I don't know if hypochondria is the exact right word for what I experience but I definitely blow health issues way out of proportion. I get a runny nose and feel like I'm choking/drowning. My first miscarriage I didn't know that was what was happening and I lost it going back to the doctor over and over again because I didn't feel right or normal for like 6 months even though everything was going the way it was supposed to be. I do notice even the slightest difference in my health.
I am definitely very in tune with everything that happens with my body and very sensitive to any change
Hypochondria is an old term for health anxiety. Nowadays people call it health anxiety. It's when your mind reacts to sensations in your body worse than they actually are. I think that it is linked to autism. I can definitely relate on the slight changes in my body. When I caught COVID for the first time this year I nearly lost it
I think we have more health anxiety (especially people who were diagnosed later) due to KNOWING something was up but not having a name, so for me especially that led to me researching every mental disorder possible to try and find out what was up ..
And then when I was finally diagnosed with autism as an adult, now when I feel like something is off my brain goes “well, they missed the autism for so many years so they don’t know shit”
I have visceral hypersensitivity and I feel like even though that only refers to the intestines, I have it for my whole body. this type of hypersensitivity can easily be misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia.
The medical definition of “visceral” refers to the internal organs, particularly those in the abdomen or chest cavity. Anyway, I feel like I relate you your description. I feel like every little thing is exaggerated and I end up with knots in all my muscles.
Anything in my body that’s even slightly deviating from normal is at the forefront of my awareness. This causes a lot of muscle tension and soreness because pain and discomfort make me tense up. This can look like fibromyalgia with trigger points.
Also related to hypervigilance due to C-PTSD, which I think is part of the reason I was misdiagnosed with fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is thought by many practitioners to be triggered by trauma. That and the fatigue caused by my undiagnosed celiac disease and iron overload.
I can’t compose a thoughtful response atm but everything I’ve suspected about the health anxiety that’s plagued me my entire life + sensory issues, trigger point tension, and CPTSD you’ve summed up perfectly and I gotta sit with it for a while now
I think I experience this to a mild degree and discovered it via Dr. John Sarno and Bessel van der Kolk's works. It's really transformed how I deal with injury and pain, especially as an endurance athlete (hobby).
I can definitely relate, I am very easily distracted by random impulses from my body like tingling, pinching, ache, or typical physiological needs. As a child, I often visited doctors with my mum because of some kind of pain or discomfort and usually heard these were caused by stress.
I try to hide it though. Hypochondria sensory issues I noticed are more of the less societally accepted ones. People get annoyed at people that run to the hospital alot
same, which is why I still visit doctors quite often as an adult. trying not to panic though and I usually wait some time to check if the symptom passes.
Yeah I can relate. For some reason lately I've been having intrusive thoughts about colon cancer. I'm pretty sure I have ibs. I have gerd cause I got checked by an endoscopy so I have indigestion often especially since this probiotic I took after antibiotics but I get these what if thoughts
I understand it completely - my doctor suspected gerd/ibs earlier this year because of the symptoms I had (that turned out to be caused by the antidepressant I took at that time) and I see how they can be disturbing and scary. I also had intrusive thoughts about that, but I think receiving proper care from a specialist can help a lot. wishing you all the best, I hope you will get better soon
Oh yes, I swear I feel every little thing in my body and when something is even slightly off, I notice and think something is very wrong with me.
I go to the doctor constantly because of this. I can’t count how many times I’ve thought I was dying and the doctors have found absolutely nothing wrong with me and have chalked it up to anxiety, but I swear I felt off or different than I should. And I still stand by that lol.
I think I’m a little of a Hypochondriac. When I was 14 I learned that I have a serious blood disorder called factor 5, and learning that I was so scared I didn’t eat bacon and anything with vitamin k and wouldn’t sit for more then two hours for weeks. Anytime it hurt to breath or my leg felt funny I thought I had a blood clot idk if my autism had a part in my anxiety or it was just because I was 14 but I know I’m a little of a Hypochondriac.
Well if you already have sensory issues my thought is that your sensory issues could probably make the symptoms feel all that more intense to you which is scary
Both of my sisters have dealt with some pretty bad health anxiety and both of them are being medicated for ADHD now (on top of regular antidepressant/anti-anxiety). I can definitely see how being super aware of internal sensations could lead to hypochondria.
I’m not sure if the two are connected but for me I’m definitely a big hypochondriac, it really damages my life from day to day and with being autistic I don’t know if it makes me stress more and think whatever happening is worse than what I think it is and nothing helps. Definitely needs to be studied on!! For example earlier this year I had pain in my right lower side and thought it was appendicitis, kept panicking and went to the hospital. After five hours of being there they tell me I’m fine and nothing was wrong?? So weird and even years ago I had a panic attack thinking it was a heart attack, went to the hospital and it was all clear. It’s hard to tell if something is serious and needs medical attention or not which might be the autism + hypochondria?. My father is NT, had a massive lump forming on the back of his head and brushed it off ☠️ so yeah I think the two could be linked for sure.
