- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
Oh my gosh you guys I completely understand and relate. I got my covid shot on the 17th and I was paranoid, but surprisingly mainly okay. I was good about really managing my anxiety and not let it spiral. I’m on the depo shot for birth control and my window was basically closing last weekend for my next shot and I was completely scared to get it only a week after the covid vaccine. I ended up talking to a doctor before getting it on weather it was safe etc. and they said it was because it didn’t have any other antibodies. But I was still super paranoid and anxious the rest of the day. I kept telling myself like your doctor said it was safe and approved it so just trust what the doctor said and relax. But it was horrible! And vaccine and shots asaide I’ve already been paranoid that maybe my leg pain is a blood cloth. I’m a visual merchandiser and am on my feet all day, and got new shoes because my arches were acting up. And it’s been better but I still worry that maybe it’s not even my shoes and job and might be a blood cloth
- Date posted
- 4y
Absolutely!!! I’m one of those germaphobe and hypochondriac. And I’m always investing and ruminating about my health. I have the hardest time deciphering if I’m actually feeling abnormal, or if I’m just psyching myself out and I’m making myself feel weird because I’m basically giving myself a panic attack because “what if.” I’ve been good about managing a lot of my anxieties, but I absolutely relate!
- Date posted
- 4y
I’m so glad to find people that relate to me! Health anxiety is very difficult to deal with because it’s so hard to decipher between the rational and irrational thoughts
- Date posted
- 4y
@Anonymous I agree. I've found that some things I can rationalize and talk myself through. Unfortunately, the medical issues that are life threatening are much harder to work through. I try to tell myself this is an irrational and unhealthy obsession - I must let go of this today. Of course, some days are tougher than others.
- Date posted
- 4y
@jopike13 Yeah, I’ve found health anxiety is an especially difficult theme to endure because many of the irrational thoughts can be seen as “rational” when in an OCD loop. I have had other themes that I was able to rationalize and overcome through ERP quickly although this health anxiety one persists because the OCD can really use anything as “evidence”
- Date posted
- 4y
100%. I also have really bad health anxiety OCD. It surrounds my health and the health of my family. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent looking up possible adverse health issues and ruminating on them all day. It is rational to be aware of your health and understand some topics for safety but it gets to a problematic extent. It is really tough to deal with :(
- Date posted
- 3y
I suffer from the same exact thing.
- Date posted
- 4y
I also struggle with health anxiety. I am immuno compromised and pretty health anxious anyways but I recently got my covid vaccine and spent a week obsessed with "what if I get a blood clot." It was debilitating and the physical manifestation of my anxiety was looping into back into "This is a validating symptom." Everything was "a sign" and I couldn't stop googling, incessant runmination. I haven't yet got control of it admittedly, but I keep telling myself I can't let it control me every single day - I have to take my thoughts back. Keep fighting the good thoughts fight!
- Date posted
- 4y
Me too 😂😪😥 I just got my covid vaccine and thats all I've been doing is checking and looking up all the information I could about blood clots and dangerous things that could happen from the vaccines. I was literally crying right before getting my first dose, but I made myself get it because I knew it was the right thing to do. This health anxiety is no joke.
- Date posted
- 4y
I relate to this so much! I frequently have those “validating symptoms” too. Whenever I get stuck in a health anxiety thought loop too much I have to remind myself that I have OCD and sometimes that helps me look at my thoughts in a different light. It’s tough but you’re right just have to keep fighting for those good thoughts!! We got this
- Date posted
- 4y
Diana, I am also on depo and that was a huge concern for me. I spent days spiraling into that mass of "what ifs." I'm not against vaccinations and try to remain pretty level headed about my health anxiety. This experience though I just kept thinking "I'm finally doing much better in life and it wouldn't be fair if something so unpredictable were to occur." That unpredictable aspect was my big snag! Dang needing to have a handle on everything...
