How many "illnesses" have you self-diagnosed in past several years?

[Bearcat999]

- skin cancer (many, many times)
- heart disease
- ms
- colon cancer
- sinus cancer
- aneurysm
- soft tissue sarcoma (every time I feel a lump somewhere)
- stomach cancer
- bone cancer
- lung cancer
- lymphoma
- brain eating amoebe (I live in the Netherlands, where ZERO people have died of a brain eating amoebe)
- brain tumor

So this list is embarrassingly long! Turns out I didn't have any of them, although my current worry is still stuck at 'brain tumor' (didn't get my dose of doctor's reassurance yet for that one)

I am NOT a doctor. But the smart money is on you NOT having a brain tumor!

 

[E.B]

i'm not kidding. this is exactly what kicked off my "official" battle with health anxiety as well. i remember being worried about death and dying since i was really little... like, single digits... and i even remember being afraid of getting diseases when i was younger (my laughable STD fears prior to even holding a girl's hand) but it wasn't until i saw tom green's cancer special on MTV that i had my first "run to the doctor, don't forget about me after i'm gone" HA event. who woulda thunk some bizarre canadian public access show host would have triggered this in not one but two people....

Aids had a huge impact on my life and my health anxiety in general starting around 12. By far my biggest fear.

 

[bin_tenn]

i'm not kidding. this is exactly what kicked off my "official" battle with health anxiety as well. i remember being worried about death and dying since i was really little... like, single digits... and i even remember being afraid of getting diseases when i was younger (my laughable STD fears prior to even holding a girl's hand) but it wasn't until i saw tom green's cancer special on MTV that i had my first "run to the doctor, don't forget about me after i'm gone" HA event. who woulda thunk some bizarre canadian public access show host would have triggered this in not one but two people....

Wow, definitely never would've guessed it! I also had many thoughts about death as a kid. Sometimes up late at night crying, wondering how many years my parents had left. But yeah, never would've thought this exact same thing would've triggered someone else!

 

[Ms.Honey]

I’ll add my list.. I actually find this pretty embarrassing. So glad to not be alone in this though!
these vary in severity of course, some have lasted days, some a good part of a year. 13 years of health anxiety=

thyroid cancer
Skin cancer
Stroke
heart attack/ heart disease
Brain tumor
MS
ALS
Uterine/ovarian/cervical cancer
Liver disease
Kidney disease
Neck/throat cancer
Breast cancer
Colon cancer
Bone cancer
Lupus
Lyme disease
Fibromyalgia
Parasites
Blood clot
Esophageal cancer
brain aneurism
Pancreatic cancer
Diabetes


I’ve had enough symptoms for most of these things to have had so many tests, etc
and I have never ever had any test come back with ANYTHING wrong. My mind is just such a mess. Again though, so glad to not be the only one and I have probably forgotten some!

 

[chickentender]

-Sometimes I get really intense migraines and get scared that it's actually an anyuerism.
- An autoimmune disease that I can't spell and isn't in my autocorrect lol
- Diabetes (it runs in my family and I get scared I have it)
- Blood clots in my legs
-Allergies to shrimp, avocado, fish, mango, peaches, oranges, nectarines, blueberries, chia seeds, chocolate, etc.

 

[Kimberly N]

So many! It's been a crazy journey for me with my health anxiety.
- Leukemia
- HIV
- Liver/Bile Duct Cancer
- Brain Tumor
- Diabetes
- Rabies
- Heart Disease
- Breast Cancer

It's no fun at all. Trying to work with it and make myself better day by day!

 

[Tryingtoheal]

Diabetes. And I really got pre diabetic with all the anxiety
MS.
Uric acid
Pregnancies

 

[Mannybilly]

Well, this should be fun:

* Lung cancer
* Melanoma
* Basal cell carcinoma
* Squamous cell carcinoma
* Leukemia
* Lymphoma (1)
* Soft tissue sarcoma (1)
* Heart attack
* Heart failure
* Atrial fibrillation (2)
* Brain tumor (3)
* Oral cancer
* Sleep apnea
* Testicular cancer (4)

1) I actually have several lipomas in various places. Before I knew about lipomas, I thought they were caused by lymphoma and / or soft tissue sarcoma. I showed them to my doctor at my physical in 2015, and he asked a handful of questions. Based on my answers, he said they're fine, to leave them alone. They're still fine, no issues with them, since they are just benign lipomas.

