How many diseases/illnesses have you thought you've had?

Marnie · Dec 1, 2020

thats so funny and I agree, if Im really worried about a symptom, I started reading some of the posts on here and I feel
better

Worriedmama · Dec 1, 2020

Knivfylke said:
Hi there,

New to the forum, but I keep going back here once in a while to find some kind of comfort I guess. Having health anxiety affects my regular day to day activities, one of the things I've noticed calms me down is to instead of googling symptoms, reading what other people with health anxiety writes. I saw an interview with a guy who had health anxiety and was asked to list all the diseases he thought he had, which I first found ridiculous until I started thinking of my own list, which I think of sometimes when I believe I have some new mysterious disease. (What are the odds of me catching them all?) Feel free to add your list!

So here's my list over the years:

- Aids
- Covid19
- Rabies
- Colon Cancer
- Testicular cancer
- Brain tumor
- Cancer in calf of the leg
- Throat Cancer
- Cancer in lower back
- Lupus
- Scleroderma
- ALS
- MS

/Knivfylke

All of the illnesses you listed (minus the testicular cancer. Right now I’m in an ibd scare (crohns or uc, it’s exhausting).

mollyfin · Dec 1, 2020

Probably everything but prostate and testicular cancer

More specifically, let's see how many I can count. I'll try to do this chronologically.

- Spontaneous cardiac arrest (I remember being like four and running laps around my home because I was afraid if I didn't keep my heart beating, it might just stop. I realize all the things wrong with this theory, but we're not born knowing how to hypochondriac properly!)

- Stroke (I think I was like six when I learned about strokes. Had all the symptoms after that!)

- Breathing difficulties, nothing really specific. I inhaled a bunch of baby powder (not on purpose! I was a stupid child but not that stupid!) and from then on was always super aware of my breathing much of the time. Breathing mechanically and all that.

- Melanoma (was a mole I'd had all my life. Still have it. It's probably the least weird one I have.)

- Breast cancer (no, I was just getting boobs.)

- Arthritis (I've always had shitty, painful, overly stiff joints. No idea why. I do have arthritis now and it runs in my family.)

- Asthma (I was actually right about that one. Makes sense; I have ridiculous allergies. Anxiety and stress were definite triggers though.)

- Seizures (likely medication side effects)

- Brain tumor (yet again, probably medication side effects)

- Detached retina (turned out to be a side effect of my beta blocker. I'd see bright flashes like veins when I blinked. I can't find a mention of this side effect anywhere, but I put two and two together when I ran out for a few days and it went away. Started again as soon as I started taking them again. Still get it sometimes. No clue.)

- MS (no idea; I just have palinopsia now I guess. Had testing done and one doctor just told me "Something this happens and we don't know why. We can't find anything." Good enough for me.)

- ALS (nothing, really, just me worrying about ****.)

- Endocarditis (who knows; probably just sick)

- Acute angle closure glaucoma (painless migraines)

- Lyme disease (this was actually my dad's idea; I'd been feeling like **** for months and he Googled it, and EVERYTHING fit perfectly. He was so excited. But tests were negative. In hindsight, no idea. Maybe a virus I just couldn't shake coupled with mental issues.)

- Bladder cancer (no idea, just one of those things that came and went; maybe an undetected UTI?)

- Anal cancer (hemorrhoid)

- Heart disease (probably acid reflux)

- Fibromyalgia (still not sure I don't have this one, since you can't really exclude it, but I don't have enough tender points for a diagnosis, so something else causes my chronic pain. IDK what though.)

- Cervical cancer (I had a bad pap and weird spot on the imaging; biopsy was fine and everything was normal again in six months.)

- Brain tumor again (stress, probably.)

- Melanoma (just an ugly mole.)

- Ovarian cancer (endometriosis)

- DVT (probably pulled a leg muscle after being completely sedentary after my surgery!)

- Leukemia (I guess just regular injuries happening more often than normal?)

- Uterine cancer (potentially precancerous fibroid; good thing I got it out but it wasn't ready to kill me yet!)

- Cauda Equina syndrome, ovarian cancer, bone cancer, something with spinal mets (turns out my back is a freaking disaster, but nothing pathological.)

- Thyroid cancer (biopsy came back positive for cancer. Had it taken out. Downgraded to precancer.)

- Ovarian cancer (honestly probably just my anxiety about my endo returning. I couldn't deal with that again!)

- COVID (just worrying about it, probably. I did have a cough for about a week so my doctor sent me for a chest xray just in case - my mother lives with me and she's high risk - but it was normal. I'm guessing acid reflux but could've been anything.)