- Date posted
- 4y
Wow! I have that exact thought SO MUCH. The “everything is going great now, it wouldnt be fair to have something bad and unpredictable happen.” Do you have any tips on how to respond to a thought like that? I feel like just accepting the uncertainty is best but it’s tough to do that at times
- Date posted
- 4y
@Anonymous I still have a lot of trouble with this myself. I have found that taking a few minutes every few hours to reassure myself out loud in a quiet space, almost like meditation or prayer, has really helped me. Just repeating "I can do this, I'm going to be alright. I need to calm down and re center. I'm strong." Etc. This has helped me wind down from extreme spiraling many times before bed or after a tough series of impulsive thoughts and rumination. Of course, it doesn't fix everything but it really helps me get control of my breathing and my panicked looping brain.
- Date posted
- 4y
Ugh. I had a bad experience yesterday, and was about to go to the doctor, because I was convinced something was wrong. Luckily I was able to distract myself and being down the anxiety to I could tell if I really felt like something was wrong or I was self inducing my “symptoms.” Today I’m still not sure but trying to work through my urge to just run to the doctor. Do any of you guys ever think that getting s diagnosis for whatever it is you are concerned about world almost be a relief? And validated how you feel some how? I think I worry more about the possibility of misdiagnosis versus the actual health concern.
- Date posted
- 4y
Yes. I feel this way frequently! I identified that one of my compulsions was seeing a doctor whenever I thought something was wrong. It gave me reassurance at first but it only fueled more OCD thoughts in the long run. By looking for reassurance it in a way “validated” my obsessions and told me that they were something real rather than just thoughts...which is what they actually are. I know it’s hard to deal with these types of thoughts when they are about your health but I encourage you to sit with the uncertainty of it all! You are also not alone, I have frequently thought that I would rather be diagnosed with something rather than have the “what ifs”. It all goes back to leaning into the uncertainty and trying to accept it.
- Date posted
- 4y
@Anonymous Thank you for the encouragement to sit with the uncertainty!! I’ve been really good about managing my OCD for a while. But yesterday I realized that was the 3rd time in the last 2 weeks I was having a really hard time controlling my ocd. I started wondering if I was in denial of being in control and actually an anxious mess. But I’ve been trying to remind myself that maybe I am under some stress and that even though I’ve been having speed bumps I’m mainly okay and have to keep working through it!!
Related posts
- Date posted
- 18w
sorry this is super long i just wanna know if anyone else has been thru something similar bc i feel super alone 🩷 i have super bad contamination ocd. it was bad already but my house was like my safe space until a few months ago someone brought something into my house that i considered ‘contaminated’. and so then i felt like that part of the house was contaminated, then it spread to everything outside my room (since family is moving around touching stuff) and then somehow i got convinced everything in my room except my bed is contaminated and i need to wash my hands after touching it. in my mind its like the contamination just infinitely spreads to things after the tiniest bit of touch. idek what im afraid of anymore or even what the original thing was but i can’t let it go. when i have to wash off contamination i have to wash at least 4 times or until it feels right, or sometimes take rlly long showers and wipe down all my stuff. i even throw away food and clothes or just whole items sometimes because they feel so contaminated i don’t want them in my space. i can’t be super near people or have anyone touch me, and i also can’t bring anything new into my room since it had to go through the entry of my house which feels contaminated. i feel like all i do is lay in bed and then wash my hands and do compulsions so i can go eat or do other stuff around the house. also i never go out because i’m bc people outside make me feel dirty, and i hate thinking about how many people have touched stuff in stores or in public and stuff. so im just in my room worrying all day. i feel so trapped and the contamination/avoiding it is all i think about anymore i barely have time for anything else and im never present when i talk to people because im worrying about if i accidentally got contaminated. im starting erp next week and knowing that im going to have to expose myself to things is really freaking me out. does anyone else have this kind of ocd ? im exhaustedddd 🥲🥲💔
- Date posted
- 15w