2) I worried about a-fib for a little while. Then I actually had an episode of a-fib in late 2016. Followup testing with the cardiologist indicated that it was not an issue with my heart, but was caused by a "perfect storm" of other things. I woke up around 1am one morning with terrible reflux, with acid pooled in my throat. Of course that scared me because I was choking on it. The sudden anxiety and the subsequent violent coughing fit just happened to throw my heart rhythm off, and it couldn't correct itself. After about 12 hours in the hospital for monitoring, it corrected itself and I've not had any issues since. And quite frankly, it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. That put a lot of things into perspective.

3) My brain tumor anxiety was the first fear I had that really set off my health anxiety, starting around 2012. I had frequent headaches at the time, and I did a "harmless" Google search. What do you know, brain tumor showed up, and I spiraled - and here I am. LoL! Turns out it was just due to consuming way too much caffeine, hardly drinking water, and not sleeping properly. Changing those things resulted in significantly less headaches, and I haven't worried about brain tumor since then - even when I do get an occasional (tension) headache.

4) This was actually my very first health scare, though I didn't realize it at the time. As they say, hindsight is 20/20! In 2000, when I was 13 years old, I was watching the Tom Green show (do you remember him?! ). He had been diagnosed with testicular cancer, and I recall self-checking many times, convinced that I would have it as well. That didn't last very long, but looking back I believe that was my first real sign of health anxiety.

Those things (aside from number 4) were triggered by "real" symptoms, but the problem was that I didn't understand how my own "symptoms" differed from the diseases I worried about. They were all assumptions due to Google-induced anxiety. Everything else on my list was due strictly to anxiety and how quickly my mind can run away with irrational, worst-case thoughts in an instant.

My only remaining health anxiety is related to heart health, but even that is significantly less frequent than it was in recent years. I do still occasionally wonder if my heart is failing. However, I don't spend much of my time worrying anymore. I'm generally very happy and feel well, only noticing intrusive thoughts from time to time. Funny how anxiety works, huh? It's also interesting to see how common some of our fears are, how many people share the same health worries. And some of them are the opposite, quite rare.

Currently under going tests for heart scares and worries
Worried about Pericarditis
Heart failure
Heart disease
AFib
On and off chest pains that convince me to have heart problems developing.
Rapid heart rate
Worse when standing up
Im convinced im long gone and not gonna make it past these issues. wierd thing is my blood pressure seems to be normal or near normal everytime but my pulse is high? I dont know what to think.

 

[tobywainwright1]

It's funny just how many people are or were worried about ms and als. BIG worry of mine at the moment but here are some of my other self diagnosed diseases:
Stomach cancer
Parkinson's disease
Life long epilepsy (I used to have epilepsy as a child, the seizures stopped years ago but I still worry that it'll start again)
Brain tumour
Lymphoma
Glaucoma
Diabetes
Eye cancer
Lung cancer
And I once thought I was having a stroke my entire face when numb and tingly (It was a hangover from a night of heavy drinking)

 

[Bearcat999]

Diabetes. And I really got pre diabetic with all the anxiety
MS.
Uric acid
Pregnancies

Only 4? Kind of a slacker!

 

[littleladybug]

- MS
- Seizure
- Stroke
- Brain aneurysm
- HIV
- Brain tumor/cancer
- Heart attack
- Leukemia

I'm a perfectly healthy 23 year old woman ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Always_Scared]

My list and I'm not proud of it

Oral cancer
Brain tumour
Uterine/ovarian/cervical cancer
Liver cancer
Stomach cancer
Kidney cancer
Neck/throat cancer
Breast cancer
Colon cancer
Bone cancer
Esophageal cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Diabetes
ALS
Dementia
Lymphoma
Lung cancer
Sinus cancer

The bold ones are the ones I'm freaking out about at the moment. It depends on the day or the pain I'm having that day.