- Lung cancer (just a cough)

- Diverticulitis (my mom has this and we have really similar chronic stomach issues; I could be right about this one but so far not diagnosed. And it's likely to just be IBS.)

- Leukemia (**** knows why I suddenly bruise so much and so often, but my blood counts were all normal.)

- Brain tumor (probably stress bringing my migraines back)

I've also had stretches of time where I've had one weird recurring symptom or a cluster of them, with no specific fear beyond "...my body definitely shouldn't be doing this." Occasionally I would get fed up and go to the doctor, and usually nothing was found. Presumably anxiety affecting my body, medication side effects or just things not going quite right in my body for whatever reason. However, as I'm still alive, probably nothing that serious.

racheleve · Dec 16, 2020

Am currently having a cervical cancer episode myself. No particular reason, I had bleeding after sex many years ago which was checked out and normal smear, and then resolved and I never thought about it again. but I’m having another smear next month that I am a bit overdue for and I am absolute SICK with anxiety thinking for sure they just missed something on the last one and I am for sure about to die now. Even though my downstairs has given me no issues lol.

JayJay123 · Dec 17, 2020

mollyfin said:
Probably everything but prostate and testicular cancer

More specifically, let's see how many I can count. I'll try to do this chronologically.

- Spontaneous cardiac arrest (I remember being like four and running laps around my home because I was afraid if I didn't keep my heart beating, it might just stop. I realize all the things wrong with this theory, but we're not born knowing how to hypochondriac properly!)

- Stroke (I think I was like six when I learned about strokes. Had all the symptoms after that!)

- Breathing difficulties, nothing really specific. I inhaled a bunch of baby powder (not on purpose! I was a stupid child but not that stupid!) and from then on was always super aware of my breathing much of the time. Breathing mechanically and all that.

- Melanoma (was a mole I'd had all my life. Still have it. It's probably the least weird one I have.)

- Breast cancer (no, I was just getting boobs.)

- Arthritis (I've always had shitty, painful, overly stiff joints. No idea why. I do have arthritis now and it runs in my family.)

- Asthma (I was actually right about that one. Makes sense; I have ridiculous allergies. Anxiety and stress were definite triggers though.)

- Seizures (likely medication side effects)

- Brain tumor (yet again, probably medication side effects)

- Detached retina (turned out to be a side effect of my beta blocker. I'd see bright flashes like veins when I blinked. I can't find a mention of this side effect anywhere, but I put two and two together when I ran out for a few days and it went away. Started again as soon as I started taking them again. Still get it sometimes. No clue.)

- MS (no idea; I just have palinopsia now I guess. Had testing done and one doctor just told me "Something this happens and we don't know why. We can't find anything." Good enough for me.)

- ALS (nothing, really, just me worrying about ****.)

- Endocarditis (who knows; probably just sick)

- Acute angle closure glaucoma (painless migraines)

- Lyme disease (this was actually my dad's idea; I'd been feeling like **** for months and he Googled it, and EVERYTHING fit perfectly. He was so excited. But tests were negative. In hindsight, no idea. Maybe a virus I just couldn't shake coupled with mental issues.)

- Bladder cancer (no idea, just one of those things that came and went; maybe an undetected UTI?)

- Anal cancer (hemorrhoid)

- Heart disease (probably acid reflux)

- Fibromyalgia (still not sure I don't have this one, since you can't really exclude it, but I don't have enough tender points for a diagnosis, so something else causes my chronic pain. IDK what though.)

- Cervical cancer (I had a bad pap and weird spot on the imaging; biopsy was fine and everything was normal again in six months.)

- Brain tumor again (stress, probably.)

- Melanoma (just an ugly mole.)

- Ovarian cancer (endometriosis)

- DVT (probably pulled a leg muscle after being completely sedentary after my surgery!)

- Leukemia (I guess just regular injuries happening more often than normal?)

- Uterine cancer (potentially precancerous fibroid; good thing I got it out but it wasn't ready to kill me yet!)

- Cauda Equina syndrome, ovarian cancer, bone cancer, something with spinal mets (turns out my back is a freaking disaster, but nothing pathological.)

- Thyroid cancer (biopsy came back positive for cancer. Had it taken out. Downgraded to precancer.)

- Ovarian cancer (honestly probably just my anxiety about my endo returning. I couldn't deal with that again!)

