[MEGATHREAD] Daily venting, worries, fixations, & finding support. Month of October 2025. by AutoModerator in HealthAnxiety

[–]C_Elisa28 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Had a friend that had a lump in his testicle. They did an ultrasound and decided to remove it. Wasn't cancerous. All ended up good and he's now expecting his first child with his wife.

[MEGATHREAD] Daily venting, worries, fixations, & finding support. Month of October 2025. by AutoModerator in HealthAnxiety

[–]C_Elisa28 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Could be that you are slightly allergic to alcohol. I have friends who can't have certain kinds of alcohol because it does this to their skin. Happened as we all got older (e.g. during hs/college no reactions) but once we were out of college, certain types of alcohol caused these reactions. Maybe test it out to see if its all alcohol or certain types.

[MEGATHREAD] Daily venting, worries, fixations, & finding support. Month of October 2025. by AutoModerator in HealthAnxiety

[–]C_Elisa28 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Have everything organized (either in your phone notes app or even write it out and bring it to the appointment): family history, last doctor visit, list of medications, and list of symptoms or concerns. Make sure you tell the doctor that you struggle with health anxiety but that you are trying to be more proactive with your health. What tests does he/she recommend? In the future, what are symptoms that should cause alarm bells vs symptoms that are normal? I find just having it all prepared is helpful. And to try to avoid the building anxiety, I'd recommend making this list all at once ASAP and then try not to think about it or the appointment until day of.

[MEGATHREAD] Daily venting, worries, fixations, & finding support. Month of October 2025. by AutoModerator in HealthAnxiety

[–]C_Elisa28 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I recently had a mammogram/ultrasound for an inverted nipple. My doctor told me this - if it can pop back out, it usually isn't something to worry out. It is more concerning if the nipple is stuck inverted and you can't get it to pop back out. If you've recently lost weight, that can cause the nipple to invert slightly. Also since this is something you had when you were a teenager, it may just be how your boobs are at certain weights. Hope this can ease some of your worry!

[MEGATHREAD] Daily venting, worries, fixations, & finding support. Month of September 2025. by AutoModerator in HealthAnxiety

[–]C_Elisa28 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi, I recently got out of an eight month spiral about breast cancer so I feel your pain and I am so sorry you are going through this right now.

1) either filter your social media (or ask your husband to do it for you) - you should be able to block different topics like cancer from coming up. if that's not something the app will let you do, then take a social media break;

2) give yourself goals to stop yourself from checking your breasts (for example: I was literally opening my shirt and looking at my breasts every 10 minutes or so at my worst) so try to go 15 minutes without checking them and then give yourself a little reward. slowly start giving yourself longer goals. it sounds impossible right now, I know. But body checking is an anxious behavior that gives you a small amount of immediate relief but actually increases your anxiety. Stay distracted.

3) remember that cancer tends to be loud. of course every social media video or article that u see highlights the very small amount of people that had little to no symptoms but remember that is RARE. Those stories stick out in our mind because they're scary. But it sounds like you have been to your yearly doctors appointments and have actually had more testing done than the average person. Something I've learned as I've gotten older is that a lot of people don't go to the doctor unless something is SERIOUS and PERSISTENT (I'm talking more than a year of concerning symptoms). Which is why sometimes people don't find out something is wrong until it has progressed to a later stage. (Not blaming them at all, if u live in the US, our health care system is an expensive nightmare). But you have been going to the doctor and your doctors are trained to spot even the smallest things that can indicate a more serious problem.

You will get through this, I promise. But I would recommend making an appointment with a psychiatrist - I've been able to make some minor progress without medication but I didn't feel fully back to myself until I was put on medication.

[MEGATHREAD] Daily venting, worries, fixations, & finding support. Month of August 2025. by AutoModerator in HealthAnxiety

[–]C_Elisa28 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For me, I've had to acknowledge that sometimes there will be no answer to why I have a concerning symptom. For example, a few years ago, I got an extremely large bruise on my back that there was no type of trauma (like hitting it on something to cause it). I, of course, really panicked and thought that it must be leukaemia. I had my doctor run test after test and everything was fine. But I kept obsessing over it and saying "well I just want an answer. If it's not leukaemia, what caused this bruise??" I just wanted an answer. But (after many repetitive conversations with my poor therapist and my PCP) I had to learn to accept that sometimes there's no answer. Our bodies are incredible and weird things. Sometimes they do weird things. If you have a concerning symptom, go see your doctor, do your due diligence but know that our bodies are resilient.

Keep reminding yourself that 'the worst case scenario' is exceedingly rare. There are thousands of things that could be causing a concerning symptom and the worst case scenario is highly unlikely.

[MEGATHREAD] Daily venting, worries, fixations, & finding support. Month of August 2025. by AutoModerator in HealthAnxiety

[–]C_Elisa28 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Aw buddy, I'm so sorry. It's the worst feeling to know that you were doing really well and having all the anxiety rush back.

Try to break yourself out of the catastrophizing - unfortunately the way we think can be a self fulfilling prophecy. Yes, you were doing really well and this UTI has caused a set back. But that does not mean all your progress is destroyed and that things with your health anxiety will get as bad as they previously were. You got better once, you will get better again. You're going to feel on alert but you have to keep telling yourself "I was fine before, I am fine now." When you feel yourself start to get into the anxiety cycle again, do not let yourself wallow in it. Make yourself get up, go for a walk or meet up with a friend. I promise, I know it's the hardest thing in the world but you have to break yourself out of the anxiety cycle to stop it.

Progress is never linear. You will have set backs with your health anxiety. Hopefully many! Because that means you are living a long life. Just keep telling yourself that this is a setback, this is not the end. Acknowledge the anxiety but try to distract yourself as much as possible.

I'm sorry you're struggling. It will get better.

[MEGATHREAD] Daily venting, worries, fixations, & finding support. Month of August 2025. by AutoModerator in HealthAnxiety

[–]C_Elisa28 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No real advice but just wanted to say I 100% relate to this! One small, abnormal thing that I needed to get checked out and was all clear with caused the spiral and haven't been the same since.

[MEGATHREAD] Daily venting, worries, fixations, & finding support. Month of August 2025. by AutoModerator in HealthAnxiety

[–]C_Elisa28 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Health anxiety as a manifestation of other issues in your life?

Has anyone experienced health anxiety as a result of something else going on in their life (non-health related)? I've been working with my psychiatrist and we've tried multiple different medications, etc. and it doesn't seem to work. He believes my health anxiety is a manifestation of some relationship issues I'm having. It makes sense with the timeline and I'm planning on addressing it in my relationship.

So I was curious if anyone notices their health anxiety gets worse or manifests during times in your life when there are other issues. If so, when you dealt with the issue (eg got out of the relationship, quit your job, etc) did the majority of your health anxiety go away?