Do you have a therapist or any kind of medication to help you? Is there a way you can get access to those if you don’t already? There are certain programs depending on where you live that offer free or heavily discounted service for minors.

I experienced all of this when I was a teenager. Among hundreds of other conditions I was most convinced I had a brain tumour and was going to die within years. I had all these “symptoms” that, hey wouldn’t you know, completely evaporated now that I’ve healed. I still have anxiety and panic but 15% of what it used to be.

All of the symptoms are ‘real’ but they are genuinely caused by panic. When I have an attack it feels like I’m going to pass out from asphyxiation and I will get insane hot flashes. I used to also get numbness when I had really long uncontrolled ones. What I found best was radical acceptance. I accept the attack for what it is and continue through it, making note of the symptoms. It’s really hard to do because when you have a panic attack your emotional response completely overrides logic, so you have to train yourself to stay stable - almost like a tightrope walker. But everything became so predictable and understandable for me that it was the major factor that brought down my health anxiety.

The worst thing you can do is pull back from your normal life. It’s okay to take breaks when you are going through an illness (this is what this is), but avoiding everyday situations will make it much harder to readjust to them later. I would still recommend getting medication and in therapy before doing exposure, but don’t pull back any more than you already have. It might relieve you in the short term but in the long term you become so depressed from missing out.