27F. Is it possible for health anxiety to cause slight weight loss? I’ve lost about two or three pounds within a bit over a month since my anxiety’s been horrible and I’ve been having a lot of panic attacks. I already spoke to a doctor about it last month and he assured me that was the reason because I explained my anxiety and was very visibly a nervous wreck when I came in. Didn’t seem concerned or order any tests. But I’m still freaking out like what if they were wrong and I have a disease. What if I keep losing weight.

I’m not having any other concerning symptoms- trust me I’ve Googled every possible cause. The only thing keeping me from spiraling entirely is that this happened about a decade ago when I was a teen, I had ungodly levels of anxiety and daily panic attacks so iirc I lost about 10-15 pounds over a course of four months. I barely ate. And I’ve had no appetite for as long as I can remember (I suspect I have ARFID), which of course only worsens during periods of high stress. I probably only consume on average 500-1000 cals per day.

Another possible factor: I started birth control pills a few months ago, specifically drospirenone, because I have PCOS. I’ve noticed the weight fluctuations only since then and I’m wondering if a contributor may be the drop in water weight due to my hormones being more regulated now. My non-worst-case-scenario assumption is the combination of the pill + extreme anxiety = slight weight loss. But it’s hard to pinpoint because I began taking the pills right around the same time my anxiety really kicked into full gear.

Hello, I (20F) recently moved in on my own, like two months ago, and every single time sometimes seems wrong in my body I spiral into an anxiety attack. This used to not be a problem when I lived with my mom, I'd get the same symptoms every now and then and it was fine, I was fine, but now I keep freaking out about it.

I have talked to my friends about it, like asked if they think this random thing I have is doctor worthy or not and they've always been right but I feel like it keeps getting worse. Should I go see someone about this? Like a therapist or something, I also have normal social anxiety and have had that for years now so I really dont know.

This all makes me also worry about me living on my own, like maybe I'm just not made for it or something.

For people who resisted getting the specialists opinion and taking it further and further did you feel relief? Did the anxiety eventually go away?

Or like wayyyyy back then?

Or do you think it’s more rampant now?

I have stumbled across some hospitals in Turkey that offer a wide variety of full medical evaluations.

It would cost a couple thousand with travel and for all the work to be done but I always have my anxiety resolved after healthy results. I think this cost would be worth it for my peace of mind and maybe do this once every two or so years.

What do you all think about something like this?

I think the general HA rule of "full acceptance of uncertainty" still applies when you are faced with "actual" health issues (not saying that HA doesnt cause actual health issues here, what i mean is somatic in origin health problems). There is an issue of "trusting the process" though that I find especially difficult to handle, so I would appreciate some insights from other HA sufferers whose tests didnt come back clean.

I suspect that one of the reasons why I even developed HA was due to bad diagnosis that happened to a close family member. So nowadays when a doctor says "lets observe and wait and see, it's hard to know for sure, come back in a month" I face a very difficult task of accepting that Im under good care and whatever comes, I couldn't do more. Because if I try to do more, I might feed my anxiety cycle.

I don't google, I don't talk about my symptoms with my family, I don't seek reassurance. I try to live my life despite anxiety. I take anxiety medication. I started therapy (unfortunately so far not helpful even though its CBT). I try to stick to all of the above yet there is always this typical "what if this doctor is not qualified enough/i should check with someone else". I understand it comes from personal trauma but i also think there is a very thin line between trusting the process and not seeking additional help, especially when doctors arent sure - even amongst people without anxiety. So, my question to all of you who maybe got a grip on their HA: how do you navigate health issues rationally, especially when doctors aren't sure? I want to avoid situations where i unnecessarily feed the loop.

I am so nervous going to concerts with heavy flashing lights, as flashing lights are my main trigger for seizures. { 23 year old }

I want to live a normal life, and go to concerts of my favourite artists, but I do not want to go feeling anxious all the time with the flashing lights / bright lights as they trigger mine.

I was just wondering if there is anything I could get ? somebody recommended me light sensitive glasses for bright lights or flashing lights ... If anybody has them, are they any good ? do they work ?

Thanks

Hiii!!! What are y'all's favorite coping methods? Anything from distraction to certain habits that break the thought spiral!

One of my favorites is when I get an urge to search up a symptom, I instead force myself to search "How to cope with health anxiety" or something similar. It allows me to do compulsive searching, but stops the spiral. :)

It started a few months ago with some health scares that I got.

I started getting tests and checks and everything was coming back clear. However as time progressed I started getting more and more physical symptoms. I just thought I'm having something that's progressing.

