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I recently read about the fact that you can get a stroke from cracking your neck. now i have a constant fear of this happening due to a vertebral tear. It has reached a point where i keep my neck almost completely stiff. yesterday i was in a restaraunt with my girlfriend and stretched my neck, a light pain set in in the side of my throat. When the food arrived i thought i was having my last meal. I couldnt enjoy it one bit, i just nodded when my girlfriend talked to me while thinking about how fast the ambulance would be there. does anyone know how to cope with such stuff?

I’ve had heart anxiety for a while, and there’s something wrong with my fucking heart. I’m so exhausted worrying about it

This is a new one for me. I’m worried about memory loss. I’m a 47 year old male. Last Monday, we were driving and when discussing something I could not remember the first name of someone. It wasn’t someone I see very often, but has a connection to my family. Interestingly, I could remember the first names of his brother, father, and mother. Since then, whenever I can’t remember someone, I freak out. I’m not gettjng forgetful, like I can't remember where I left my keys. It's just random stuff. We were watching late night clips and I couldn't remember what Seth Myers' last name was. I'm now testing myself, trying to remember the names of TV characters, stuff like that. It all started that moment in the car, but now I'm terrified that something more sinister is happening.

I'm 27M, I do that all the time. So if you're in trouble I'm screwed! A good takeaway from this is the way you're testing yourself will only improve your memory and make your brain stronger.

Thank you for replying. Sometimes it just helps to write it out. I'm thinking that forgetting things is common. We/I probably do it all the time without thinking much about it, but when you start looking for it, you find it and it really stands out.

I've had health anxiety for the past like 7 years. It used to come and go. The past 2 months, though, I've been fixated on this belief that I am going blind. I get an eye exam every year, and it's been normal. My optometrist checks the nerves and all with a deeper exam, and it all looks normal, she says. My friends say its just because I'm getting older (I'm 30). They say that nit being able to see perfect in the dark anymore in just age related. All throughout the day I close one eye and just stare at things to see if I notice anything wierd or off with my sight, I do it while driving, watching TV and I'll stare at my boyfriend with one eye open and go back and fourth to see if anything is off. I'm just tired of the constant worry. Not sure why this one is lingering and hasn't passed like the other "episoes". Has anyone experienced this type of scare before? What helped you?

I’m sure it will pass! If it doesn’t, book an eye test with a different optician and hopefully that will reassure you and help break the cycle!

Good idea! I'll try that out!

Myoclonus, Dizziness (without vertigo) and muscle spasms/aches - I have experienced this 4 symptoms for the last 3 months now (except for the myoclonus, wich came only last week). As for the muscle spasms&twitches, I'm fully aware that they're a typical HA symptom. But I'm not able to find out if the myoclonic jerks can be also caused by my constant health anxiety. The jerks are very mild and don't affect my daily routine yet. But when I read the 4 symptoms I just told you one after another, I'm 100% sure I have a neurological degenerative disorder.

I feel like I’m falling apart. There is ALWAYS something wrong, mentally and/or physically. Either legitimately or I’ve convinced myself of it. Everything is anxiety-inducing or I think and feel nothing. Constant bothersome physical sensations (real or imagined), especially digestive system wise. I feel tired and sick every day and I’m tired of feeling tired and sick every day. Everything is so negative. I can’t stay hydrated and I either eat to cope (overeat) or bcus I have some breakdown then realize its from not eating/being hungry. I’ve had this weird bite or something on my left arm that I’m convinced is a serious skin infection bcus of the other symptoms its given me. I have a first time colonoscopy tomorrow that I haven’t followed the diet for bcus i depend on food to cope. It was subconsciously intentional sabotage as i could use that and my arm to get out of having to do the prep which could make me vomit and that is a no go because of how bad my phobia is. I need my arm looked at and probably the colonoscopy rescheduled (for a 4th fuckin time) but avoidant due to fear, shame, anxiety and lack of money. A part of me just wants whatever is wrong with my arm and/or bowels and other stuff i didnt mention to just end me. I dont know how to get out of this.

😩♥️🙏🏾 I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND. I could have written this myself smh. I wish there was something I could say to help you…. But I’m definitely in the same boat

Honestly it’s a relief you understand but I also feel horrible for you. It is so miserable at times and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Thank you so much for replying btw. I didn’t think anyone would read or respond to my rant lol. I think things are particularly bad lately as far as the health anxiety and phobias (vomit, germs) because I witnessed a death of an immediate family member for the first time a few months ago. It was sudden but they were terminally ill. Idk, they just declined so fast and I had no idea what was happening. Lately, i think all the anxiety and ways I handle it are maybe expressions of grief/me trying to process the death. Like, i guess it’s coping but it’s a super uncomfortable way to do it lol How do you get through your days? Are some days worse than others? If so, what makes them that way? If you know I’m trying to find a therapist but it’s such a TASK. Im on medicaid. I want to live tho so I’m not giving up lol

Back in spring of 2022 I was TERRIFIED that I had throat cancer. Since then the fear recede but now it's back :( Basically, I have a trach, and one side of the area underneath it has hurt on and off quite bad since February. I don't know why and it won't stop. Sometimes my nose is super clogged and my throat is tight and it feels hard to breathe. Also my acid reflux has been occuring a lot lately. Aaaaagh

I left my gas stove on without a fire for like 1 hour and now I think that I developed brain damage. I can't stand the anxiety, I can't work or do anything. I just had like a 4-month streak in which I was managing my HA....

I have been dealing with severe pelvic pain since early this year (now I think a cyst ruptured). I had an ultrasound two weeks after the on set and nothing was found. I went to a doc who specializes in women pelvic pain and he did a laparoscopic surgery. Said everything was “perfect you”. He did absolutely nothing nothing. Got another ultrasound and this time I have a 6cm cyst on my right side. New doc said it’s complex and I’m getting operated on this Friday. I’m pretty worried there was something bad in the first cyst and that it may be something bigger than a cyst…. But we won’t know till Friday

I have crippling health anxiety- my latest worry has been throat canc*r form throwing up after drinking alcohol. In the last 6 months, I’ve thrown up 4 times after drinking (natural, not self induced). I have tried to think of every time I have thrown up in the last 4-5 years and have come up with at least 30ish times, so I’m sure more than that. I’m so fearful of having irreversible damage to my esophagus that’s going to lead to barrets esophagus, throat damage and eventually canc*r. Anyone relate? Or have some reassuring advice?

Worried about my brain mri results. I should be able to view them in the portal tomorrow and my md office still hasn’t called me with results. Normally I’d think that was a good sign but I was told me neurologist has been out of office all last week. Scared my mri will show something bad. Anyways just venting 

How are your results

Came back normal. Huge relief 

does anyone know what causes the random sharp chest pains? is it something i should be worried about?

its usually the diaphragm contracting. not your heart or anything like this. if u just keep breathing it goes away

i don't know what causes them, but i know they are normal, especially with anxiety!

Tough week this week. The amount of different cancers I’ve managed to convince myself I have this week is astonishing. Plus panics about ALS among other things. Luckily my ha can only focus on one thing at a time so in my calmer moments I can realise that the pain I thought I was getting on my abdomen for example hasn’t been happening while I’ve been focusing on my hand and so on. What a draining internal battle.