Hi everyone! I’m feeling better today. I had a really bad flare yesterday, my husband really helped me calm down and fall asleep. However, if you have health OCD I feel like you probably shouldn’t read this post unless you are in a good head space. I do not have health OCD. So, I’ve been dealing with a lot of symptoms and health issues that have led me to alot of doctors visits, I have several different doctors that specialize in specific things and now go to an internal medicine doctor. My doctor thinks I have an autoimmune disease, so I’m running alot of tests for several different autoimmune conditions. My OCD has been dormant for a while. I would still deal with it sometimes, but it was way easier to manage. I’m not medicated for OCD. However, I do use arthritis cream and was prescribed muscle relaxers, I have not yet taken the muscle relaxers. So I had a really bad OCD flare last night, specifically Relationship OCD. My husband has just seen parole and I’m super excited for him to come home, but my OCD was trying to convince me otherwise. I also have a new nephew that was born on the 22nd. So I am out of state and was watching my niece for my sister in law. A lot of exciting things happening at once. I’m assuming that triggered my OCD. But I’ve been swelling in my face and dealing with a little bit of body pain as well. Autoimmune diseases come in flares like OCD. I have done some research on autoimmune diseases so I can know what I need to do in order to keep it under control if that’s what I do get diagnosed with. I learned that some autoimmune diseases are linked to OCD, or can even cause OCD because of inflammation in the brain. & It gave me a glimmer of hope honestly. Could my OCD have started because of an autoimmune disease? Could I get better by treating it? My OCD didn’t kick start until I was about 19. I am now 23. I did have symptoms of OCD at 17 though, I went through a period of time where I was compulsively praying and in a cycle of intense anxiety. So I probably had it since I was 17, but I don’t know. My symptoms of autoimmune disease didn’t start until about a year ago, but it could’ve been longer. I couldn’t get rid of a UTI I had for MONTHS & didn’t know why. I had to see a urologist, I was 21 when I kept getting UTI’s. I had to get a procedure done, I had pus build up in my urethra that was almost completely blocking off my urethra. I do not know how the infection got that severe.. especially because I took antibiotic after antibiotic. I felt like I’d get better for a few days, then boom…UTI symptoms once again. So.. that could’ve been the start of autoimmune symptoms. With an autoimmune disease, your immune system is pretty trash. You don’t fight off infections or illness as easy as others. I remember how I’d get sick after everyone else in the house would get sick, but I’d get it so much worse and have the illness for much longer than everyone else. Surprisingly enough, I never got COVID. My whole family had it & I didn’t get it. Unless I did and just didn’t have symptoms. Anyways, I never thought I would say this.. but I hope I do have an autoimmune disease that caused OCD so that I can treat the autoimmune disease and keep my OCD dormant for as long as possible. I forgot what it was like to deal with OCD.. it was so bad lastnight, I remember feeling that type of anxiety and it’s the worst.. 💔 If you took the time to read, thank you! I seem like a charity case lol.. I never thought by 23 years old I’d be like this.
- Date posted
- 8w
Hello! I’m new here. Unfortunately I’m not able to afford a therapist but I’ve been doing a lot of research and I think a lot of my symptoms/thoughts align with OCD. I want to share some of what I experience and see if anyone else experiences the same and what resources helped you. I think I mostly experience contamination OCD. I’m constantly worried that something I do/touch is going to make me really sick and/or die. Especially with food, I’m constantly worried that I’ll accidentally have something on my hands when I eat, then I’ll touch the food and get that on the food, eat it and get sick. So I’ll wash my hands every time my hands touch any little tiny thing again and again before I eat, same with any forks/spoons, or I’ll even think I touched cleaner a few hours ago and I’ve washed my hands several times since then and I just washed them again but they still feel dirty so even if impractical I’ll use a fork and if my hands touch the part of the fork that touches the food then I can’t eat the food any longer or use that fork. Also at work I have these thoughts that I know are ridiculous but also give me very real anxiety. Like “if I don’t finish this order before that machine beeps its a sign I’m going to die” and then I have to rush to make sure I finish fast and then I’ll be like ok that’s so stressful I’m not going to think like that any more it’s ridiculous but then the thoughts keep coming back so I have to keep rushing. This is just a little tad bit of what I experience and I would love to hear from others as I haven’t met anyone else like me before. Thank you!
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