Health OCD/Anxiety

Hi! New here. 👋 This is my first post so I am nervous, but, literally everything makes me nervous so why not just nip this one in the bud. 🤣 I have severe health OCD and I’ve been in a panic flare for about a month now. Any bodily sensation/pain, numbness, tingling, lump, bruise, my brain catastrophes it as cancer, MS, ALS, stroke, tumors you name it. I was on Prozac for a long time and it helped so much that I thought the smart thing to do was to get off of it cause I was “better”(it wasn’t and I wasn’t). Now I have to get back on it and my brain is panicking about the side effects and anxiety I will have while my body gets adjusted. Anyone related to this? I’d love to speak with people who struggle along with me, I have no one in my personal life that has this. Thanks! Happy to be here!🩷

tryingtoheal...

Date posted: 12h

hiiii welcome! i have had health OCD too (especially worrying about cancer) and it is totally exhausting! i’ve been to the doctors numerous times, but even after being told there was nothing wrong with me, the anxiety and fear came back and it felt like a loop i just couldn’t get out of. but that was about a year ago, and after doing some exposure therapy i rarely worry about my health now. i just want to say it is absolutely possible to conquer this and you’re not in it alone! 😊

tmprice

Date posted: 12h

@tryingtohealfromocd Thank you so much for this! 🩷 I’m happy to hear that you are doing better! I know going to the doctor to get basic labs done is a good idea for me, I haven’t done that in about 5 years but I have such a fear they WILL find something that I keep chickening out! I’m looking into local therapists for sure. Thank you again for your kind words.

Brianna J

Date posted: 9h

Hey! I also have severe health and somatic OCD. The latter has kind of led to an eating disorder. 😔 My fear is definitely cancer but I have feared heart disease, too. It really takes over your life because you can't escape your body and the body does all kinds of weird stuff. It's lonely, because like you said, most people in my life don't understand. I actually do have some real medical issues. What's been helping me is radical acceptance. Just telling myself that no matter how much I worry, it's not going to change the outcome. So many things are beyond our control but many things are in our control, like doing the things we love and choosing what we think about. Worry only steals your peace, it doesn't actually solve anything. With health OCD, we believe hyper-fixation is being responsible but it's actually a control issue. If we catch this early enough, then...or the reverse...I can't handle it if they find something so I'll avoid doctors completely. All we can do is go for our annual checkup and give weird symptoms maybe 2 weeks before going to the doctor. Ruminating over what could it be does not help, regardless of what OCD tells you. Anyway, that was long. I truly wish you the best. This disorder can be really debilitating.

tmprice

Date posted: 9h

@Brianna J Wow. I’m so sorry to hear that. I can’t imagine having this disorder and also real medical issues on top of it. I don’t think I would be able to handle that. You are so strong. I’d love to talk more if you would want to. You’re the first person I’ve talked to that aligns so much like mine.

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