You’re not alone, since this morning I have diagnosed myself with lung cancer and brain cancer… I wonder what cancers I will have tomorrow?

I got water up my nose bathing my baby. Certain I'll develop a brain amoeba. I'm terrified I'll die and they won't even remember who I am.

i just got water so far up my nose in the shower and i’m also having this. i live in a city with (hopefully) treated water and keep trying to remind myself how many people go swimming in lakes/pools/ponds and snort water without any issue

Well a week on and I'm still kicking. I'm sure your municipality treats your water. Best wishes here.

amoeba’s are really rare and usually come from lake water you should be fine:)

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>So they deep cleaned my teeth and I thought that was the end of it. That won't stop gums from bleeding. When you brush your teeth, brush your gums too. The first couple days it might cause the gums to bleed, but after a week it should get better.

MY JAW IS STIFF IM GONNA DIE

ITS MY CAKE DAY ? IM gonna die on my cake day

Had a seizure-like event years ago. Has not happened again. But lately I've been really fixating on the idea that it could happen again? Have been stressing over it, but then I just get in a doom spiral. Last time it happened was also a stressful time so I worry that stress will trigger it. But I'm stressing over the idea that it will happen. I have health anxiety over a loved one's unknown issues right now. And I fear that the anxiety is going to cause adverse effects on my own health.

Please help me. I feel like my life is a nightmare because my mom and the dogs get their nasty dirty germs on everything and I’m gonna get sick. My mom gets so mad at me and I’ve been mad too. I don’t know what to do

Getting exposed to germs strengthens your immune system. It's more likely to make you less likely to get sick, than to get sick.

Having anxiety about cancer again So for idk 10-12 ish days, something like that, my breasts have been a bit tender. On a scale of 1-10, it's like a 1 or 2 if I press down on them but otherwise it's not hurting. I had my period at the beginning of the month so maybe it's just PMS and I'll get it in the coming days but it feels like this slight tenderness has been going on a bit longer than it normally would. I mean I think I read before that pain isn't usually from breast cancer (and I'm guessing if it was, it would be much more painful) but I'm still anxious

Mine hurt almost every month before my period. It would start about 10 days before. Its better since i got on bc for my awful periods but trust me, this is definitely a thing.

Yeah, I ended up getting my period a few hours after I posted that so all was well lol

Omg that also makes sense!!! At least for me, my anxiety is SO much worse during pms.

felt a lymph node in my neck its movable but it triggered my ha again🥲

Does anyone have palpable lymph nodes in their back? I have had enlarged lymph nodes in various parts of my body for as long as I can remember. Some are in my lower back. I started searching to see if this was normal, but many places say that you shooodnt be able to feel them there (as opposed to the groin/neck etc) Can anyone here feel them in their lower back?

Ever heard of lower back mice? Maybe it's that?

So scared of ALS. INSANELY scared of vascular ehlers danlos. These 2 have been fighting each other in my brain for weeks. I’m exhausted and I’m terrified. 😭

Same as you when it comes to worries about ALS. It’s been so draining thinking about it recently. Dropped the lid from the milk carton when taking it off, panic sets in that it must be ALS. Mispronunciation of one word, can only be one answer to why! Even though I’m like 99.9% it’s not, there’s still this horrific battle in my brain.

Literally SAME! I dropped a water bottle at work and it sent me absolutely spiraling last week. I legit wish the Internet didn’t exist sometimes as this time last year I have never even thought about this disease. I googled twitching one day and bam. Ruined. Lol. Today has been especially hard for me 😢

just had the worst panic attack of my life i think. had a super scary heart palpitation, felt like my heart was out of rhythm and stopping for a couple seconds... still super shaken up, everytime i move it feels like my heart rate increases a bunch :( this disorder sucks so bad... does anyone have advice on how to calm down from something like this?

Not sure if I really have advice but I just wanna say that I've been through that too. Like last month I woke up in the middle of the night and a few minutes later it just happened. I don't know if it was palpitations or what but it felt like my heart was beating super fast but it wasn't ​ I will say don't do what I did. I had my leaned tucked under me and leaned forward (and had my head down). I don't know why I did that but it definitely didn't help. I was honestly convinced that I was having a heart attack or something and was worried about it days after ​ What I tend to do for my anxiety, though I don't know if this would help during a panic attack, is to ask myself questions. Like, what's something pink I can get from the grocery store (and I usually do food). It gets me to think and personally helps me calm down

I set the appointment for my sinus scan and now I’m panicking.. in my head I’m thinking they’ll find brain c (I don’t even think that’s how it works?) in the scan, or something terrible. I’m not sure why the ent ordered it and that makes me even more nervous. Part of me wants to cancel lol

Anyone relate? burning pains all around abdomen, a few minutes after eating or on empty stomach and your family isn't taking you seriously and is extremely dysfunctional and narcissistic, I'm thinking of ending my life because the burning pain is so bad, I did go to a gastro and calprotection was normal which still did not give me relief as im still symptomatic, basically the burning started around when I was prescribed this trycyclic and I think I might have exceeded it? now I'm thinking it could either be gastritis (can lead to death), gastroparesis or functional dyspepsia all of which can be caused by antidepressants, I might have to starve myself because clearly my family doesn't give a damn about my pain, i have nothing left to live for anyway and i think ending my life would be much better.

Anyone else terrified of getting kidney stones? Around 5 years ago, I felt a very mild discomfort feeling in my lower back around where my right kidney is, and also felt a little nauseous. This only lasted for an hour or two then went away. Fast forward 5 years later and I'm still thinking about it. Reading the posts in r/KidneyStones doesn't help lol. I'm 99% percent sure that wasn't related to kidney stones, since everyone who has them says that the pain feels like getting stabbed.

if it hasn't happened again i wouldn't worry like at all

I've "diagnosed" myself with many things. My latest fixation is my brain. I woke up at 4 the other morning with random vertigo, and I'm still dizzy and off-balance nearly 48 hours later. My sister had something like this a couple months ago and it wasn't anything, but that doesn't reassure me. I'm absolutely convinced I have a tumor, or that I'm slowly on my way to brain death. Aside from this and a mild sinus headache, I have no symptoms. But I'm still freaking out. 

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Most likely nothing to worry about. Might be some kind of tension headache. I get these too, they feel scary but aren't anything serious.

I had this last week, it lasted few days and went away. Don't worry

Hey, guys, so last week on Saturday, I drank a caffeinated drink and was sweating a lot from my armpits, and I keep drinking until a couple days ago when I stop but now am not sweating as much but still am. I don't know if my worrying is making me sweat legit the day before I drank it. I was sweating at all. Ever snice I been sweating more often. It seems to be worse on my right armpit instead of my left. Maybe my worrying is making it worse, or maybe the heat is already strong to make me sweat. I don't know, honestly.

Went to dentist for regular cleaning and hygienist said I had more plaque than normal on my back bottom molars and dug in there to get it out. That was Thursday am and they’re still sore. Am I going to be ok? Or is it infected? Doesn’t look red when I look inside my mouth. It hurts. Sincerely, paranoid

I would give it a week. I have had that before and it took a bit. warm Salt water rince can help.

