Health anxiety is spiralling tonight

[loglog]

I keep getting little petachie rashes over the past couple of days (like the little clusters of broken blood vessels).

1st on my face, 2nd on my neck, 3rd on my leg (two different sets on my leg).

I rarely get them but now 3 in a few days seems crazy and I'm so health anxious anyway that I've convinced myself I must have cancer.

Any reassurance?

Petechiae* I mean!

I have health anxiety too. Very badly. I also get patches like this and spidery veins. I've had the same ones in places for years so I'm assuming it's nothing too serious and just trauma to skin or maybe getting to.hot or cold maybe?

@BoyMom24 health anxiety is just debilitating, isn't it? I hate nights like this!

I occasionally get bouts of health anxiety and I find the only cure is to see the doctor. Once I know what's wrong, the anxiety just disappears. Have you made an appointment yet?

@Shetlands nope, the anxiety for this only started today. I'll try tomorrow, but my GP never seems to have appointments at the moment and I don't want to come across dramatic taking an urgent appointment.

Yes. Iv had it in stop fo around 11 years now. Countless meds and therapies to no avail. I've just learned to live with it now but have some really bad weeks where something will trigger me and I'll be obsessed for weeks at time. Thankfully I'm managing it at the moment. I've changed my diet and got more active (I'm hugely overweight) which seems to b helping my mental health and intrusive thoughts around my health massively. My anxieties are more of a phobia of death rather than th getting sick.

It is not reasonable for you to seek medical help for constant reassurance.

This just creates an unending need for reassurance which is fed by your anxiety.

You need to learn to manage your own anxiety.

Some suggestions here:
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/anxiety-and-panic-attacks/self-care/

I think you can do both: work on improving your anxiety management while seeking reassurance. If you have a physical health issue, you should have it checked out. Early diagnosis is essential for some conditions. I know this because I'm a breast cancer survivor due to early diagnosis and treatment.

Some of us go to the doctor for everything. The rest of us spend the time spiraling with anxiety and never go to the doctor. It's important these second half of us seek medical attention when we need it.

It's hard because we REALLY don't want to know, but for some things it's really important to know iykwim.

I myself am avoiding getting a blood test for slightly outside of normal kidney and liver function following a routine health screening through work.

It's probably nothing and it needs doing but it's bloody hard to book that appointment because I feel I'm making a fuss.

@MyLadyTheKingsMother I sympathise. I'm waiting to see my doctor (appt in 2 weeks time) to discuss blood test results from my annual 'well-woman' check up. I don't want to know if there's something wrong (prob won't be or if there is it will be minor) but knowledge is power so I gritted my teeth and made the appointment. I hope you're able to do the same soon. 💐

My health anxiety is bad right now. I’ve had vertigo attacks for about 4 years but haven’t had one in over a year. Naturally I put this down to a brain tumour but I’d been less anxious lately. I have dizziness all the time but then last week another vertigo attack so I’m back to thinking it’s definitely a tumour and I haven’t got long to live

I'm not sure if you know of it, but there's a forum called No More Panic that I've found helpful when I've been in a health anxiety crisis.