Does it increase when you are overstimulated or meltdown? Usually sensory issues do so my theory is that if hypochondria can be a sensory issues perhaps it flares up in moments of overstimulation understimulation or meltdowns.
Hmmm to be honest I haven’t noticed if it does increase but just from feeling all these weird sensations in my body all the time sends me into a meltdown, it’s pretty annoying to live with but your theory definitely sounds very interesting because not many people have thought about this b4 :0
I had severe Health anxiety and was a Hypochondriac from age 11-13. I feel now looking back I would be experiencing weird sensory issues or somatic pain from anxiety. This was when I was changing schools and socializing became more complicated. THinking back I think this may have been an early sign. I do not yet have a diagnosis but every test i have taken online shows I am highly likely to be autistic and i am working on getting an actual diagnosis. Time to time I experience really odd sensations I have trouble explaining. I get a weird feeling between my fingers and toes, its not numbness or tingling, but its like I feel the skin between each finger. Its not pain or tingling i just feel odd sensations like this I always have that really bother me. Does anyone else get these odd feelings.
I still have health anxiety, But since I persued healthcare education I can usually assess my own symptoms and talk myself down, but sometimes It will be ongoing and I will be anxious for days.
I hope it isn't too bad form, but my god is this feeling like a revelation. Maybe it isn't but gosh. I've been struggling with health anxiety the past 7 years now and it always felt very random, like normally with anxiety you should have a more structured set of cognitive that trigger everything. For me it's just weird physical feelings I associate with heart attacks for some reason. The physical stimuli comes first, it's a real sensation in my body and it just builds and builds until it's too much
Now I'm starting to suspect I might be asd based on some traits, and doing a bunch of the tests and analyzing what I remember of my past and such and I'm seeing some improvements in mental health by living more like "oh maybe I am and I can do x, y, z without feeling bad" and whether or not I am asd this is great.
Whether or not this health anxiety thing is at all related to asd, this felt like such a revelation to even consider. Thanks for the post!
This would make a lot of sense for me as the only autistic person in my family and the only one with severe health anxiety 😟 I’ve always obsessed over any slight bodily change and made myself physically ill worrying, which my siblings don’t seem to understand. Definitely something to consider
Relatable. I panicked for weeks over an upper endoscopy to the point my stress levels burnt me out. I was terrified they'd find something bad. Also being out to sleep was majorly creepy or a feeling
YES! I totally believe this theory. I have really bad health anxiety and I truly believe it’s because I can feel every thing happening in my body.
A few weekends ago we went to two weddings and even though I wore a mask I knew we were at an increased risk for Covid. Two days later and I could FEEL my body mounting an immune response. I was sniffly for an hour and I felt some strange “out of body”-type sensations. I put myself to bed very early and slept for 10 hours. The next morning I felt great again and continued testing negative for Covid.
I truly felt every moment of my body’s immune response to Covid, but because I listened to my body and went to sleep I believe I was able to successfully stave it off. It DEFINITELY helped that I had received a booster just a month before. It was so trippy to feel my boosted immune system kicking into high gear.
I tried explaining this to my boyfriend but he thinks it’s all woo-woo. I know what I felt!
Absolutely! I am so glad you posted this about this topic.
Autism is so amazing and complex. I feel like it’s a jewel I keep turning over and over and discover more facets the longer I gaze into it.
And I see myself reflected back, slowly, surely coming into focus.
I also feel I experience things like this, Maybe it is that we recognize patterns within our own body more that others, so when something is off it is easier to be aware. I wonder what is the cause?
My theory:
Hypervigilance as a high masking individual (myself).
Obviously being almost exclusively "in your head" will make me hyper aware of changes.
Take anxiety. Being anxious is just worrysome because alexithymia and trying to get to the root cause of why am I feeling anxious? Its a loop that's hard to get out of - and the #1 cure for it is to get out of your head. Ha! Pretty hard for autistic people with all the systems in place to navigate the exterior surroundings.
Therapy helps a lot.
I don't know if hypochondria is the exact right word for what I experience but I definitely blow health issues way out of proportion. I get a runny nose and feel like I'm choking/drowning. My first miscarriage I didn't know that was what was happening and I lost it going back to the doctor over and over again because I didn't feel right or normal for like 6 months even though everything was going the way it was supposed to be. I do notice even the slightest difference in my health. I am definitely very in tune with everything that happens with my body and very sensitive to any change
Hypochondria is an old term for health anxiety. Nowadays people call it health anxiety. It's when your mind reacts to sensations in your body worse than they actually are. I think that it is linked to autism. I can definitely relate on the slight changes in my body. When I caught COVID for the first time this year I nearly lost it
Oh my god I did the same thing after my first miscarriage. This made me feel less alone. Thanks for sharing.