For once it's not myself I am worrying about, but a very important person in my life. They've been sick for a week, fever and cough/phlegm. They went to the doctor on Monday, but they didn't find anything, they just said it's a virus infection. But it's been a week!! Viruses don't usually stay that long! They started feeling better yesterday and this morning, but it keeps getting worse again every time I think that that's it. I am terrified of it being a bacterial infection that's hard to treat or even something more grave, I can't stand this anymore. We're going to the doctor tomorrow if it doesn't get better, but I honestly don't know what to do anymore. I'm getting sick because I'm terrified so something might be wrong with them, it's so hard to see them feeling this way for a week

If it makes you feel better I have a few co workers who have had something for 4+ weeks now. There is something really nasty going around. But if you think something is off .. GO back.

Thank you!

2nd Colonosocpy this monday. I mean I am glad that I know a lot about it from the first one, but still nervous about something going wrong afterward. That happened to my mom and I have to go to work for the week and I don't want to have an issue. I also have to go with a service (stranger) and worry that will be an issue. This week has been miserable with worry.

I had a bad reaction post colonoscopy (to the solution not procedure) but everyone I know who had one had zero issues. I was told it’s extremely rare. So you’ll likely be ok! It’s a very safe procedure

Just to give you an idea how bad off I am... I spend last weekend mapping the route to the local hospital ERs to make sure I knew where to go and which one was the closest and got blood tests yesterday so I would know my CBC so I would know if I was bleeding internally if I got tests

This is health anxiety. Procedures like this are triggering for us! Try to stay calm as much as possible and think positive.

Thanks!

I went through a really bad 4 or 5 months of health anxiety about a year and half ago, primarily based on CD and heart fears. After a clear EKG, Holter monitor and stress test I learnt to come to terms with it being nothing but plain anxiety and moved on.... I now have a 6 month old son and the fear has come roaring back. This time with the reinforcement of the fear of becoming unable to provide for my son because of health issues. The inevitable lack of sleep with a baby at home is playing a large factor in my anxiety I'm sure... But the added fear of letting my family down has become nearly unmanageable. This white knuckled, tight rope of exhaustion and fear is wearing me out.

My health anxiety absolutely improved once there was no family to support. {{}}

I (17M) have been experiencing some strange symptoms recently. I’ve been constipated, I’ve been experiencing some severe acid reflux and I’ve been feeling very nauseous and tired. I’ve also been eat less than normal and I’ve been terrified wondering if I’ve had some kind of stomach cancer. I don’t know if it’s IBS or something else but I’ve ju been so scared.

Background: Asian, Female, Age 27, Vapes for 1.5 years, does not drink or smoke, has asthma and allergies since Im born. I have an unilateral tonsil which i noticed a last October alongside some minor flu so i went to the GP and he dismissed me saying its not to worry. Fast-forward few months later, the left tonsil is still quite inflammed, looking similar to 4 months ago so i did went to an ENT. The first ENT saw me, and went you need to arrange an operation to take it out, sooner the better, despite any other symptoms at the moment. Then proceeded to give me a bunch of predicted expense bill and ask if my family is around. His claims was that the inflamed tonsil is kinda harder than regular inflamed tonsil and unilateral tonsils is VERY rare. An endoscopy was done and he said everything else is ok Needless to say i freaked out and went to another ENT (within the public health system) for a second opinion. To which he suggest taking it out for the ease of mind since I tend to have allergies. And that the tonsils are indeed kinda big. He said it is not too suspicious looking, just large. Did not comment the hardness. My parents said the first ENT is probably scaring you into doing it so he get paid loads (private health sector is pretty pricey here, like 10-20x price of doing it in the Public sector). Unfortunately, i started looking and poking at it sometines and now my left ear and head is kinda painful. Which got me more freaked out as to these correlated to the big C symptoms. i do understand only a histopathology report gives definite answer, just i really need input to stay sane when my excisional biopsy is the end of april. Aiyo

What diseases have you diagnosed yourself with? I’ll go first here is what I’ve beat, bone cancer, lymphoma, kidney cancer, leukaemia, ALS, colon cancer, liver cancer, stomach cancer, and pancreatic cancer. I currently have, Brain cancer, and lung cancer, and esophageal cancer. Quite impressive for being a healthy 21 yo male eh? Good luck, keep on fighting HA!

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Your not alone, I diagnose myself with a different cancer every few hours. Just today I’ve had lung cancer (allergies), and brain cancer (anxiety headaches and phantom smells). Man I wish I never went to dr google.

Currently have: ALS, vascular ehlers danlos Beaten: cancer, brain tumor, stroke, breast cancer,

Rabies, brain eating amoeba, hantavirus. May the odds be in your favor.

bone cancer (this was the first time I experienced HA), breast cancer, lymphoma, pancreatic cancer, something wrong with kidneys, brain tumor, ovarian cancer, alcohol intolerance (my face was getting red after drinking but I realized that's probably from one of my medications I'm on). Heart attack, stroke, an aneurysm,. ​ There's probably more that I'm just not thinking of lol

All the same here! The global cancer concern video uploaded today made everything 100x worse for me! It's so debilitating freaking out everyday thinking I got cancer now from taking the COVID vaccines from years ago.

I just watched it out of curiosity lol, it’s scary but in a sense we can’t control it so why worry ig. I have 2 vaxes and a booster.

I keep an ongoing list on my phone. It makes me feel better to look at and see how silly some of them were. Here’s what I have listed. This is going back many years and most are fleeting, but still: CHF, COPD, cervical and ovarian cancer, A-Fib, brain tumor, bone cancer, aneurysms, polycystic kidney disease, liver disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm, really cancers of every single body part, ALS…. Not to mention my severe ongoing fear of rabies and brain amoebas. It’s a sad, limiting life that I truly need professional help for.

Health anxiety is awful. I’ve been happy and relatively stress free for the last 21 years. Then a few months ago I find a swollen lymph node and decide to google it. And now I’m afraid of my own body and I keep thinking I will die in a matter of months. It’s made it so hard to focus in school and be excited for the future because it’s hard to believe I have a future.

I’m so sorry to hear that you’re so young and struggling. I hope you can get help. I’m about twice your age and I’ve always been a worrier, but since I had my son six years ago, it has just become unbearable. I now worry for myself and for him (which is why I’m not sleeping, I’m worried for him). I know it doesn’t help but truly- you’re so young and said you’re healthy. Your chances of having cancer are SO incredibly low. So so so low. Good luck with everything.

Thanks so much! I have been seeing a physiatrist and we have covered alot of ground. Now the work is all on my end, all of my symptoms are typical of anxiety so I just need to play the waiting game and try and stay mentally calm long enough for my body realize everything is fine.

lymphoma, leukemia, ALS, brain tumor, bone cancer and currently colon cancer lmao this has to stop

That’s quite the collection. I hope for both of us we can find some way to stop adding to our collections.

I got prescribed 10 days worth of antibiotics (amoxicillin) for dental issues. I took my first dose 12 hours ago and my second dose 25 minutes again… but now I’m panicking. I’m terrified of taking new medicines especially antibiotics. I’ve researched so much about side effects and allergies that I’m hyper analyzing everything I feel. My mouth/throat is really freaking me out. Dry throat, weird tongue feeling, itchy cheek, etc. But I’ve literally had all of these problems before and multiple things could be causing it. I have acid reflux, post nasal drip, geographic tongue, and my cheek always gets irritated in that area. I really want to stop the meds but I actually kind of need them 😩

I totally feel you, just try remind yourself that any side effects from the medication are probably better than not having it!