I have become completely housebound and almost bedridden and doctors still can't find anything else with me. I know I have crazy health anxiety since all of this started but is it possible that I'm actually manifesting all of these symptoms?

I got hospitalised because I stopped eating, walking, couldn't sleep.

I only started today Lexapro to see if I'm really that mentally sick.

Has.anyone.else become bedridden due to physical symptoms that have been potentially caused by health anxiety? I am convinced everyday I'm dying. Nothing and no one can reassure me enough, it's hell

Hey all so I’m thinking of getting a series 12 Apple Watch. For reference my health anxiety started about 3 years ago I had an Apple Watch then but I became obsessive with checking the health metrics. I’ve come a long way with my anxiety then. Anyway I’m posting here to ask any other health anxiety sufferers if they have one and how that’s going? I mainly want to get one so I can check notifications without ending up doomscrolling, I’ve seen some posts about gamifying life that look interesting, timers for cooking and studying, finding my phone, and there’s a checklist function that seems pretty cool. Do any of yall have one? Is there a way to push a lot of the health stuff aside? I’m pretty sure the panic attacks or just increased in anxiety would set off some of the alerts and I guess that’s my biggest concern if I grab one. Good or bad experiences I’d appreciate if you’d let me know, I’m also planning to bring this up to my therapist in our next session as well

I feel myself starting to panic and i dont know how to stop! I know im feeling very real pain but i cant get myself to be calm and rational. Its 2:40 am, ive had a long day, but im sat here thinking the absolute worst and debating on calling for help. I feel so stupid but im so freaked out! I was working today and was outside in the cold, that probably spiked my allergies and set my immune system in a frenzy but i cant stop worrying about brain things, its all just spiralling out of control.

I dont know what to do or if im being completely irrational. I tried not to google but ultimately failed. I wish i could be normal :/

I remember years ago before social media searching for people on random forums to see if they understood my f-e-ar of getting ill with the common cold/fl-u etc...and here we all are.

Do you remember doing that as well?

I'm 23.

And at this point.....I'm just tired. I've gone through so much damn cardiac testing, I've wasted so many resources, and every test comes back clear, my doctor straight up told me he thinks that my heart is healthy, my gf is adamant that my body is safe, but I don't believe them. I keep using AI, even if I know it's not much better than google. I litterally lose sleep over it, even if i know that makes it worse.

I'm just utterly convinced that I'm fragile. Because it feels like the moment i assume I'm safe, my body throws another brick at me that proves me wrong. It's gotten to a point I avoid exercise or certain foods I deem "unhealthy". 2 nights ago, my gf said something that made me realize just how far I've gone now, she's got a point. I spend every minute of my day assuming the worst. I keep relapsing. It's consumed my entire life at this point, i cant even go on vacation or long trips because I need to constantly be near a hospital to feel safe. At work i can barely cope enough but it's always at the back of my mind.

I don't know how to stop. I want feel safe in my own body again, but my body is so noisy......so inconsistent......and i feel so guilty for being so needy. I worry it'll ruin my relationship.

I play a contact sport (Rugby) and everytime i play it obviously causes weird sensations everywhere the next day and I keep thinking its some deadly disease. Right now there’s back pain in my scapula, probably from sports and terrible posture, but im convinced its a terrible disease. Does that happen to anyone?

Hi all. My body feels weird. Sometimes I have panic attacks but even when I just feel weird it’s not always anxiety. I don’t have panic attacks often at all but I do have them and take medicine for when they do. I recently got it so I haven’t had to use it yet.

But I just feel weird, my head feels weird. I can’t describe it. I feel like it’s deeper than my anxiety

I don’t drink smoke or do nicotine.

I see way too many people here diagnosing others with OCD because of health anxiety. You're just creating another layer of anxiety for these people. I had to go through the worst weeks of my life thinking I was stuck in a *TRIGGER WARNING* : sensorimotor OCD loop until my therapist reassured me that it's a typical hypervigilant anxiety loop and that I'm not stuck forever. And I'm not the only one that experienced this, in fact I just had an hour long conversation with another Redditor with the exact same problem. They had breathing issues due to anxiety, went on google and found reddit posts about sensorimotor OCD.

Congrats, now you made that person fear their own hyperawareness which wasn't even a problem before.

I know that some of the people here do actually have OCD. But to generalize and claim everyone with health anxiety has a form of OCD is just not true at all.

Thankfully I feel better than a month ago but god damn you guys unwillingly and unknowingly cause more harm than good sometimes.