- COVID (just worrying about it, probably. I did have a cough for about a week so my doctor sent me for a chest xray just in case - my mother lives with me and she's high risk - but it was normal. I'm guessing acid reflux but could've been anything.)

- Lung cancer (just a cough)

- Diverticulitis (my mom has this and we have really similar chronic stomach issues; I could be right about this one but so far not diagnosed. And it's likely to just be IBS.)

- Leukemia (**** knows why I suddenly bruise so much and so often, but my blood counts were all normal.)

- Brain tumor (probably stress bringing my migraines back)

I've also had stretches of time where I've had one weird recurring symptom or a cluster of them, with no specific fear beyond "...my body definitely shouldn't be doing this." Occasionally I would get fed up and go to the doctor, and usually nothing was found. Presumably anxiety affecting my body, medication side effects or just things not going quite right in my body for whatever reason. However, as I'm still alive, probably nothing that serious.

I like the way you explained each one. Haha made me go back and think about the different situations specific to each of mine. Weirdly, a lot of these sound similar to mine and probably many peoples where you’re like “thought it was for sure this horrible thing, but is very obvious and clear it was from this other harmless and benign thing, but like anxiety”

JayJay123 · Dec 17, 2020

I’ve found reading through this forum and other people’s bouts with anxiety and hypochondria help me with mine as well. I think it provides me with a sense of support. I love my family and friends that support and care about me and go o it of their way to talk about and help me with my anxiety and HA, despite them prob thinking I’m overthinking (cuz I am), but seeing and hearing from others who go through the exact same thing encourages me. It shows me there are people who actually understand what I’m going through.

Bone cancer in my arm when I was little - I remember being in the car with my parents and being like “hey my arm hurts. Does that mean I have cancer” and them being like “Uh.. very unlikely so just gonna say no”. Honestly, I think this is where a lot of my HA started. It’s my first memory of it at least.

In middle school, I was too busy being an edgy kid and fighting with my parents to worry about things.

High school is where it picked back up.
Bone in leg- I was getting “weird” bone pain in one shin. Went to the doctor and had an X-ray done and nothing.

DVT- I would get weird calf pains on and off for a while. I was really scared, and at one point woke my parents up and was like “hey I need to go to the hospital. I think I have a blood clot in my leg.”
They offered to take me if I really wanted to but I thought about and was like nah, not this time. Not gonna be crazy.

Brain cancer- Was having weird headaches for a couple weeks. Went to my doctor and he told me it was almost certainly nothing except sinus or tension headaches. He ordered an MRI for peace of mind and sure enough, it was nothing.

Appendicitis - Was having weird, sudden stomach cramps and pains after lunch one Sunday. It lasted for 3-5 hours, but it eventually went away.

Melanoma- Heard my chemistry teacher talking to someone in the class about melanoma and how the students mom had it years ago. Went home and found some moles that looked scary, but when I look at them now, they look pretty normal. Luckily at the time, I had to go to the dermatologist for warts, so I showed him some moles when I was there. He said they looked pretty normal.

Some years later in college, I had to go to another dermatologist for an unrelated rash, and I showed her one I still kept an eye on though didn’t worry too much about. She said it looked pretty normal to her but still offered to shave it off for a biopsy for peace of mind. Sure enough, it was normal.

Lymphoma and Leukemia- I’ve worried about these at different times but usually at the same time when I do. I’d constantly feel for lumps in my neck, armpits, groin, and other places. One time I was sick with a virus or something, and my WBC was off. I thought, for sure this one of the two even though I know exactly why my WBC is higher than normal. Another time, I had recently gotten over mono. I was high (from weed) and noticed some bruises that hadn’t been there before. I thought for sure this time, plus I’d read bruising with mono can be serious. I stupidly drove to urgent care after I came down a bit, but was having a bit of a panic attack. The nurse did a blood test and came back right after and basically said “The nurse practitioner is still gonna come in here to tell you, but I can already tell you that you that your blood work was great so nothing to worry about. In the past couple years, I found the tiniest little lump/ball in my groin area. It made me a little nervous, but I didn’t get it checked until my girlfriend said I should. I showed the doctor, after taking a second to find it, and he was like “oh that? That’s barely there. Unless it gets bigger or changes in some way, it’s nothing to worry about”. It hasn’t changed any over the past couple years and is barely there.

A bunch of digestive/stomach cancers and diseases- Everything from stomach/liver/kidney/colon cancer to IBD. I haven’t really gone to the doctor about any of these. When my poop gets weird, it can usually be pinned down to something I ate or a bad diet. Eating better has fixed that. I used to get weird stomach pains along with chest pains, but a doctor said it was likely acid reflux and heart burn due to my age (23 now, 17 or 18 then).