 

[Kadenongers]

This is my list:

- skin cancer
- lung cancer
- retinal detachment
- glaucoma
- undefined neurological disease (lightheadedness + mild headache, but I could not make a precise "diagnosis" because starting from that time I stopped googling my medical symptoms)
- diabetes
- and the last obsession: some ear symptoms followed by anxiety

Well, I am not proud of this list...

Can I ask what made you diagnose your self with glaucoma and retinal detachment? I'm experiencing visual stuff and have been worried about it for a while so I am just curious.

 

[JustMe]

MS/ALS
Brain tumor
Brain cancer
Degenerative neurological disease
Diabetes
Blood clots
Stroke
Heart failure
Heart attack
Worms in my brain
Zika
Swine flu
Collapsed lung
Dementia
Clogged arteries
Lime disease
Ebola
Thyroid cancer
Bust appendix
Kidney failure

I've had anxiety for 20+ years. It all began around 11 years old. So off and on I've "had" probably anything you could ever imagine. The bold ones are the ones I'm scared of the most now.

I've actually been diagnosed with...
Hashimoto's (low thyroid).
Possibly thyroid eye disease that expressed itself with high pressure in my left eye.
PVCs (premature ventricular contractions)
A kidney stone that passed on its own.
A blood clot in a super small vein near my uterus (they didn't tell me that at the time. So i thought they were everywhere and going to get to my lungs and kill me) this was due to a miscarriage this past September which led me into the worst HA streak I've ever had.

 

[bigjetplane6]

These posts are good, they really help people!

 

[Kingdoey]

My main thing is cancer. Since my Dad passed from bowel cancer I have regularly convinced myself I have cancer.
Think I have it under control now. Any new symptoms if not resolved in two weeks I go see a doc and take their professional word. Also very rarely google. That in itself is Health Anxiety!

 

[Fraser]

Various brain cancers
MS
Herpes
Colon cancer
Kidney cancer
Appendicitis
Throat cancer
Esophageal cancer
Oral cancer
Tonsil cancer
Base of skull cancer
Nasopharyngeal cancer
Skin cancer
Testicular cancer

Currently sacral chordoma or some kind of tumor in my sacrum.

 

[SB2017]

Oral cancer
Tonsil cancer
Lymphoma
Brain cancer
MS
ALS
Stroke
Heart attack
Sepsis
Colon cancer
Intestinal cancer
Stomach cancer
Esophageal cancer
Skin cancer
Leukemia
Breast cancer
Ovarian cancer
Vaginal cancer
Uterine cancer
Cervical cancer
Nasopharyngeal cancer
Tumor in my ear
Salivary gland cancer

I’m sure I’m missing some! My fear is definitely cancer...

 

[Izthewiz]

None really.
If it's my time to go home to be with the Lord so be it.
If it's some disease or something else sinister "bring it on!"

 

[bigjetplane6]

Oral cancer
Tonsil cancer
Lymphoma
Brain cancer
MS
ALS
Stroke
Heart attack
Sepsis
Colon cancer
Intestinal cancer
Stomach cancer
Esophageal cancer
Skin cancer
Leukemia
Breast cancer
Ovarian cancer
Vaginal cancer
Uterine cancer
Cervical cancer
Nasopharyngeal cancer
Tumor in my ear
Salivary gland cancer

I’m sure I’m missing some! My fear is definitely cancer...

As is mine.....

My main thing is cancer. Since my Dad passed from bowel cancer I have regularly convinced myself I have cancer.
Think I have it under control now. Any new symptoms if not resolved in two weeks I go see a doc and take their professional word. Also very rarely google. That in itself is Health Anxiety!

I’m the opposite- I stay away from the doc