No matter what you call it, Health OCD, Health Anxiety, Anxiety, or its noble term, Hypochondriasis, the sinister effects of this mental manipulation can have you fearing death until the occurrence of death itself. It can be argued that life isn’t truly being lived if it is spent in fear about when it will end.
Put simply, Hypochondriasis is a culmination of intrusive, worrisome, fearful, and overbearing thoughts about one’s health conditions. While understanding the meaning of this condition, undergoing the experience of it is a different story.
Those with anxiety know that it is a snowball effect. One thought, feeling, or trigger can lead to a convincing of the mind that whatever you’re fearing is real or is happening. Hypochondriasis is not an exception to the cause. One cough, one chest pain, one tingle in your spine, and you may feel compelled to search online or ask someone what’s happening, and you will find yourself getting blood tests in the emergency room.
Health is crucial for sustaining life, and taking care of yourself is essential for a full life, but being able to recognize a medical problem can be very confusing, misleading, and repetitive with health anxiety.
Utilizing what’s available to you can greatly aid in the management of Health Anxiety OCD, however, the only person who is in the full power of creating the greatest, most progressive change, is you. Trusting your gut and following your intuition is an important practice when your mind is tricking you at such a strong rate. You know you aren’t going to die. You know you will go on after this episode. You know you deserve more than to be stuck inside, under the covers in fear of what could happen if you got up and went after your day.
All you need is within yourself, and until you find that, good luck along the way.