Does anyone find themselves sometimes obsessing about getting a certain illness and dying. So they ask for reassurance and Google over and over? You get very anxious and crying and then find out it’s nothing but then later another thing comes up with their health and they think again that’s worst case. Is that ocd? It’s like I need constant certainty I don’t have something 😢
Yup, sounds like a textbook case of health OCD to me. It's tough, but I'd encourage you to try to stop Googling and asking for reassurance, or if you can't stop entirely, at least delay it.
@girlanon I love this thank you
Me! This is my most prominent type of OCD that I’m working through with my therapist. You get reassurance and feel better until something new comes up. It’s really hard but it IS workable! Feel free to reach out for support because I am right there with you
@AlexPG The amount of appointments I go to and times I’ve been to the ER to make sure I’m not having a heart attack are wild. I think I need ERP but I’m scared.
@Anonymous I’m right there with you. It’s caused a lot of turmoil in my relationship with my husband because he tells me I don’t need to go and then I view him as coming between me and safety (when really he’s just trying to help and doesn’t understand compulsions can’t be reasoned with using logic) I’m starting ERP tomorrow! I’ve tried other forms of CBT and therapy which have been somewhat useful, but I’ll keep you posted on how the ERP goes. I am scared too, but I feel at this point, the ER visits are more debilitating than anything else. Hang in there!
Me too! It feels like one thing after the next
dont really know how to do any exposures when my whole life is one giant trigger. Look in the mirror ,trigger. Look in the toilet bowl, trigger lol look at my fb feed, trigger, watch tv, trigger. Im spending all my time just trying to get through life that i cant spare any energy for exposures.
I can relate to that a lot. Its also always been like that. As a child, everytime i found out about a serious illness existing I would br convinced I had it and things havent changed much since then tbh. For some reason its only during the night though. I will go to bed with the iron resolve to make a doctos appointment first thing in the morning and then wake up and realise that there is literally no reason to do that.
atleast you dont make the appointment! so good on you! haha most of us could get alot of flying airmiles if doctors gave them out. Me included! its honestly kind of funny to look at but its not at all funny in the moment!
I do this. It Also made it much Worse when I was told I had a diagnosis Which turned out to be wrong.. It sometimes feels like there is one thing after another.
hello. i have been going through health scare obsessions for at least 5 years now and it terrifies me. i mainly fear of cancer. i have no reason to fear of cancer because it is not a predominant condition in my family. i have been to check ups for skin cancer and been told it was nothing which relieves me for a short period of time but then i start thinking of other cancer possibilities :( it doesn’t help that im a smoker to deal with the stress of adhd and ocd which just fuels the obsession of lung cancer. i know it would help my fear to stop smoking but thats easier said than done. i have only been a smoker for 3 years and its the only thing that helps right now. on top of this, my brain makes me believe that every intrusive thought i have WILL MANIFEST into existence just from thinking about it! this has scared me so much in the last 5 years and once i told my mum about it and she said "if you ever got cancer we would deal with it, its okay" but that didnt help it just made it worse and the possibility become more scarier! please help me.
I went from intrusive thoughts of hurting people, thinking I did horrible things and not remembering it like running people over with my car etc, to my brain trying to convince me I that I had split personality disorder to now health anxiety. The intrusive thoughts weren’t as bad as this. I’ll get physical symptoms like my heart racing, chest pain, can’t swallow. It’s been causing panic attacks but I’m constantly scared I’m dying. If my mole looks like it changed I freak out and think I have cancer. I had to get a stethoscope to listen to my heartbeat to make sure I don’t have an aortic aneurysm to buying a Fitbit to constantly check my pulse. I went to the ER bc I thought I was dying and now I’m paying a 2 thousand dollar bill when they say my heart is fine. It’s just exhausting.
Has anyone ever had an intrusive thought of thinking you’ve might’ve swallowed something dangerous and you can’t trust your own mind? And you feel like you need to go in to get checked out? Any advice or reassurance?
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