If you suffer from health anxiety - how did you get better

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I am 49 years old. From around the age of late teens I have suffered from varying degrees of health anxiety. It ramped up 18 years ago after the birth of my first child. Right now it’s absolutely crippling. I am literally wasting so much time every day convincing myself I have some type of illness. This involves taking photos of my body ( I’ve checked my photos on my phone and I have more of my skin etc than I do of anything else. My search history is mostly illness. I can’t go on like this. Last year my husband was diagnosed with cancer. He suffered with a year of brutal treatment but is now in remission. Over the weekend I obsessed with various moles on my body. I visited my GP today and he carefully examined them and reassured me. I forgot to ask him to look at my back. I’m spiralling again now as I’m kicking myself for not getting him to check the one on my back - can I go back and ask or will he think I’m crazy? The trouble is we are supposed to check our poo, wee, skin, breast, mouths, etc, so I feel such responsibility that I might miss something. I don’t worry so much about cervical cancer as I go for regular smears so that’s one thing I can’t check if that makes sense. I’ve tried sertraline which did help but last time I went back on I suffered a very fast heart rate so stopped. I feel such guilt for being like this.

CBT! If you're in the UK you can probably self-refer into your local IAPT/Talking Therapies service. They offer CBT for health anxiety.

This self-help workbook is free and very good, and very similar to NHS therapy for health anxiety. If you want to get cracking working on it.

www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/resources/looking-after-yourself/health-anxiety

but please do not delay seeking therapy. If you want to seek private therapy let me know and I'll let you know what to look for/ask for.

Sertraline worked for me.

I find it helpful to remind myself of all the things I worried about that have not happened, and to think of how unlikely it would be to have whatever multiple conditions I might worry about at any one time. Not foolproof, however, and I should really sort out some CBT for myself.

Looks interesting - thanks for posting.

This!

I have had health anxiety for about 35 years (and I am only 50!). When I am getting an episode it can be helpful to remember all the previous times I have thought I have had this or another serious disease and I actually have not had it at all.

The other thing that happens with me is that I soon start thinking I have something else and then the symptoms of the first thing wear off entirely. It’s useful to note that.

(I’m not constantly bothering my doctor about these things by the way - on the contrary- I never ever go!)

CBT worked for me.
I also take magnesium and L-theanine. I have no idea if they are placebos because I started them at the same time as my CBT but I don't care. I keep taking them.
I know how awful, scary, and exhausting it is. I have a family member going through the same right now and I know he doesn't believe me that there is life on the other side of this. But in the end you'll feel like you got out of a prison.
At first you'll just feel like the therapist doesn't understand. You'll still be praying for the latest health scare to be over, but eventually you become committed to getting rid of the real illness, which is the health anxiety.
Good luck friend.

Your second paragraph strikes a definite chord!

Health anxiety – and all other varieties of anxiety – respond very well to hypnotherapy/remedial hypnosis. Why? Because it's a construct of your subconscious/emotional mind rather than your logical, rational conscious mind.

Another one for CBT! It really helped break the loop in my brain of finding something -worrying-getting it checked-not believing it was all fine etc etc and helped me understand where the root of it was coming from. I'm sorry you're going through this 💐 I know it can feel really scary and like everyone just thinks you're a hypochondriac but please don't feel guilty, it's not your fault.