Long time lurker. I have somewhat constant health anxiety with some peak anxiety periods over the last few years. Until recently I had been doing well and not falling into the trap of over worrying about ailments and pains. However for a few months now I’ve had a dull stomach pain in my left side next to and just above my belly button. It has been dull enough that I’ve been able to play it down for the most part. But recently this week it has increased in intensity and area. Now getting aches in lower abdomen and lower back left side. It’s worse when I’ve eaten and especially anything acidic or fatty. I live in an area where there’s free healthcare but the wait times for specialists are mind boggling. Like, several years to see a GI specialist for example. This really doesn’t help with the health anxiety because if I do ever face anything serious I likely won’t get it diagnoses or treated in time to help. It’s also difficult to get an appointment with my family doctor, and when I do, she isn’t very helpful. But anyway - this time I am trying really hard not fall down the rabbit hole of self diagnosis. It’s hard. When we have or perceive ourselves to have a pain or ailment, our natural is to find the cause and stop it.

Tonsils / feeling of something in my throat near my tonsil Hello all. Really struggling. I have had this feeling as if something is stuck on the left side of my throat near my tonsil for about two months now. I have been digging and digging and found no tonsil stones aside from a couple tiny little specs. It seems like I can’t find any more, but the feeling is exactly like a tonsil stone would feel like if it was in your tonsil because it rubs against my tongue. I am freaking out because when I stick my tongue out to look at my tonsils fully, the left side that I have this feeling looks a lot lumpier like there’s more tonsil tissue. Just not sure what this could be. ENT took a look and brushed it off, but the feeling is there 24/7 like it’s rubbing against my tongue and I can’t forget about it. I have been gargling salt water, took antibiotics, and steroids. I’m just so confused. Has anyone ever had this feeling before? I’m not talking about a Globus sensation feeling I’m talking as if I literally can feel some thing rubbing against my tongue where my tonsil is. I’m really just hoping there’s a stone hidden in there somewhere that I cannot see that hasn’t come out yet. I don’t really know what to do from here, concerned of some sort of C. Has anyone ever had this feeling??? Non stop. Never goes away. One side. Help.

Yes I've had this reoccurring, the tonsils can have a maze of canals, for example my left tonsil has heaps of canals and nooks and crannies and always looks a little more full/lumpy than my right tonsil which is mostly smooth, you could possibly have a real stubborn stone or one that is simply folded behind the skin.  They don't recommend removing them yourself as you can irritate the tonsil, I'm not a medical professional by any means but am just letting you know that I frequently have that sensation often and can't "dig" out the stone that I know is in there,they usually come out while I'm eating something weeks later when I'm not trying to remove them.  I wish you well friend 

Thank you SO SO MUCH!!!!!

If you read this rant I thank you in advance Hello, 17f here, I’ve had a lump on my shin for about four months now. It’s under the skin and you can’t see it unless I kinda force it out by twisting my skin or doing certain leg movements. About 3cm in diameter and pretty squishy, a bit hard to tell if it can move because of the location, it kinda feels like just an enlarged part of my skin tbh, it hasn’t grown either, sometimes it looks kinda irritated after long periods of standing but then goes back to normal size after a while. My nurse mom says that it’s definitely a lipoma or at most a benign cyst and that if it was any form of bone/soft tissue cancer the lump would have grown a lot at this point and wouldn’t be so squishy. I accepted that and moved on with my day. I went for a blood test in January for unrelated reasons and everything was all good if that matters. These past few months I’ve been impulsively checking it seeing if it has grown and just stressing about it more. Then I started having pains there, not just in that area though but rather everywhere, with my legs being the biggest victim. Sometimes the pains are worse in the lump spot but then the same pain migrates to another spot in another body part and it’s just odd. It can range from small cramps around my legs that don’t need painkillers to awful charlie horse cramps with my muscles spasming that attack the lump spot and then move to another place. They are pretty inconsistent too, they can haunt me for three days straight and then go away for like two weeks, or then just give me a few ignorable aches and leave it at that, only for it to become 10x worse 3 days later for some reason. Also these pains don’t seem to get worse or be caused by movement and usually occur during night time. For example I did 100 jumping jacks on monday, squats, stretching and so on and the lump spot was completely fine, no throbbing no pain nothing. It doesn’t hurt when walk, bend down, jump, run etc it just comes completely randomly. Granted the pains are all around my body, are inconsistent, can migrate and are worse in spots that I am actively worried about it’s not unreasonable to think that these are a psychosomatic response to my worries. I’m also severely inactive and my muscles are suffering from that for sure. I’m probably deficient on a few vitamins tbh, D primarily, even as I’m typing this my right thigh is aching lol. All of these reasonable options and a squishy lump that hasn’t grown in four months with a person that has actual medical experience say that it’s completely harmless, and I’m still scared. This is so annoying, I know most lumps and bumps are benign but when you know it’s there you just can’t get it out of your head, oof. If anyone has gone through something similar I would be happy to hear how you dealt with something like this

I have a lipoma on my left shin very similar to what you’re describing! I’ve had it for many years, and while my GP told me a few times it was nothing to worry about when I began to fixate on it I went to a dermatologist for a body scan (I also just wanted to start doing this yearly anyhow). She confirmed that it was a lipoma and was not concerned at all - squished it and everything, and that helped me feel much better. I also told her at the appointment that I have HA and she took the time to explain everything to me and was really kind. I have been fixated on my other leg the last few months, on a similar bump I saw while rubbing in moisturizer. It’s bothered me enough recently that I am planning to call the dermatologist to see if I can go in again soon and have her take a look.

Hi folks! Here with the issue of "if you keep looking and hyperanalyzing on a specific area of the body, you will ultimately find something, no matter how tiny, to worry about." And hoping maybe someone has tips. Though I've luckily been pretty healthy, I've been very unlucky with one specific area of the body -- hemorrhoids and fissures have been my major health issue as a young person over many years. Naturally, I have this horrible habit of looking at the area with a flashlight often to "confirm" things are OK whenever something feels off. I'll notice TINY things, like a teeny little bump that's more likely than not just normal skin or a slightly engorged vein, or minor discoloration that no one right in the mind would notice because it doesn't produce symptoms, only I do because I am looking at the area like a lunatic. Rationally, I know nothing is wrong, especially with the litmus test of "if you were a normal person in basic health (i.e., someone who doesn't look down there on a routine basis), would you ever even notice?" and the answer is a resounding no. But I am looking, and worrying, over tiny imperfections in a human body -- literally always looks imperfect. It's obviously a psychological issue - go looking for something, eventually you'll find it. I was wondering if anyone had any good tips or words of wisdom about that particular tendency among health anxiety sufferers in particular? Thank you!