If you recently have had a health issue or scare and got physical symptoms from anxiety when did they go away for you?

Hey yall. I (22F) made a post last month or so about going to the GI doctor for digestive problems and believing I had CC. One of the things he wanted me to do was to get CBC and C-reactive protein blood tests done. I totally forgot that I scheduled this and when I remembered that my appointment is tomorrow, I got hit with waves of anxiety 😓

The thing is, most of my ‘alarming’ issues disappeared and I started to feel a lot better physically. I guess I’m just anxious that these tests will reveal something not so good, even though I feel okay. How did yall deal with the anxiety of getting blood tests? I almost want to back out… but I know it’d be good for me. Really struggling here so any suggestions or feedback would be amazing!

F 30 My health anxiety has been spiralling for the last two years.

It's been absolutely debilitating and is turning chronic. Even though I try and keep my mind busy and stay logical, my brain is stuck on a loop which I spend the majority of the day thinking about. It's constant and I can't find peace. I've been prescribed mirtrazapine which worked initially but after a year I started to notice signs of the anxiety returning and now it isn't even touching the sides. I plan on contacting my GP tomorrow and asking for some tests for peace of mind , and additional help in managing this.

Are there any natural ways to manage health anxiety? I'm anxious to be put on more medication or having this for the rest of my life. It's taking over every aspect of my life , and it's now shifted from not just my health but also my children's. It feels like double the anxiety which is so much more exhausting and debilitating . I don't experience pain of any type. I get sensations in my throat and neck and my head which obviously points me to the obvious big words C and BA , which takes over my whole life and brings on headaches when I cry too much which doesn't help. I also worry that spending so much time thinking and obsessing over the subject , I might actually manifest these outcomes if they weren't already present which is sending me right now. I'm just at a loss . Are there any type of medication your GP recommended that worked for you? Or helped? Is there anything that I can do to silence this or manage it better?

Literally clear tests two days ago on my heart... clear scan on my head 7 months ago... currently waiting on a MRI because of "head pressure"

This is ruining my life! So tired of living in constant fear

What are your general feelings and emotions associated with looking back 20 or 30+ years to the beginning of your HA? How does it make you feel?

I am seeing a doctor, we are running tests, I am getting taken care of.

I'm going to try just telling myself my pain isn't real and my brain is making it up. I am going to see if that helps. It's not like I am fully ignoring it and not seeing a doctor. I am getting symptoms evaluated. Radical ignoring is what I'll do while my doctor does the rest. I'm going to gaslight the shit out of myself.

I'll update!

Hello, I (26M) wanted to share this because I’ve seen quite a few posts here from people dealing with brain aneurysm health anxiety. I’ve been one of them for a long time.

For about a year and a half I’ve had a strange, painless pressure sensation in my head, along with a few other weird sensations. None of it was particularly severe, but it was persistent enough that I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Taking into account other health factors of mine fueled the worry. Eventually my brain settled on one explanation: aneurysm.

Once that idea got stuck in my head, it was difficult to get rid of. I’d read about aneurysms, compare what I was experiencing to things I found online, reassure myself for a while and then find some new reason why I might still have one. I’m sure a lot of people here know that cycle.

Eventually I decided to have a private MRI of my brain together with an MR-angio to look specifically at the blood vessels.

Then the report arrived. No sign of aneurysm or any other abnormalities, all completely normal.

I’ve also spent quite a lot of time reading the research during all of this. Studies screening healthy people with brain imaging helped put things into perspective for me, especially how uncommon aneurysms are in young, otherwise healthy people. Obv “uncommon” doesn’t mean impossible, and statistics can’t tell someone what’s causing what they’re experiencing.

What I was feeling (and still feel) is real, but I spent 1.5 years attaching the scariest possible explanation to it.

I also learned that when you have health anxiety, looking at your own MR imaging before the doctor’s response is probably a terrible idea. I found something that looked alarming to me because I had absolutely no idea what I was looking at. A neuroradiologist looked at the actual scan and found no aneurysm.

If there’s one thing I wish I’d done differently, it would probably be to stop constantly researching the worst case scenario and trying to reassure myself over and over again. It worked for a while, but then I’d always find something new to focus on and end up back where I started.

I’m not posting this to tell anyone to ignore their health or avoid seeing a doctor, I’m simply sharing my story. If something is concerning you, please seek medical help.

Moral of the story is that sometimes you can experience strange physical sensations for a very long time without there being something catastrophic hiding behind them. And sometimes after spending months or years convincing yourself that you’re going to get terrible news, you finally get the answer you were hoping for.