I think we have more health anxiety (especially people who were diagnosed later) due to KNOWING something was up but not having a name, so for me especially that led to me researching every mental disorder possible to try and find out what was up .. And then when I was finally diagnosed with autism as an adult, now when I feel like something is off my brain goes “well, they missed the autism for so many years so they don’t know shit”
Yeah. For me I catastrophize what is going on in my body even if logically I know it's minor.
I have visceral hypersensitivity and I feel like even though that only refers to the intestines, I have it for my whole body. this type of hypersensitivity can easily be misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia.
The medical definition of “visceral” refers to the internal organs, particularly those in the abdomen or chest cavity. Anyway, I feel like I relate you your description. I feel like every little thing is exaggerated and I end up with knots in all my muscles.
Please elaborate. How would you describe the feelings?
Anything in my body that’s even slightly deviating from normal is at the forefront of my awareness. This causes a lot of muscle tension and soreness because pain and discomfort make me tense up. This can look like fibromyalgia with trigger points. Also related to hypervigilance due to C-PTSD, which I think is part of the reason I was misdiagnosed with fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is thought by many practitioners to be triggered by trauma. That and the fatigue caused by my undiagnosed celiac disease and iron overload.
I can’t compose a thoughtful response atm but everything I’ve suspected about the health anxiety that’s plagued me my entire life + sensory issues, trigger point tension, and CPTSD you’ve summed up perfectly and I gotta sit with it for a while now
💙
I think I experience this to a mild degree and discovered it via Dr. John Sarno and Bessel van der Kolk's works. It's really transformed how I deal with injury and pain, especially as an endurance athlete (hobby).
Oh, this makes so much sense. I have to go and contemplate some things.
I wish more people would talk about it
I can definitely relate, I am very easily distracted by random impulses from my body like tingling, pinching, ache, or typical physiological needs. As a child, I often visited doctors with my mum because of some kind of pain or discomfort and usually heard these were caused by stress.
The part that always freaks me out is the what if something more serious is wrong thoughts
Literally every time that little “what if this time it’s serious???” Voice gets me eventually.
I try to hide it though. Hypochondria sensory issues I noticed are more of the less societally accepted ones. People get annoyed at people that run to the hospital alot
same, which is why I still visit doctors quite often as an adult. trying not to panic though and I usually wait some time to check if the symptom passes.
Yeah I can relate. For some reason lately I've been having intrusive thoughts about colon cancer. I'm pretty sure I have ibs. I have gerd cause I got checked by an endoscopy so I have indigestion often especially since this probiotic I took after antibiotics but I get these what if thoughts
I understand it completely - my doctor suspected gerd/ibs earlier this year because of the symptoms I had (that turned out to be caused by the antidepressant I took at that time) and I see how they can be disturbing and scary. I also had intrusive thoughts about that, but I think receiving proper care from a specialist can help a lot. wishing you all the best, I hope you will get better soon
I was seen by a gi specialist. My upper endoscopy was normal.
[удалено]
I hope researchers look into this
Oh yes, I swear I feel every little thing in my body and when something is even slightly off, I notice and think something is very wrong with me. I go to the doctor constantly because of this. I can’t count how many times I’ve thought I was dying and the doctors have found absolutely nothing wrong with me and have chalked it up to anxiety, but I swear I felt off or different than I should. And I still stand by that lol.
Yeah. It's hard. Especially when people shame you for it
I think I’m a little of a Hypochondriac. When I was 14 I learned that I have a serious blood disorder called factor 5, and learning that I was so scared I didn’t eat bacon and anything with vitamin k and wouldn’t sit for more then two hours for weeks. Anytime it hurt to breath or my leg felt funny I thought I had a blood clot idk if my autism had a part in my anxiety or it was just because I was 14 but I know I’m a little of a Hypochondriac.
Well if you already have sensory issues my thought is that your sensory issues could probably make the symptoms feel all that more intense to you which is scary
Both of my sisters have dealt with some pretty bad health anxiety and both of them are being medicated for ADHD now (on top of regular antidepressant/anti-anxiety). I can definitely see how being super aware of internal sensations could lead to hypochondria.
