Living and "Dying" With Health Anxiety

Everyone has heard of anxiety, right? Hey, most people nowadays have anxiety! It's nothing to be ashamed of, and with the right treatment course, it is easily manageable.

So we all know what anxiety is... but do we all know what health anxiety is? Before I was diagnosed with it, I had no idea what health anxiety (also known as hypochondria) was, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. So, what exactly is health anxiety?

Those with health anxiety are in constant fear that their health, and life, is in jeopardy. Seemingly healthy people, whom doctors cannot find anything wrong with after second, eighth and twentieth opinions and with all of the medical tests under the sun. Although these people are told they are fine, they never stop worrying or finding new symptoms to worry about.

When you're walking to class or driving to work and you feel a random pain in your arm or leg, you probably assume you slept in a weird position, or maybe you pulled a muscle the day before at the gym. Essentially, that pain gets blown off, most likely never to return again. The minds of those with health anxiety go straight to worst case scenario and dwell on that arm or leg pain for days, maybe even weeks or months.

You have a striking headache one day. Most people would attribute that to being dehydrated, tired, hungover, etc. MOST people, but not all people. I do not fall into the category of most people. That headache that's probably just from not drinking enough water? Oh yeah, that's got to be a brain tumour, no doubt about it. That freckle that just appeared? Must be skin cancer! Random chest pains in a young, fairly healthy adult? Well, certainly I am having a heart attack. These are the thoughts that go through my mind on a DAILY basis. I long for nothing more in this world than to feel pain and not immediately be crippled by the fear of it being something serious and life-threatening.

Mental health is important. Having a flaw in your mental health is debilitating. Being so depressed you can't even get out of bed, so anxious that you can't go to work... it sucks! Depression and anxiety are common and well-known areas of mental health that are both devastating and exhausting. However, not many people understand what those with health anxiety go through.

I spend all of my days worrying that I am dying, worrying that I have a terminal disease or illness, worrying that I will have a heart attack at any minute. Do you know what it feels like to spend every second of every day thinking that you are dying? It's an absolutely horrific feeling, and it's exhausting, to say the least.

In a society where mental health is no longer taboo and is openly discussed among many, I feel as though it is important that all mental health issues receive the same support that common ones such as depression and anxiety do. Not many of my friends understand what I go through. When I tell them about my fears, they just blow it off and think I'm joking. But, when I say I think I'm dying... I'm not joking.

With more knowledge of the concept of health anxiety, more people can help their loved ones get through it. When your wife, husband, son, daughter, friend comes to you with a symptom or says they're scared they might be dying, please, PLEASE listen to them. Do not blow them off. Do not blow the symptom off. People suffering from health anxiety need to understand that they are overthinking things, but they cannot understand that unless they have someone to talk them through it. If they are afraid that their headaches mean they have a brain tumour, remind them of the simple and harmless causes of headaches instead.

Health anxiety, like all other forms of mental illness, is exhausting. It is painful, it is debilitating, and it is awful. But, it is REAL, and the world needs to understand it.