Tips for Working Through Health Anxiety

Do you spend a lot of time convincing yourself that there is something terribly wrong with you? Maybe I have cancer… Maybe there’s something wrong with my heart… That sensation isn’t normal, there’s definitely something wrong… These symptoms must mean there’s something wrong with me… Maybe I should Google them…

Then all of this leads to…

Many not so fun emotions

Panic attacks

Calling your doctor or going to the ER

Obsessing over needing testing just to confirm that you are okay

Checking your body just to make sure you can’t feel anything concerning

Seeking reassurance from anywhere you can get it

Health anxiety was mostly triggered for me during and after panic attacks and in moments of calm (like right before going to bed). During really bad panic attacks, I would have symptoms like numbness, tingling, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, muffled noise in my ears, and feeling as though I was going to faint (and sometimes I did). I’ve always been extremely in tune with what’s going on in my body, and so any time I felt a little bit off, it would make my mind race.

I would convince myself that there was something terribly wrong with me. I would think things like, ‘I have to be dying. Maybe I have cancer or some terrible disease. I’m sure all of these tests aren’t going to actually find what’s wrong with me and I’ll just end up dying.’ And in moments of calm, like right before going to sleep, my mind would think of every possible thing that could be wrong with me. All of this would cause my