I am becoming increasingly anxious, and it is beginning to hurt my quality of life. My anxiety basically stems from my hypochondria - specifically my fear of cancer. At one point or another over the past 3 years or so, I've been seriously concerned that I've had cancer of the throat, brain, colon, or lungs. I am constantly worried that I have some awful condition even though I am 19 years old and seemingly completely healthy. It just seems that my mind can take the slightest sensation and run with it, convincing me I have some serious problem. This spring the anxiety got bad enough that I wondered if I was depressed. My anxiety is not crippling, but I feel like I can't live a normal life because I spend so much time worrying. Does anyone else here have bad anxiety, specifically hypochondria? How do you deal with your anxiety?

Well, I see you live in California...

Get medicine for it? I'm not usually one to recommend meds but I've known people who have pretty bad anxiety and medicine worked wonders for them- evidenced by how anxious they got without it.

haha that's dated I go to school in Texas now ...I don't know if that's better

I understand you completely, but the key is to remember that hypochondria is the only illness you really have. You are not sick.

1. Stay away from the god-blessed medical channel, you will get every wierd disease in the world.
2. No more caffine, as it is a stimulant and therefore makes you more anxious.
3. Part of hypochondria is wanting to diagnose yourself. So when I begin to think Im sick, I go read the DSM-IV criteria for hypochondria and diagnose myself with it. GOOFY AS ALL HELL BUT IT WORKS.

I don't know if this is healthy, but I feel like if I take meds I am admitting to myself I have a serious disorder. I still feel like this is something I can overcome myself somehow.

I wish I could help you. Remember that it's not you, its your subconsciousness who is sick. Maybe try to read something about subconsciousness, like something from Sigmund Freud to find out how much "ridiculous" it is

Great advice here! Thanks

Its affecting your everyday life, bro. You HAVE a serious disorder.

You may be right, but there should still be a natural way to solve my problem.

A lot of people think that, but leaving a serious condition untreated can be a very risky way of dealing with it. Best to take advice from your doctor since this sort of thing can get out of hand unless given professional attention.

This is often a phase people go through sometimes, especially at your age. I had such a phase too Of course there are those cases where it becomes a serious and chronic disorder. It's not really something you can fight with logic, since it defies it and functions on its own accord, as is the case with most disorders. I'd advice you to either look into it online or in books, perhaps wait a bit to see if it gets any better, or visit a specialist in case it persists.

Hope it helps. I just got my B.S. in Psychology Saturday

Go see a Doctor. My best friend and love of my life had serious anxiety issues. Like, she wouldn't leave the house for weeks because of it. Hell, sometimes I'd go round to see her and she'd be curled up in bed at 3PM because she didn't want to even leave the "safety" of her bed. Of course, I tried to comfort her, explain to her that there's nothing to worry about, I even played the "As long as you're with me, nothing's going to happen to you" card. It worked a little, but what really worked was her going to the doctors and getting recommended counselling.

If you're anything like me, you're going to say "HELL NO!" because getting counselling means admitting you have a weakness. I've been depressed and refused to go see someone because I didn't want to admit that I had a weakness (yes, I know, I'm pathetic).

But seriously, it's worth it. Just grin and bear it a few times, and it gets easier.

Before going to see a doctor to get drugs to treat your problem, why don't you go see a counsellor?

Also, you should try to focus on doing things that you enjoy, but don't normally do. Go see a movie with your friends, go hiking, take photographs, anything to get your mind off of your fears.

If you do end up seeing a counsellor about this, he/she might end up recommending that you see someone who will prescribe drugs for your condition, but I don't think that drugs should ever be the first option.

I've long had exactly what you've described, though likely stems from severe ADHD as well, but the way I manage this is to simply stop worrying excessively. Like you whenever I had some gastro-related pain I thought I was having stomach, intestinal, or colon cancer. The best way to mitigate it is going to the hospital and having them send you home telling you there's nothing wrong after doing the tests of the type of thing you think could be the culprit. If it were the real thing, mind you, it would be far more painful, and there'd certainly be symptoms you'd notice and the doctors would too in blood tests and others. Humbling doctors visits are something I remember when I do what you do and take something and run with it. You shouldn't need drugs, since so many others do this, it's a defence mechanism, but persistent anxiety can screw you up because of how the body deals with this stress, so getting a hold of yourself should be a very important factor.

Simply get your ass outside, go do fun stuff. Right now.



And this post makes no sense whatsoever. But I see you're from New Zealand..

Hope this helps! It is a lot, but I really reccommend reading it.

My advice (and what I do): as soon as you feel anxious or something that is bothering you, consider it, think about it, anolyze it, and conclude. This conclusion should be the logical conclusion that you want to believe in, and you stick to it. Nothing else. But, this thought sequence should only take a minute or less -- nothing more, or else you will make it worse.

Additionally, also consider what you are doing. What have you had an excess in? What have you had a lack in? Too much computer? Not enough socializing? What do you feel you currently, at the moment, want? If it was anything, what would you want to do? Do that.

In summary, I have come to the conclusion that if you feel excessively/uncomfortably anxious or depressed your current self/life is off -- you could say you are not 'balanced', or, doing too much of something and not enough of something else. Might sound weird, but I have a lot of experience in this, and I would certainly say my advice is reputable and worth considering.

For example, as much as I'd like to not be interested in socializing, I still am, and if I don't socialize enough, I will feel depressed. Also, my personallity is one of which thinks *a lot*. So, I over anolyze. This results in me thinking I might have colon cancer (that's passed mostly -- the idea) or I have a stomach ulcer (that's starting to go away too -- the idea that is), or that I am grinding my teeth when I sleep (still think I do -- this is recent), or thinking I thinking things when I actually don't. But, when I consider it, I feel the want to hang out with people, get into a relationship, go outside. Then, I have to force myself to do those things. Once I get myself to (if I do), I will feel better. And, when I get myself truely distracted with this socializing, I'll stop thinking so much about this things that don't exist.