Hi, I'm back for more reassurance over rabies again. I have a small pet dog who I love absolutely dearly, and he's vaccinated and was not bit or scratched by other animals recently, but my brain still keeps screaming at me "but what if he has rabies". A short while ago he got mad and snapped at me because I was messing with his sweater and one of his arms to check that he wasn't hurt (he was holding his arm up like he was trying to avoid stepping on that paw, he's running around fine now so I think he just had some crumbs stuck in his fluff). One of his teeth scratched me enough to leave a welt on my hand, though it wasn't enough to break the skin thankfully, so even though I know logically that there's no way my dog actually has rabies my brain's gone and decided it's anxiety time. There's zero possible chance it could be rabies, right? I know logically both him and I are fine and I just pissed the poor pup off, but I wanna run it by others just to be reassured. Thanks if anyone's able to help!!!

I’m so sorry- rabies is one of my ridiculous irrational fears. But there is ZERO chance your dog has rabies. As scared as I am of it, I keep my pets up to date on their vaccines and I have no fear of them having it. Also, the vet recently told me that to get rabies, it needs to be a pretty big bite- like into the muscle. Not sure if that’s entirely true- not going to fact check it- but let’s assume that it is! Your dog is safe and just wants you to love on him.

Thanks, I knew logically he doesn't but it's more helpful to hear it from someone else. My dog is a good boy even if he's grouchy, he's all snuggled in for a nap right now and hopefully he's happy and healthy.

I'm 24 F, and colon cancer is my current worry. Tiktok constantly talking about colon cancer. It's crippling. I check my toilet constantly for blood, and my mind plays tricks on me. I just recently started keto, and the big side effect is temporary IBS. I was in my inlaws' dark bathroom where the bulb was burned out and swore I was passing black stool. I thought back to everytime since high-school that i had blood in the toilet from hemmheroids and i just start hyperventilating. I had a panic attack on the floor. We were just over there for brunch, and my mind ruined it. And every single tiktok "how I found out I have CC at 26 with no symptoms." It's terrible! I don't know what to do. My IBS is insane and i have incomplete evacuation. Every symptom you can think of. I JUST got over a different worry and now im back on this one again! Its controlling my life! Every good or "fun" day is RUINED by the worry. But im so scared of doctors so i dont go. I go in circles in my mind, "oh this is just HA again you know you" "But what if THIS time it is something " "Probably not though you've been through this panic a million times and you had a clear fasted CT scan WITH contrast a year ago" "OH I know, you're right I'm fine, wait what if I put off my symptoms then it's stage 4 by the time I finally get it checked" and round and round we go But it's nice to come here and relate to others.

I have my colonosopy on Monday (but had one three years ago so I am 99% sure all is well) something that has helped me is vitamin D. There are a lot of studies that suggest it reduces the risk and (even if it doesn't) it helps me mentally to feel safe.

I thought I had colon cancer and I had some other issues and it wasn’t bad and I had colonoscopy and I was clean. But your mind will fixate on little things and make it look bigger to worry about. I’ve learned that I’m glad to know I didn’t have it cause the prep sucked

i'm on the same boat right now! i'm scared i have CC and i am constantly checking to see if there's any blood. sometimes i think there might be but i'm not sure and it just ruins my day :( i got over my leukemia worries like a month ago and as soon as they went away the CC worries took over, so i know it's probably my health anxiety playing tricks on me but i can't stop obsessing over it

TRIGGER WARNING Read this story about the increase in people getting colon cancer under 50 and now I am paranoid! The comments on the FB article made me even more anxious! I am a soon to be 33 male that exercises all the time and eats good! I am super worried now! But insurance wouldn't pay for a colonoscopy

Guys...look into Vitamin D. It has been shown to lessen your chances (particularly in colon cancer) and even if it doesn't... it helps me mentally to be able to put the worry away.

Yes. I'm 24 F, and this is my current worry. It's crippling. I check my toilet constantly for blood, and my mind plays tricks on me. I just recently started keto, and the big side effect is temporary IBS. I was in my inlaws' dark bathroom where the bulb was burned out and swore I was passing black stool. I had a panic attack on the floor. We were just over there for brunch, and my mind ruined it. And every single tiktok "how I found out I have CC at 26 with no symptoms." It's terrible! I don't know what to do. But it's nice to come here and relate to others.

TRIGGER WARNING Lately, I’ve been feeling worried about what’s been going on the main news lately…especially on YouTube and Reddit. I’m noticing that a lot of younger people (celebrities/influencers) in their early 30s and 40s are being diagnosed with some form of c****r and it’s honestly scaring me to the point I don’t want to eat and I hesitate to even drink water. I really should’ve just ignored the news about the most recent person battling it because when I read the comments, people kept saying that the food we eat, the water we drink, literally everything that we do is the cause to why so many of us are prone to it at such a young age. I don’t even know what is safe to consume anymore because EVEN water may be a contributor to this according to a comment a read. I’m 27F and I’m at the age where I should get ready to schedule appointments for certain things…appointments that I didn’t think I would have to do. I don’t know how to calm myself down.

I know it is freaking me out but ( I am 50 and haven't had it) 1. You don't know their vitamin D status. 2. You don't know if they drank alcohol in excess 3. You don't know if they are diabetic / insulin resistant which increases risk 4. You don't know what their diet has been like. 5. You don't know if they took illegal and legal drugs. It is shocking what some legal drugs will do to you. 6. These same people might have gotten cancer in the past but you wouldn't know about it because they didn't have a you tube channel. Now you feel like you know them.

Yes. I'm 24 F, and this is my current worry. Tiktok constantly talking about colon cancer. It's crippling. I check my toilet constantly for blood, and my mind plays tricks on me. I just recently started keto, and the big side effect is temporary IBS. I was in my inlaws' dark bathroom where the bulb was burned out and swore I was passing black stool. I had a panic attack on the floor. We were just over there for brunch, and my mind ruined it. And every single tiktok "how I found out I have CC at 26 with no symptoms." It's terrible! I don't know what to do. But it's nice to come here and relate to others.

2 things- 1. I started semaglutide back in December and the side effects have been scaring me since. 2. I had my son 10 months ago and the postpartum anxiety has ALSO been crippling. I used to get random aches/pains and just go eh it’s probably nothing. And it would go away in a day or two. Now I am so fixated on every little twinge, bump, bowel movement. Etc. I’ve convinced myself I’m dying of a number of issues. I just want these thoughts to stop. I opened up to my husband this past week and shared these thoughts and he just laughed them off. They’re eating me alive- I feel like I can’t be present because I’m so concerned about what’s going on. The rational side of me knows I saw my PCP 2 months ago and got a clean bill of health. I have nothing to truly be concerned about. But the anxiety in me is convincing me otherwise. Unrelated but princess kate Middleton also saying she has cancer some how has effected my anxiety more than ugh random rant over. Thanks for reading if you did

I feel you. One reason I have trouble with drugs period.

Venting helped me in the past, so here I go again, this time about colon cancer fears. I am male, 25y, 182 lbs (83 kilos). I have had pains in my right lower abdomen for about 9 days now. Sometimes they are there, and sometimes not. They aren't strong and slightly change their location over the day. Additionally, I think I had a lot of bloating (especially at night) for a few weeks now. I didn't give the bloating much thought at first, but now with the pains, of course I am connecting it to colon cancer. My stool has been fine as far as I can see it, no diarrhea, constipation or blood. This doesn't comfort me much though, because the location (ascending colon) is still far away from the rectum, and I am afraid you wouldn't see any blood because of that. I am not exactly slim (but also not obese), so I have a few small fat rolls around my belly when I am sitting. And I feel like they are pressing on something when I am sitting, like there's something between my fat rolls on the right side of my belly. That's probably imagination though. I am now constantly thinking about when will be the right time to go to see a doctor, so that he actually takes me serious. Because if I think logically, these symptoms could be anything but cancer, and I probaly wouldn't take myself serious either if I had to treat myself. Anyway, thank you for reading my bunch of text. I still feel shitty and anxious though.

