Health anxiety is a heavy burden to carry. Health anxiety is more than just occasional worrying about illness – it’s when it becomes disproportionate and unreasonable compared to your circumstances. Healthy anxiety is also different than being a hypochondriac, although they can often go hand-in-hand. Recently I’ve been reading about cyberchondria which is a clinical phenomenon resulting from repeat internet searches about medical information due to excessive health concerns. I was definitely a cyberchondriac.
In some ways my health anxiety has actually gotten better since my diagnosis and in some ways it’s gotten worse. There is comfort in having answers and finally knowing the problem. Now, every time my arms tingle or I have a neck tremor, my stomach doesn’t sink wondering what is wrong. Even though it was one of the worst possible outcomes, lol.
The problem with health anxiety is not only that it causes undue stress on yourself, but it can also lead to misuse of medical professionals’ time. I remember one day last winter I scheduled a same-day appointment with my primary care provider. I had myself so worked up that I was in the clinic parking lot waiting to see my doctor about whatever scary symptoms I had at the time, on the phone with my psychiatrist’s nurse crying and looking to talk to my psychiatrist, coming from an appointment with my chiropractor about shoulder pain, and on the internet googling shit. That was a low point! I exhausted plenty of medical resources that day which just goes to show what health anxiety can lead to if you let it take over.
Health anxiety symptoms
As you can imagine the prevalence of health anxiety reached an all time high due to COVID, but the prevalence was already increasing long before the pandemic. There was an increase in the prevalence of health anxiety from 14.9% in 2006-2008 to 19.9% in 2008-2010, most likely due to cyberchondria (Tyrer et al., 2019).
My health anxiety has been confusing since day 1. Is it really health anxiety if it all turned out to be justified and true? Technically in the end my level of anxiety about my health was completely proportionate to reality. The scariest part was when I couldn’t tell whether my neurological symptoms were caused by a real condition, or if they resulted from my severe health anxiety. Many of my symptoms (like tingling in my arms) can be caused from something as common as anxiety all the way to terminal illnesses. This is why my #1 recommendation is to stay off the internet when it comes to symptoms.
Stay off the internet
It’s perfectly healthy (and smart) to use the internet to educate yourself, but it becomes unhealthy when you start looking up your symptoms and trying to self-diagnose. Let the doctor’s and test results determine if there is anything to be truly concerned about. Trying to figure it out on your own only causes undue stress. You can worry if/when it becomes a reality, but until then worrying is only harmful. I love Newt Scamander’s philosophy: If you worry, you suffer twice.
Unfortunately… I suffered twice. I’ve probably worried more in my 26 years than a lot of people do in their lifetime.
Stop health anxiety symptoms
I don’t think you can entirely put a stop to it, but I do know there are ways to get some relief from health anxiety. Staying off the internet protects you from going down rabbit holes on the internet working yourself into a panic (done that). I’ve also realized how important breathing is. Too often I realize that I’m all tensed up and not breathing (or breathing really shallow) which can worsen the anxiety. I frequently remind myself to relax and take deep breaths so I don’t get stuck in a cycle of anxiety.
For me it helps to talk to someone close to me and get my worries off my chest. It helps to be reassured not to worry and it’s okay to show that vulnerability. Occupying my mind by throwing myself into a tv series, a workout, or reading is another healthy way to relieve symptoms of health anxiety.
I try to remind myself not to succumb to my anxiety and to actively do things to overcome it.
If you suffer from health anxiety you shouldn’t hesitate to look for professional help. I have a background in mental health but am not a licensed therapist and don’t want my advice to take the place of real help!
♡ Hailey
Reference:
Tyrer P, Cooper S, Tyrer H, Wang D, Bassett P. Increase in the prevalence of health anxiety in medical clinics: Possible cyberchondria. Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2019 Nov;65(7-8):566-569. doi: 10.1177/0020764019866231. Epub 2019 Aug 3. PMID: 31379243.
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