. I also hope that it will help others to understand that is is a serious condition and should not be laughed at and taken for a joke,
thanks for understanding,
Jilly x

mudhound · 07-16-2005, 04:54 AM

It's an illness too. Just try as best you can to help for the hypoc C most of all.

Blue102 · 07-16-2005, 06:58 AM

Hi...I can sort of understand your dilemma. I have a sort of hypochondria as well, only mine is with mental illnesses. (LOL.) The fact is, I have some issues, and I just keep searching for answers (the doc tells me it's mild OCD and severe anxiety), but the OCD makes me convinced that I have any given mental disorder that I read about on the internet. Of course, we all have our quirks, but I am easily convinced that from one month to the next I have a different disorder.

I know our hypochondrias are different, but in my experience, it helps me to *stay away from the internet* and to just ride out the obsession. I'll go for about a month believing I have something, and then, suddenly, it becomes clear to me that I'm way out in left field and I just forget about it.

I guess just try to take that excess energy/anxiety and, instead of worrying about yourself, try to use it in a positive way....like, working on grades or other forms of self-improvement. I know that's a lot easier said than done.

I'm sorry I can't offer more help...The best way I've found to deal with it is to just wait and let it pass. Maybe others here will have some good advice for both of us.

ccr516 · 07-17-2005, 09:41 AM

I know exactly what you are going through. I felt like I was reading something that I had written myself. I too have been dealing with hypochondria since childhood. I can specifically remember when I was about 8 or 9 years old seeing someone on TV having trouble breathing and feeling that I couldn't breathe either. As I got older, the tendencies would come and go with the worst incidence being in my late twenties. I have never been formally diagnosed, although, one doctor I went to see told me that hypochondria is a form of OCD and that I should take anti depressants. Of course, along with my hypochondria, I also have drug phobias so I didn't want to take them. I managed to work through that rough patch without any meds or therapy but now (about 10 years later) I still have times when it gets stirred up again. Typically, when there is some major stress going on in my life I tend to start with the anxiety/hypochondria again. Recently, I have had some actual health problems so I've been obsessing over that and jumping to the worst case scenario immediately - imagining that Im going to die, etc.

My advice to you is to seek help now so you are not still facing the problem 20 years down the line, like me! Speak to a professional therapist. I saw a counselor at my worst times and it did help a lot. I only wish that I had gone into therapy so that I couldv'e helped myself more but I was in denial about the seriousness of my issues. You can't really talk these things through with friends/family because they have no idea where you're coming from unless they are also hypochondriacs. Otherwise, people just think that you are neurotic. At least that has been my experience.

Good luck to you and know that you are NOT alone.

cmjohnson · 07-19-2005, 12:55 PM

Your story couldn't sound any more familiar. I have hypochondriac tendencies as well... I've self-diagnosed myself with an infinite number of things - brain tumors and blod clots when I get headaches, oncoming blindness when I get headrushes, cancer, breathing and heart problems, osteoporosis... everything. It got so bad that 2 summers ago I had my mom drive me to the hospital at like 2 in the morning because I was having chest pains and thought my heart was going to give out. My parents think I'm crazy but they don't understand the panic that comes with the hypochondria, and it's frustrating! So don't feel alone about this - you're not. If it continues to worsen you might want to consider seeing a therapist, but usually the only thing the helps me is time, and like using all my willpower to not think about it until it passes.=P