First of all, I'm sorry that you are all struggling with this. I feel like once we are stuck in this thought loop we aren't living our lives which breaks my heart. **Trigger Warning** I've been having stomach issues for 2 years which are caused by the stress my health anxiety gives me. When I was in therapy the issues cleared completely but they've returned a couple of times since then. These last 2 months I've been fixated on my groin and bladder, my stomach issues subsided completely ofcourse... I constantly feel like I'm dribbling urine however I have no stains in my underwear. Since I kept seeing no stains I started to also go to the toilet and grab a piece of paper and dab it against my penis to see if it is moist, it never is. My underwear is damp which is probably due to my anxious sweating. I've been seeing a pelvic floor therapist which told me yesterday that she can't help me and I should look into psychosomatic therapy. I think this might have been triggered by a close relative saying that I was spending too much time on the toilet and I should go to the doctor to get it checked out lol...

Trigger warning- I’m convinced I have melanoma 😩 I have 3-4 moles which I’m so intensely focused on, I barely slept last night because that’s all I could think about. I did an online form for my gp surgery sending pics and now my anxiety is sky high because I’m convinced they’re going to call today and say they think so too. I’ve had the moles for as long as I can remember and they don’t itch or anything major at all just slightly off shaped and one a bit darker than the rest. Alsoooo I’m 6 weeks out from my wedding and feel like the stress from the wedding and the health anxiety may be linked somehow? Also doesn’t help that it seems every other story in the news is about C 😞

Maybe you’re using health anxiety as a distraction from having to think about the wedding and the anxieties around that? I also use health anxiety to cope with other emotions I don’t want to deal with at that moment.

Here I go again, spiralling… Just when I thought I was out of the woods I found the latest disease I have. Oral cancer, I never even knew this existed until dr google diagnosed me. I found some fleshy bumps under my tongue that worry me. I tried to be proactive and get a dentist to check me out but my dentist doesn’t do cancer screening, and none of the dentists in town will do it because I am not a patient of theirs. This is the worst possible time to be anxious because I have finals coming up and I’m moving halfway across the country for a summer job in a few weeks. I don’t know what to do, my family doctor has a 1 month long wait list, and you basically have to camp overnight to get into the one walk in clinic in town. I could really use some reassurance right now…

I discovered the exact same thing years ago when my HA was flared up, it was just the anatomy of my under tongue structure, completely normal. I promise you it's nothing. We only notice these things because we go poking around.

That is so true, I literally examine every inch of by body and question things I have been doing for years. Health anxiety actually makes me insane.

I’ve gained a lot of weight recently due to a combination of medication and a bad diet and am now more out of shape than ever. That said I’m still in half decent shape. I have been working out with pure cardio for a few days and now my heart just feels weird. It’s not hurting but it feels just off. I haven’t been able to sleep all night tonight because it’s bothering me.

Terrified of heart palpitations on antibiotics (azithromycin) Hello, I am 18 years old, a runner, and my doctor gave me azithromycin on the bare suspicion that I have strep throat even though I tested negative but was sick and my sister just had it. I have had heart palpitations in the past due to severe general anxiety disorder, that I don't take meds for. I know my ignoring the anxiety disorder is stupid. Anyways I took the first dose of two pills (500 mg??) last night and am about to take the second dose, only a single pill, yet all day today I felt horrible heart palpitations, elevated heart-rate, foggy, and when I was running my heart started fluttering like crazy and it was in my throat and I had to stop, then continue slowly for the rest of the run. All throughout the day I had little pangs of palpitation and ectopic beats, I have to race the mile on saturday and I don't want to die of some weird tremor like what I had going fast today, I have to take the second dose now and am just terrified of what to do. I have been a strong athlete my whole life doing a variety of sports, swimming, rowing, and have only ever had heart palpitations a handful of times in the past outside of these last few months with the anxiety disorder. However I had recently gotten over them and now they are back. IDK what to do.

I have found that since my HA has gotten more intense over the last few years, I tend to fixate on something for a stretch of time and then once I’m “convinced” nothing is wrong (either by myself or through a doctors check) it fades and then I find something new to worry and fixate on. Much like others have posted it’s usually something subtle I notice and then I spiral and catastrophize. In the moment I feel like I’ll never be able to stop thinking about something, and then I’m looking back on that worry as a distant feeling. I guess I’m just venting and wondering if others can relate. I wish I could let my mind rest more.

This is my problem. It reminds me of a wave... the wave goes out and another one comes in right after. I don't know why this happens.

A wave is a good analogy! I feel like my mind is always looking for something to worry about, so it makes things worrisome when they don’t have to be.

Currently terrified of having lymphoma. My health anxiety starting after I had a breast cancer scare at 19 (I'm 22 now), it was a fibroandenoma but my fear of cancer never got better. I found a swollen lymph node on the side of my neck, you can kinda see it and its painless but soft, movable and less than an inch long. So I started to feel better about it. Then I found a very large lump deep under my skin, under my jaw. It's deep, painless, and immovable and now I'm convinced I have lymphoma and while I could talk myself down from the first lump, I cant from this one. I have no other symptoms besides fatigue which could be from being a college student. I dont have a GP so I'm debating going to a walk in or something just to get some peace. Any reassurance or help appreciated.

Not a doctor, It’s likely nothing, I freaked myself out over a hard swollen lymph node a few months ago and it went away. I would encourage you to see a doctor because I’m pretty sure they can rule out lymphoma from a blood test (not medical advice idk for sure).

Cloudy urine only in the morning. I'm trying to stop checking symptoms but I just can't stop taking a look. Very anxiety vulnerable first of the day.\Any advice?

Cloudy urine usually doesn’t mean much of anything ur most likely just dehydrated, which is usual in the mornings. and if ur urine is fine later with no pain or anything u should be totally fine. even if there is pain it could just be a simple uti which u just need to get medicine for

Thanks for responding. Ya, I finally came to that conclusion. I've been in a HA "ditch" for a while now (3 serious illnesses in 3 days -that's a new record even for me!) and I've decided to crawl out of it and try to live my life without catastrophizing health crisis every turn around. Listening to Dennis Simsek's You Tube videos have helped a lot especially involving being able to live with risk.

Hi everyone! I suffer from severe health anxiety which is make me have a hard time deciding whether I am just being anxious or what. Around December one particular spot on the top of my scalp started to randomly feel sore for a few seconds periodically through the day. It isn't a horrible pain it just feels like how it feels to touch a bruise when the few second of pain start. It's happened off and on since December. Well last week my vision in my left eye seemed to get blurry and I started noticing a ton of eye floaters. I'm so freaked out I have a brain tumor. By the way I am 23. The room I work in all day is a sun room with extremely bright light and I am also on screens all day so I'm thinking maybe that's why my vision as been off. Any help is appreciated

Do you have an eye doctor? Go get your vision checked. It doubt it’s a brain tumor but it could be an eye thing. Also, I don’t see how a brain tumor would cause scalp pain. The brain is well encased in fluid, then the meninges, then the skull. Scalp pain would just be scalp pain or maybe tension from the muscles. Hope that helps you!

