I often convince myself I have some kinda of life threatening illness… currently colon/ rectal cancer is what I’m obsessing over… anyways I struggle on when seek medical attention because I don’t know when there’s a real medical issue or if it’s just ocd telling me there’s something wrong. Does anyone else struggle with this, and if so how to decide when so see a doctor or when to ignore it
I delt with similar, not to scare you or anything genuinely, last year I was dealing with concerns that I was going to die of a deadly heart condition, wouldnt sleep because I thought I would die in my sleep, went through many tests and found out I have PoTs, which is a NON life threatening condition that I was likely dealing with for many years prior to when my ocd started rearing its head. Not saying you have cancer in any way however, I think this is most likely just the ocd making everything more crazy, it can even generate symptoms of diseases or illnesses without you actually having it. I was afraid I had a brain tumor and would constantly get headaches, but no brain tumor. Sit with it, maybe, or maybe not do you have cancer. See how you are feeling in the next couple weeks while doing the mental work. If you feel that you are having symptoms of colon cancer that couldnt be caused by ocd, like bleeding etc dont want to go into many details with that because I'm sure you know what I mean, then I would say go to a doctor to check. But for now I honestly wouldn't worry, try to get rest, sit with the discomfort, and see how you are in the next couple weeks. This was probably super poor advice but I hope maybe it helps even a little bit. Take care!
@SpookyKiwi Thank you for your kind words and great advice
Hi I used to deal with this all the time. Therapy helped. I learned to go to regular doctor appts no more, no less. If a doctor wanted to see more I followed their advice. If you look for symptoms, you will find them. Believe me, I would stare at moles for hours trying to figure out if they’d changed. Id read DR reports for hours. I learned to allow the “fatal” symptoms, trust you will know if you need to go to Drs.
I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I went through this exact fear in September and ended up having a colonoscopy, which came back fine. It’s so scary! I would say, if you’re having a legitimate symptom, go to the doctor. Now I know that can be hard to tell when we’re anxious and have OCD. Also make sure to go to regular checkups. Outside of that I know it can be difficult living with the uncertainty of health issues. ERP really helps, not sure if therapy is available to you? This would be a good topic to discuss with your therapist. Sending you big hugs!
I’m so afraid of getting cancer. I’ve been to the doctor so many times for false alarms, it’s starting to cost so much money. I hate this subtype of OCD. I’m hyper-focused on small pains in my body and I always make them out to be much more than they are. Literally the past few days I had a pressure headache and I was convinced it was brain cancer. This is ridiculous. I don’t know where to begin with ERP for this type of OCD. My compulsion is going to the doctor and that’s becoming a very expensive compulsion... My other compulsion is googling my symptoms, which always freaks me out cause every symptom means “cancer” according to google.
My OCD is generally around my health. It is hard for me to differentiate between what is real and what is OCD. I have a skin condition (HPV) and it’s truly not bad at all although my OCD theme is very focused on it. I’m in constant fear that it will get worse, spread or ruin my life some how. Does anybody else have health anxiety OCD? Or OCD about contamination? I feel like it’s really difficult to combat my OCD at times because there is a level of rationality behind it. I do have the skin condition already that I’m worried about so my OCD has “evidence” to make me more worried about it. Does anybody else have an OCD theme that is hard to differentiate between what’s real and what’s OCD? Sorry for the long post but I’m very interested to hear more about your experiences!
Does anyone else’s cause them to “obsess” over health, what’s happening with the body, the need to triple and quad check pulse etc? How do I stop! I spend every second of the day over it. It’s a lot, down to legit using the bathroom. I mean, I obsess over it. Have to check so many times etc. everything!
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