But, you have to know that, to get yourself truely distracted, you have to do something you truely want to do. What is that? Ask yourself, and whatever comes first is that. You might fell that you don't know, but you really do, you just have to let yourself.

To just give my advice some credit and you some perspective (if you want), I am 19, and since late 17 I have been having difficulty. I was always shy, but I started to develope severe social anxiety and I still have trouble with it. I even got into a period of time where random people on the street would get me scared, and, to this day, I still think vehicles on the street I am walking on are looking at me (weird, eh?). And, guess what? These problems don't exist if I am with people. Or, if I had been social frequently for the passed week, I will be 'kinda fine too. I also have lots of experience with depression, but I know now that if I feel that way, I am not doing something right, and I do it or try to, and then I feel better. I've gone through anti-depressants for anxiety and depression, as well as psycotherapy, but that didn't last long (the medication [various kinds] gave me panic attacks -- never had them before [they svck!]). I also have had significant O.C.D. since I was about 12 maybe. It was 'ritualistic', where I would have to openly touch my toes an amount of times for something bad to not happen, think something twise or say it twise, because I actualy had and still have the idea that I control life through these patterns I do. I am much better now, because I just force myself to not do it, and there's a lot of thanks to my mom for telling me off when I did it as a kid, haha.

I agree with what you suggest about social anxiety and how getting out and being around people helps it (consequently helps produce it when not around people, no irony there), that is a pretty simple solution, but to the bold, you are incorrectly trying to help someone rationalize an obviously irrational issue in hypochondria. Comparatively, if someone were irrationally fearful of spiders, instead of fearful of being sick all the time, it wouldn't make sense to tell them to just think about it. They have to develop their own system to trick themselves out of their fear. Thinking isn't really a trick. In fact, thinking is a source of the problem as a hypochondriac isn't going to just rationalize their irrational self-diagnosing.

You need a damn therapist. Go set up an appointment, now. Any psychological problem that interferes with your normal life does need to be treated, the sooner the better.

Go to your doctor or a psychiatrist, get benzodiazepenes. No more anxiety.

I likewise recommend going to see a mental health professional - if it is as serious as you maintain it is, your quality of life is suffering and perhaps CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) or some other form of psychoanolytic therapy will help you with your anxiety issues.

how I delt with anxiety? apathy, instead of stressing out on something I just realize that freaking out doesn't do any thing and I just completely stop careing.

I have the exact same problem. I just take my mind off of it by doing something. Try to do that. Of course you will still think of it, but play video games, or surf the web, watch a movie once you feel it coming back. It really works. It takes the edge off.

and if you are smoking, stop doing that and your lung cancer thoughts disappear very quickly.

Here's my opinion on this, as someone who suffered badly from anxiety from 14-18 and just recently got over it:

The problem with anxiety, is you get anxious about having anxiety and everything becomes a way bigger deal than it truly is. In my opinion, the best way to do this is train your brain to not think like this. This is much, much, much easier said than done, and a lot of people don't have the patience to go through with it. It took me almost a full year of counselling but I got through it. Find a good psychologist (not psychiatrist) who will listen to you and you don't feel judged by. That's probably the most crucial part of it. What they will do is find the root of your anxiety, and how it became so bad. It takes work on your part too, but it did wonders for me.

Now the psychologist isn't going to be able to do everything for you, so in the meantime try to eat a healthy, natural diet (things like really processed sugar, fast food, deep fried food are good things to cut), along with exercise (find what you want but stick with it at least 3 times a week. This has been proven to help with both anxiety and depression, and worked wonders for me. The other part is don't allow the anxiety to define yourself, you are a unique, individual and the anxiety is only a part of you, don't let it overshadow all of the good. Another good exercise is when you think of something way out of proportion, try to get some objective thought that disproves it, or even make a joke about it and you'll realize how ridiculous some of your thoughts can be (that helped me a lot). Remember, a lot of people go through anxiety/depression, but don't admit it or have unhealthy ways of dealing with it (addictions), don't be one of those people and face your problem head on.

Medication is another possible route, but I'd have to recommend against it. You'll most likely be given antidepressants or benzos. Antidepressants are a lot safer imo, but have quite a few side effects, and you'll have to take them for a long time or risk relapse. The other medication is benzos, I had some experience with them and they honestly did not help me at all. I was a zombie, the made me really depressed and I started drinking, smoking and doing drugs (not sure if this is allowed, just delete the drugs part if it isn't) and thats a really bad way to handle mental disorders that are treatable. Anyways, benzos can give you a hangover the next day, in that you are super tired and can't really function, they are extremely addictive, both physically and mentally and you can die if you go off them to quickly, not to mention when taken for long periods of time they permanently mess how the neurons fire in your brain and you become, to put it bluntly a lot stupider.

This is my experience with anxiety and depression, I can safely say I'm completely done with that part of my life, and both my psychiatrist and psychologist agree (only see the psychologist once every few months for a check up). This is what worked for me, its not for everyone but please try the medication-free route first.

I'm not saying that nobody should ever take meds, I'm just saying what worked for me and the disadvantages of meds.

Oh no I agree. For just about every psychological ailment I had (depression, ADHD, anxiety) there were pill-pushing U.S. doctors trying to unnecessarily medicate me and I never even needed it, nor did I ever fill any prescription, just threw it away. Oh hey, looks like everything worked out fine.