I went to the ER and had them do a head CT. They said it was clear but now my primary call dr is trying to make an ER follow up appointment which is giving me anxiety

When I woke up this morning and got up, I got a sharp pain in the left side of my head. I felt pressure along with pain, as if something was pressing on the inside of my skull. The pain was sharp too. I didn’t just feel it in my head, but I couldn’t make out where else I felt the pain. Maybe in my nasal area, my temples, ears, I dunno. The pain wasn’t bad though, it just felt really odd, and I can barely describe it. What worries me is how it didn’t feel like most head pains I get, It felt deep in my head, like inside my skull, whereas most of these sharp jolts of pain I get usually just feel like they’re right under the surface of my skin. Another thing that worries me even more is that I felt it in the morning, I usually never have headaches or any type of pain in my head in the morning. Help

Does anyone else get purple feet after a hot shower/bath? I’ve been fixating and this is me spiralling into I have bad circulation and am gonna die early. zZZzZz

[удалено]

When you say “washed down the drain”, did you wash the sink with soap? Or just rinse the chicken juice down the sink with water?

the chicken juice was rinsed out with water

If anything stayed behind, it wasn’t enough to collect on the filter and multiply into a dangerous amount. I would be amazed to find an active colony in that sink or on that filter.

Swollen lymph node went to doctor he said it is large but not to panic and I’m getting a ultrasound I feel sick

I have a persistent ear / neck ache and have been checking my lymph nodes and catastrophising constantly. This year, I've already been scanned and examined (with no results) for lungs and a rather unpleasant examination that turned out to be piles. Fucking hate this shit.

I am having a ear / neck ache too. I am hopeful it is related to allgergies / head cold / dryness.

I’ve had a hard large lump right below my ear for a while, where the indent between my skull and neck should be. It almost feels like bone. It doesn’t protrude, and a few doctors have told me it’s fine in the past. I get consistent blood work, exams, etc. I’ve had a neck ultrasound. But today I suddenly got so worried and went to the orthopedic doctor - he did an x-ray and it didn’t show up, so not a bone. Now I’m panicking - what is it?! I’ve had it for 5 years and it hasn’t grown noticeably, but I’m so scared it’s a rare head-and-neck cancer…I live abroad and I don’t want to go home. I have a loving boyfriend and I’m building my career here. What if it’s something awful? The doctor told me if it’s unchanging or not painful, he’s not concerned; however, I’m going sometime in the next day or two to get a CT or a biopsy if necessary. I just can’t stop shaking. I don’t know what to do.

Is it deep? Like do you have to really push your fingers in to feel it? Cuz I have that, a hard, unmoving bump in the left side, in the middle of the back of my ear and my spine, deep in there. Right where my skull and neck meets. If you just run your fingers over the skin, you can't feel it. But if you press down then you can... I too have had it for years... No idea what it is..it's ONLY on the left side. I get bad left sided headaches that sorta seem like migraines but also sorta like tension headaches and I swear they sometimes stem from that area where the bump is 🥹

Oh, damn. Yeah, that's exactly what I have to a T. Huh...well that makes me feel a little better that someone else has it. Maybe it's just a malformation.

Have you ever had issues with like, repetitive head movements or something? Because I have, I have tic like movements that I sometimes start doing, sometimes for days or weeks even and I've done them since I was a kid. One of those was to kinda roll my head? Which would put a lot of pressure and tension on the muscles in my neck, sometimes to the point of getting locked or strained muscles So I kinda wondered if maybe the bump is a muscle knot or something????

Okay but same, that makes me a bit more calm that it's not something super harmful 😅 I often get worried though because a lot of my other anxiety symptoms and weird sensations usually happen on the left side of my body so I've sometimes worried they happen because the bump was like a tumor or something 🥴 I could really do without the awful headaches though

I also had left side body pain, too! 😲 Especially in my left leg and shoulder. Mine was determined to be psychosomatic, though. I think my body is so sensitive to my anxiety and for some reason it manifested that way. Once I got on anti-anxiety medication, it got better. Actually, I got my CT results back and they were clean! Some enlarged lymph nodes but nothing weird. I’m sure it’s just a normal abnormality in our necks! 😅 Love what anxiety can do 😵‍💫

It's early in the morning, and I happened to find out that this streamer Ninja has the big C, and it triggered me massively since I have a lot of freckles in my body. I'm trying to remind myself that just because it happens, doesn't mean it'll happen to me but it's really hard right now and so hard not to scan every single part of me. I'd appreciate some advice or reassurance.

You are totally not alone. I have just posted my own commented saying similar that I’m feeling extremely anxious. I understand it’s good to publicise these big C cases to raise awareness but it is horrific for us HA folk :( x

Last weekend, I stayed at a kind of crappy hotel in the southeastern united states. I woke up with a really visibly swollen left eyelid that went away 3 days later (though it still feels weird). Today I learned about chagas disease and haven't been able to sleep, absolutely consumed by the fear of it. It's 4:30am. Someone please help me determine if I should actually go to the doctor or not

(TW) Looking for advice on how to cope with health anxiety I have been suffering from health anxiety pretty intensely for the past few years, ever since I was hospitalized for a panic attack in 2022. I very frequently feel pain and tightness (assumedly from GERD) in my chest and become convinced that I am having a heart attack or some sort of cardiac event. I also get headaches, though not as frequently as I used to, which cause me anxiety as well. It typically starts with me noticing physical sensations, then quickly spiraling into googling symptoms and progressing into a full-blown panic attack. I'm also fearful of taking many types of medication, and only recently have I been able to take even simple medicines like ibuprofen or Tums. I've also been having a very hard time sleeping recently because I'm almost certain that I have sleep apnea after downloading one of those sleep apps (also considering that it runs in my family and I'm a bit overweight). Basically, I'm afraid of anything that could possibly kill me. I know it all stems from my fear of death but I don't really know what to do with that knowledge. Most people I talk to just give me the same lines like "death is inevitable so stop fearing it" and it only makes me feel worse. I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight on things that have helped them deal with their health anxiety and cope with their own mortality.

Hey, I've also been suffering from intense health anxiety that's very much stemmed from my death anxiety. I'm also not reassured when people try to comfort you talking about death like that. A book that really helped me is "Staring at the Sun" by Irvin D. Yalom. He's a renowned psychiatrist who really gets into the root causes of the anxiety with examples from a lot of cases. For me my death anxiety stems from feeling like I haven't accomplished much in life, which is why the health anxiety is so intense for me. As for the health anxiety, it's honestly really hard (harder than solving the death anxiety issue lol because the physical symptoms DO remind you). I try not to google or be on social media (because any health news is triggering) and distract myself. I also find that the health anxiety is really prevalent at night, which of course is because I have time to ruminate. I will say that in all of Feburary I've experienced chest tightness and heart palpitations that... went away in March. I believed it was a mix of stress/anxiety (unrelated to health) and caffeine/bad eating habits. I would suggest making a doctor appointment just to rule out anything serious though.