Diabetes- This one is more of a real, possible thing for me. It runs heavily in my family on both sides and my sugar has always been on the higher side of normal. I’ve been focusing on eating better and exercise recently though and my sugar has been alright. I still worry about it, but I’ve worried about it less now that I’ve educated myself on ways to prevent diabetes and the disease in general.

Kidney disease- Since my sugar is on the higher side of normal and I take BP meds, though that’s very well under control now, I worry I’ve damaged my kidneys and liver. Especially lately, because I’ve developed vertical lines/ridges in all of nails and some white-cloudy spots. I’ve never paid attention to my nails until recently. I’ve sorta comforted myself by looking at my most recent bloodwork from a couple months ago that showed my kidney and liver function were great. The only thing that still worries me is my Uric Acid being high (8.2) and developing gout and kidney disease from that.

I’m sure there others but that’s all I can think of for

Julieann90 · Dec 23, 2020

Oh wow, this is an eye opener really:

when I was a teenager I thought I was having a heart attack...turns out it was just a panic attack (who knows why)

also when I was a teenager I thought I had appendicitis... turns out I was just starting my periods (silly I know)

in the last 8 years:

brain tumour(just tired from having a baby)

breast cancer (fatty tissue)

lung cancer (anxiety)

anal cancer (skin tag/hemorroid)

my recent one is I have a lump on my neck, only pea size and has remained like that for about 5 weeks, I did convince myself I had lymphoma or leukaemia. Bloods have been all normal. Now I’m convinced I have some form of oral cancer as I have weird sensations in my mouth.

Grace360 · Dec 23, 2020

Sooo so many. To preface this I was diagnosed at around perhaps 13, had a bad bout of it around 15 last year. This year 16.

Brain aneurysem
Aortic aneurysem
Getting poisoned
Salivary gland cancer
Breast cancer
Stomach cancer
Brain tumor
Brain hemorrhage
Heart attack
Pulmonary embolism
Air embolism
Bleeding internally randomly
Cardiac arrest
Premature death for any reason really
Fatal familial insomnia(had to dig for that one)
Car accidents
Having an undetected illness and knowing when it's too late

I'm sure I'm missing many but I thought of those. Some I'm still battling.

Walking Circles · Dec 23, 2020

Well, how many illnesses are there?

Kimberly N · Dec 30, 2020

Oh my goodness! Literally everything. My panic attacks over my health anxieties started young. And then you convince yourself that you have every symptom imaginable. You even start to give them to yourself, insane how the psychosomatic body can be.

juma khamis · Dec 31, 2020

Currently i think I've got MS... My skin feels mildly numb and my sense of touch is reduced in some parts of my skin.

Jessco11 · Jan 6, 2021

I like this exercice. Since I started my SSRI meds- I must say my anxiety has become much more bearable. It creeps up on me the week before my period (hormones? Who knows...), but I know that so I can calm myself down.

There were days where I thought 3 or 4 rare-ish things happening to me throughout the day.

waking up to a morning brain aneurysm (just a head ache or head pain). Followed by thoughts of throat cancer at breakfast (i smoked for 7 years and husbands late wife died of throat cancer at my current age). Then fears of lung collapse by lunch (I vape to quit smoking and the news about the unknowns of vaping get me everytime). A heart attack scare around dinner time (pounding heard from anxiety). And "I'm having a stroke" before bed (numbness due to anxiety).

It's ridiculous when I think about it now. But they all felt so real at the time. And thinking about just how ridiculous it is helps me deal with it....

Givethanks82 · Jan 14, 2021

juma khamis said:
Currently i think I've got MS... My skin feels mildly numb and my sense of touch is reduced in some parts of my skin.

Me too. I also have muscle twitching. I’m so nervous

juma khamis · Jan 20, 2021

Givethanks82 said:
Me too. I also have muscle twitching. I’m so nervous

Am scared too... How are u feeling now me i still have the symptoms it's like they are permanent

How many diseases/illnesses have you thought you've had?

Knivfylke

New Member

Marnie

Member

Worriedmama

Active Member

Knivfylke

New Member

mollyfin

Well-Known Member

racheleve

New Member

JayJay123

Member

JayJay123

Member

Julieann90

Active Member

Grace360

Active Member

Walking Circles

Active Member

Kimberly N

New Member

juma khamis

Member

Jessco11

Member

Givethanks82

Active Member

juma khamis

Member