Any hypochondriacs out there?

  • I was wondering if anyone else ever experiences feelings like this...

    I wouldn't consider myself extremely hypochondriac in nature, but from time to time when I have a small issue, I somehow convince myself I have a serious medical condition. Fortunately these episodes of paranoia don't last too long. (I do have some legit anxiety issues but it usually isn't bad and that's probably where this comes from)

    one example:
    I swallowed an Aleve once without water and it gave me heartburn...I convinced myself it was a heart attack. My rational brain knew for sure it was the pill causing the problem but the panic broke through anyway ahh!)

    The thing that is freaking me out now is that I had tried so many times to lose weight in the past and always failed. This time it's been successful and I've lost more than I ever thought possible. I'm excited about it but my nutty side tries to tell me that it must be that I have some incurable and terminal illness causing me to be able to drop lbs. I feel healthier than ever, no signs of anything amiss, and Dr. reports are all fine.

    Rationally, I know that the reason is because I really did become motivated and diligent about watching calories and intake but I can't completely dismiss the irrational fears.

    If anyone else experiences this..how do you deal with it? I feel silly telling friends and family.
  • Chances are you do not have a terminal illness, even more important, give yourself some credit for how far you've come.
  • My youngest son is like this, and he's a nurse! Seriously, you need to find a good counselor because you need someone who is objective that you can bounce these feelings off of. Family will probably just poo poo it or encourage you further in sympathy (your mother for example). You have to learn to trust your body; it wants to be healthy and that is it's natural state, despite all of the abuse we visit on it. Take heart, you can overcome this.
  • Lol, I'm with you there, on the successful weight loss and thinking something must be wrong! I've lost weight and gained it all back so many times, but the weight loss has been a struggle those times.
    This time around I've lost 22.5lbs so far and it's going really well. Most of the time I find it easy and I can't help thinking that maybe something is wrong with me in this case, because the weight is just coming off so well lol.
    We both have to learn to enjoy the journey and accept that we've finally found the right way to do this.