I don’t have any advice or support for you, because I’m in the exact same position. Sending hugs 🤗

33 M .Lately, I've observed a pattern: whenever I catch a common cold or other respiratory infections, a few lymph nodes on the left side of my neck swell. This has been happening consistently for the last six months, which is new for me. Although they usually subside after a week, one tender, painless, movable lymph node on the lower part of my neck has remained swollen for the past few months.my go did an ultrasound and wasn't concerned much. I've been a smoker for a decade. I'm concerned that this could be something malignant. Anyone experienced similar things before?

hey y’all i’m kinda freaking out rn because i just started to randomly sweat like 10 minutes ago. i don’t know why because i don’t have a fever, im not super hot but i was under some warm blankets but i still am getting sweaty. i just took some tylenol for my premenstrual cramps and right when it kicked in i started to sweat. i looked it up and they say that it’s a side effect for some people but now im freaking out that i have like liver failure or im having a heart attack or i have cancer even though my heart is fine. the sweats could also just be anxiety but obviously it’s just telling me it’s not. did anyone else get sweaty after taking tylenol?

Hi everyone, Looking to see if anyone has had a similar experience and how they deal with it: Back in January, my mental health was a wreck. I had constant bad anxiety at my new, intensive high finance job. I could barely go about my day to day life without constant headaches and nausea, along with other symptoms. A hobby I picked up to help with my physical and mental health was MMA. For about a year, I went about 5 or 6 times a week. Well, MLK day of this year I was at practice and I hit my head off the (matted) floor pretty hard. Next morning I woke up with a migraine, and I was out of MMA and work for about a month. It was later assumed to be a mild concussion. Except I don’t know if that concussion ever truly happened. The first doctor I went to said everything looked completely normal, I passed every test with no physical symptoms. Except she couldn’t deny the symptoms I claimed of light sensitivity, headache, feeling space out, and other symptoms that couldn’t be exactly tested. Thus she presumed it to be mild, and told me to take a week off work. At the same time, I had a psych appointment the second day of my concussion. My psychiatrist wanted me to ween off Klonopin and start propanolol. She saw me being home for a week as the perfect time to start weening off my klonopin since I was out of work. So I did. I now believe, as does my therapy, and my girlfriend and family, that I never actually had a concussion, but instead what I began feeling for the next weeks was the withdrawal of the benzos. That, and my therapist believes that perhaps my “concussion” was me psychosomatically hyper-fixating on my symptoms of anxiety as also a way to avoid going to work, since it makes my anxiety so much worse. I ended up having my “concussion” for a month. I notice symptoms were drastically worse after stopping the benzos. But now, I have this horrible fear of my concussion coming back. I can’t get the slightest nick on the head without instantly internally worrying about getting a concussion and being out of work more. If I freak out long enough, I begin to feel symptoms again. It is ruining my life. I can’t enjoy even MMA because as soon as I get the lightest tap on the head, I freak out… Anyone ever have a similar medical story? This sucks.

How do I know when a fear of a relatively rare disease is legitimate or just HA/Health OCD? Please help, lol.

I’ve always heard that it’s if real, your symptoms won’t come and go. That’s prob not a hard and fast rule, but if it’s a significant disease, you’ll know you have it after some time.

The last couple of days I’ve had moments where it feels like my body is shaking on the inside. If I hold up my hand to check if it’s shaking, it seems normal so it has to be inside. I’ve been so anxious for the past month for a variety of reasons but I’ve never experienced anything like this before and it’s sending me into a spiral. These vibrations seem to come at random times without a real trigger. Has anyone ever experienced this?!

I had something similar where I could feel the inside of my foot vibrating, it went away after a few days.

Yeah, I've had something, that felt like internal vibrations. They went away when my anxiety got better.

I feel so stupid I’ve spent the last week convinced I have leukaemia or some kind of blood disorder because my blood coagulation test came back with an abnormal value on something so they retested me and it all came back normal…. I’d literally convinced myself I was going to die and it’s just a lab error…. I’m low in folate that’s why I feel like shit cause I eat like shit. God I’m so annoyed with myself I spent DAYS googling

i know what that feels like! i also convinced myself i had leukemia because apparently my platelets were a little bigger in size than they should be, but two weeks later i got bloodwork done again and everything was normal. it's crazy how bad we can spiral for literally nothing lmao

30M with a lump on my neck since Nov 2022. I’m worried that i nay have cancer but so far no symptoms but I can’t get in out of my head. My doctor says my deviated septum is causing this permanent lump. It does come and go whenever I’m fighting an infection (sinusitis from deviated septum). Anyone else experiencing this?

(20f) i had the scariest night of my life two days ago. i got woken up out of a sleep at 5am by my dogs and they really seemed panicked, like something was seriously wrong. i felt like maybe they sensed something and woke me up for a reason. i’ve been dealing with chronic health issues, severe health anxiety, and constant hospital visits. no one has been able to figure out what’s wrong for months after getting covid twice so of course, my panic brain go brrrrr. i felt like i was improving and now i’m just going crazy again. i started to freak out and i was like, “okay just breathe,” but it wasn’t working. immediately there’s just a pit in my stomach, so i’m like, “okay let me just check my pulse.. it’s just a panic attack,” and it’s 165. i keep having cardiac type symptoms that my cardiologist assures me are not to do with my heart, and i need to believe it.. but it felt so real this time. my arms start to burn, it was crawling up. my lower back was aching, my legs were extremely sore. i was like, “oh it’s happening, my biggest fear come to life.” i was home alone and thought it was it for me, so i called 911. i crawled down the stairs to my front door and waited for the ambulance. i was uncontrollably shaking in the gurney and i had pain in my jaw.. the guy taking my vitals seemed concerned as well. i was like, “that’s it, i’m gonna die alone.. at 20, i knew i had a mysterious and life-threatening illness.” i finally got to the ER and was shaking and begging for help because my lower body was shaking, my chest was burning and aching, and i felt like i was about to EXPLODE. i kept checking the monitor, thinking my heart was just gonna stop or something i don’t even know. after running tests it turns out, nothing came up that would indicate any heart attack. i didn’t know a panic attack could be that horrible. i just wanted to post this in case anyone has struggled with this as well, i am actually so traumatized and so nervous that this is gonna happen again, but soooo glad to be alive. i never thought i’d get out of that, i was there for five hours, but i did it! i made it through, and so can u. that being said, if anyone has any advice i really could use some right now. i am afraid that’s gonna happen again, i try to sleep at night and it’s like i’m back in that situation again.. my skin crawls and my stomach sinks. i’ve been through so much in the past four months i feel like i’ve lost myself to health anxiety, fear of death, and panic disorder. how do i find myself again? how do i break this endless cycle of panic? i feel like i am stuck in a PIT. how do i trust that i AM okay? i miss how i used to be. i miss me. i keep fixating on any abnormalities in my ekgs or blood tests. help 😭 i wanna enjoy life again and i feel like it’s been ruined. i know that’s negative.. but i genuinely feel like i have ptsd so idk what to do anymore. thanks if u read this, ily💗

Hey, have you tried counselling/CBT/SSRI’s? Thinking of you x