Sunday Poser #215 – Health Anxiety

Published on by Yinglan

Do you suffer from health anxiety?

How careful/ diligent you are about your health? Do you schedule regular health checks with your doctor? Do minor problems increase your anxiety about your health?

I do suffer from health anxiety but I am trying to get over it because it doesn’t really seem to matter that I worry, all the specialists I go to see don’t seem to give a damn about me. “Come back in a year,” they all say and inside, I feel like “in a year, I might be dead.”

To be honest, I didn’t know “health anxiety” was a real thing. I thought it was just me. Every little abnormality in my lab work triggers me to go into research mode. Why is this high? Why is this low? Why Why Why…

As of 2024, all the specialists stopped seeing me, except two – rheumatologist and endocrinologist. “Do I need to make an appointment to follow up?” I asked my dermatologist last July. She said no, my rheumatologist will keep an eye on the numbers. My family doctor said the same thing, or rather his office.

…except my “numbers” haven’t been normal since 2016, especially my white blood count and platelet counts. The cold weather hits me extra hard and I easily get headaches. My mom says I’ve gone to the extremes to be healthy but can I help it? I frequently get inflammations if I eat the wrong thing because of my abnormally low white blood count, which also increases the probability of getting an infection on a wound.

Despite all of this, I feel like I’ve gotten better at handling my so-call “health anxieties”, especially since the doctors no longer want to see me. I am now just waiting for those numbers to drop down (and it has been) to the number that catches the doctor’s attention. Then I can say, “I told you so,” because I knew there was something wrong with me. That is if I would still be here to say it.

Sunday Poser

14 thoughts on “Sunday Poser #215 – Health Anxiety”

  1. You’ve got to be your own advocate. Get a second or third opinion if you think something is wrong with you. These days doctors stop seeing patients because insurance companies won’t let them bill for continuing conditions.

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    1. I did. My former family doctor referred me to a dermatologist and the dermatologist to the rheumatologist and the rheumatologist referred me to a hematologist. The hematologist gave up on me first, saying there’s nothing she could do. Then the dermatologist gave up on me in 2024. I also switched to a new family doctor for a new opinion. So I’m on like the 4th opinion about now and it’s frustrating. The thing is even though my blood is telling me there’s something wrong, I haven’t really felt much changes in my body functions, unless I get hurt of course.

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      1. Sorry for the late reply. The state where I grew up is on fire. The state where I live is frozen under two feet of snow.

        If your body is telling you there is something wrong, there probably is. I don’t know what. I’m not a doctor.

        Here’s what I would do. Find an entirely new set of doctors that are in no way connected to your old ones. Make sure they don’t get your files and start again. Look for a doctor who is more holistic who will investigate your entire body and not just stop with bloodwork. Bloodwork is important, but it’s not everything.

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  2. Sorry to hear of your struggles. Have any of your doctors given you tools to tackle this? Some specialists have absolutely no bedside manner so probably not. I saw a therapist years in Covid days. They gave great tools to use. It was a psychologist and was totally worth it.

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    1. Unfortunately, none of my doctors have given me anything beside charging me $160 for 15 minutes consultation. They don’t call me about my lab results, nothing. I have been having to interpret the results myself because no one tells me anything, which is frustrating.

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  3. I get it. I also suffer health aniety issues to the point I am making my self ill and the anixety is causing dizzyness.

    Doctors only half-listen. Don’t let them fob you off. My symptoms proved to be Barrets syndrome and Reynards. Plus I am now booked in for a brain scan to check if there are any physical causes fro the dizzy spells which lead to panic attacks. IF not my new doctor is treating me with hypnotheraphy.

    She listens. TAkes the holistic approach to medicine rather than resorting to meds.

    Hugs and good luck and stand firm.

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    1. That’s the frustrating part! Doctors know half-listen. I used to see this nurse practitioner, the first time, she would listen intently, but as the visits went on, she stopped listening altogether. I thought it might be me but it seems like it’s the same with all the doctors.

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