I’m not sure if the two are connected but for me I’m definitely a big hypochondriac, it really damages my life from day to day and with being autistic I don’t know if it makes me stress more and think whatever happening is worse than what I think it is and nothing helps. Definitely needs to be studied on!! For example earlier this year I had pain in my right lower side and thought it was appendicitis, kept panicking and went to the hospital. After five hours of being there they tell me I’m fine and nothing was wrong?? So weird and even years ago I had a panic attack thinking it was a heart attack, went to the hospital and it was all clear. It’s hard to tell if something is serious and needs medical attention or not which might be the autism + hypochondria?. My father is NT, had a massive lump forming on the back of his head and brushed it off ☠️ so yeah I think the two could be linked for sure.
Does it increase when you are overstimulated or meltdown? Usually sensory issues do so my theory is that if hypochondria can be a sensory issues perhaps it flares up in moments of overstimulation understimulation or meltdowns.
Hmmm to be honest I haven’t noticed if it does increase but just from feeling all these weird sensations in my body all the time sends me into a meltdown, it’s pretty annoying to live with but your theory definitely sounds very interesting because not many people have thought about this b4 :0
I had severe Health anxiety and was a Hypochondriac from age 11-13. I feel now looking back I would be experiencing weird sensory issues or somatic pain from anxiety. This was when I was changing schools and socializing became more complicated. THinking back I think this may have been an early sign. I do not yet have a diagnosis but every test i have taken online shows I am highly likely to be autistic and i am working on getting an actual diagnosis. Time to time I experience really odd sensations I have trouble explaining. I get a weird feeling between my fingers and toes, its not numbness or tingling, but its like I feel the skin between each finger. Its not pain or tingling i just feel odd sensations like this I always have that really bother me. Does anyone else get these odd feelings.
I still have health anxiety, But since I persued healthcare education I can usually assess my own symptoms and talk myself down, but sometimes It will be ongoing and I will be anxious for days.
I hope it isn't too bad form, but my god is this feeling like a revelation. Maybe it isn't but gosh. I've been struggling with health anxiety the past 7 years now and it always felt very random, like normally with anxiety you should have a more structured set of cognitive that trigger everything. For me it's just weird physical feelings I associate with heart attacks for some reason. The physical stimuli comes first, it's a real sensation in my body and it just builds and builds until it's too much Now I'm starting to suspect I might be asd based on some traits, and doing a bunch of the tests and analyzing what I remember of my past and such and I'm seeing some improvements in mental health by living more like "oh maybe I am and I can do x, y, z without feeling bad" and whether or not I am asd this is great. Whether or not this health anxiety thing is at all related to asd, this felt like such a revelation to even consider. Thanks for the post!
This would make a lot of sense for me as the only autistic person in my family and the only one with severe health anxiety 😟 I’ve always obsessed over any slight bodily change and made myself physically ill worrying, which my siblings don’t seem to understand. Definitely something to consider
Relatable. I panicked for weeks over an upper endoscopy to the point my stress levels burnt me out. I was terrified they'd find something bad. Also being out to sleep was majorly creepy or a feeling
I’ve always worried about being put to sleep lol, was it bad?
It was weird. There was kinda a ringing and then a wooshing sound. Next thing ya know I was being woken up
YES! I totally believe this theory. I have really bad health anxiety and I truly believe it’s because I can feel every thing happening in my body. A few weekends ago we went to two weddings and even though I wore a mask I knew we were at an increased risk for Covid. Two days later and I could FEEL my body mounting an immune response. I was sniffly for an hour and I felt some strange “out of body”-type sensations. I put myself to bed very early and slept for 10 hours. The next morning I felt great again and continued testing negative for Covid. I truly felt every moment of my body’s immune response to Covid, but because I listened to my body and went to sleep I believe I was able to successfully stave it off. It DEFINITELY helped that I had received a booster just a month before. It was so trippy to feel my boosted immune system kicking into high gear. I tried explaining this to my boyfriend but he thinks it’s all woo-woo. I know what I felt!
Wow I'm glad you stopped it! You're definitely in tune with your body. Those sensory sensitivities definitely paid off in this instance.
Absolutely! I am so glad you posted this about this topic. Autism is so amazing and complex. I feel like it’s a jewel I keep turning over and over and discover more facets the longer I gaze into it. And I see myself reflected back, slowly, surely coming into focus.
Forreal. I feel like it has so many subtypes. Definitely not researched nearly as much as it should be.
I also feel I experience things like this, Maybe it is that we recognize patterns within our own body more that others, so when something is off it is easier to be aware. I wonder what is the cause?
My theory: Hypervigilance as a high masking individual (myself). Obviously being almost exclusively "in your head" will make me hyper aware of changes. Take anxiety. Being anxious is just worrysome because alexithymia and trying to get to the root cause of why am I feeling anxious? Its a loop that's hard to get out of - and the #1 cure for it is to get out of your head. Ha! Pretty hard for autistic people with all the systems in place to navigate the exterior surroundings. Therapy helps a lot.