Still learning since getting diagnosed but are there actual symptoms of health OCD or anxiety? What are a few that you can separate from actual situation will warrant a dr visit
Struggling with this thought myself tbh š , it can be so exhausting too cuz you never know what thought to take seriously enough to get it checked by a doctor
@nic0.xp Do you go thru any symptoms
@lotero I have health ocd ! I think what helped me figure it out was the constant checking/researching symptoms and looking for suspicious bumps to make sure it wasnāt cancer or some terrible illness. Noticed it a lot when I was a kid and it got worse over time cuz I was doing compulsions to help ease the anxiety but recently found that giving into compulsions make the thoughts feel a lot more real
@nic0.xp Iām in that same boat it all started in April I got diagnosed with anxiety with adjustment disorder and health ocd (he used a name ) is all new to me and itās scares d shat out of me
A lot of my health anxiety/OCD symptoms overlapped with actual medical conditions so itās definitely worth going to get checked out! I had no appetite because I was so upset and then lost a lot of weight; I wouldnāt sleep because I was anxious, then would be fatigued throughout the day; etc. Speaking about OCD compulsions specifically, checking behaviors are very common, whether that be googling symptoms, reading Reddit boards, physically checking your body, asking for reassurance from others. My health OCD spiral was one of the most severe of my life and I truly thought I was dying of terminal cancer because my physical symptoms were so awful. As scary as going to the doctor is, it will set your mind at ease! Wishing you well!ā¤ļø
@Brekgel I have done various exams already they all comeback pretty normal including my heart I just dot. Get it like right now Iām chilling relaxed all of sudden my hands feel tingling and warm my left arm seems weak and Iām anxious yet my nerve conduction exams blood work all that normal
@lotero Anxiety can definitely cause tingling and numbness! I go numb when Iām anxious, especially with my hands, arms, and feet. Our brains are very powerful and the more we think about something, the worse our physical symptoms feel sometimes!
@Brekgel Yeah but if Iām chilll calm relaxed how can I still get that idk this all new
@lotero Bodies are weird! My numbness sometimes comes in waves and a passing thought slightly related to my OCD would immediately cause numbness even if I wasnāt anxious at the particular moment. It could also be a pinched nerveāmy leg and foot would go numb for months and it turns out it was a pinched nerve!
@Brekgel Yeah theyāve checked me for that aperatly no pinch nerve
It's extremely difficult to tell purely because the disease causes false physical sensations that accompany intrusions.
@Guest1488484 Yeah it sucks specially when I keep asking myself ā but my tests where clearā did they miss anything
@lotero You've had tests, they were clear. All you can do from this point forward is let the intrusions pass. You can do it.
@Guest1488484 Thanx Iām hoping to get better
Anyone know any ERP techniques or specific exposures that help with health anxiety OCD? Iāve heard such great things about ERP for other subtypes but I canāt think of any for health related OCD. Iād appreciate any advice!
You can laugh at the title if you want, itās objectively pretty funny. Hi guys, this is my first time on this app and I mostly just wanted to see if anyone out there is in the same boat as me or works in health care and is dealing with this. I havenāt told anyone whatās going on. Iām in my 4th year of medical school and In the past year Iāve developed what I think is pretty bad health OCD. Now health anxiety is a really common thing for medical students to have, I know that. It wasnāt until recently that I realized that the constant lymph node checking, self diagnosing & examining and reassurance seeking could have definitely had crossed the line into compulsions. Both my parents are cancer survivors which is what originally made me want to become a doctor but now every single physical sensation I have sends me into hours or days of rumination that I or someone I love has stage 4 terminal cancer. I spent an entire vacation with my boyfriend having a silent panic attack and convincing myself that he was dying of pancreatic cancer when he just had food poisoning and was fine days later. I had a complete mental breakdown and told myself I had lymphoma for weeks when I realized I could feel some of my own perfectly normal lymph nodes in my neck. My logical brain knows this is completely ridiculous but the emotional brain will not shut the hell up. It seems cruel that I made it this far only to feel like my own damn brain is betraying my ability to think through health situations clearly. Iām determined to get my symptoms under control before I graduate in a year as I donāt want this to affect patient care. Just wanted to get this off my chest and see if anyone else out there in health care is struggling too.
Hey there, Im recently diagnosed with ocd and working with a therapist. My thing is I get focused on how Iām feeling. If I get a headache it freaks me out, I could be congested from allergies and it can spin me out, like what if itās something more serious, it could be any body sensation that causes me to ruminate. Health ocd? Somatic ocd? Anyone have this? Any tips? Thanks!
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