New In Town

[NewGirl]

Hello,

I'm not sure if I qualify for Illness Anxiety Disorder (Hypochondria) or not. It's a recent development for me. I am a woman who just turned 30, but have had persistent fears of a serious illness (mostly cancer) for about 3 years.

I have been having chest pain for about 2 weeks. I went to the doctor 4 days ago and had nothing abnormal come up while they listened to my breathing and performed an EKG. They sent me to get blood tests for a thyroid disorder and anemia, and I am currently waiting to hear back on those results. I also have a follow up appointment in two weeks.

Beyond the chest pain I am also having pain in my right shin and left wrist. I am convinced I have lung cancer. I did the worst thing which was look up symptoms and feel like I have many. I also feel like I am overreacting. Recently friends and family members have been diagnosed with cancer, which is where I think this is coming from. However, the thoughts are intrusive.

I really didn't want to make this long, so I will get to my question. Do I bring up my fears/ potentially being a hypochondriac to my doctor? I want her to take me seriously as a patient and not just brush off what I feel are symptoms for something else. But at the same time I want her to know I am panicking. How do you deal with talking to your Primary Care Physician about your health concerns?

 

[Rinka]

Hi @NewGirl Welcome to our community.
I think everyone at some point in their life encounter some sort of mental health difficulties.
The thing with this is that as soon as it interferes with your daily life and you feel suffering, that you do qualify.
Especially with health anxiety it can be hard to draw the line between being actually concerned and becoming overwhelmed with the anxiety.

I always think the best with health anxiety is, to stop looking up symptoms and go to your doctor, when you feel it's right. Don't think about what other people think, it's about you and your life and your health.

 

[Kaynil]

Hi @NewGirl. Welcome.

And it is okay, sometimes it takes hindsight to realise one is a hypochondriac and sometimes it just is a few specific fears that set your alarms. Cancer sets my alarms as it runs in my family so I can relate to that.

My advice to you is to try to leave your feelings aside when you talk with your doctor. You need to be calm and let be the doctor who makes the evaluation of the information. With my first doctors, I made the mistake of interrupting them with what I had read and what I thought it could be way too often so they knew pretty fast I was overthinking and possibly overplaying the impact on small symptoms. Now, there is nothing wrong with a doctor knowing you are prone to a hypochondriac, it works best-having someone who understands that can help reassure you and even guide you on tests to ease your mind. Really the thing is trusting they know what they are doing. So long you don't make them feel like you think you know better and trying to direct them, it should be fine. Not being annoying to them.

What I do know is to beforehand prepare n outline of the facts with my sympthoms and a resume of what I have read so they can reassure me and let them go from them. I hope this help.

 

[janemariesayed]

Hello there @NewGirl and nice to meet you. I think that you should feel relaxed to tell your doctor how you are feeling. There are a lot of people who worry unnecessarily about their health and if the doctor knows this about you they can take it into consideration. You will still get checked but they can give you understanding and assure you when there is really nothing to worry about.

As for looking online for your symptoms, remember that there are many symptoms for all different kinds of illnesses. There are also pains and aches when we have absolutely nothing wrong with us at all. People who suffer from anxieties can have all sorts of pains. The thing to do is talk to your doctor and when they tell you that you are okay, to then relax and not worry about it.