How do you know if you're a hypochondriac?
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Hypochondria is form of anxiety characterized by excessive fear of having a serious illness. While it is less easy to "diagnose" as other mental health conditions, there are symptoms that combined will give you a fair idea if you suffer from this (or not).
Are you constantly worrying or believing that you have a serious illness?
Do you get extremely anxious when you get a sore stomach, a rash or a headache?
Do you keep worrying even after you have seen a doctor about your concerns?
Do you get incredibly worried when you have a cold or other minor medical illness?
Do you ever worry about a particular illness so much that you start to feel the symptoms associated (eg you are worried about appendicitis and your stomach starts to really hurt)?
Do you also have problems with obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety, phobias or depression?
Hypochondria can be treated (or at least improved) by the use of SSRIs (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, the family of drugs that Prozac belongs to) and cognitive behavioural therapies. You can find out more about these by talking to your doctor.
If you don't want to do this or in conjunction with this there are other things you can do:
Keep what has been happened before you get anxious or your symptoms get worse, so you can work out what triggers you.
Meditate to help with the anxiety.
Keep yourself busy doing things that take all your attention to complete, so you simply don't have time to worry about illness.
STOP reading medical information on the internet!
Stay healthy. It sounds obvious, but eat properly and at sensible times, make sure your sleeping patterns are regular, watch your vitamin intake and keep away from drugs and alcohol. Not only can poor health make you feel sicker, but studies have proven that low blood sugar (from not eating) or lack of sleep can trigger anxiety/panic attacks.
If you can afford it, see a therapist. If not, confide in a friend and ask for help with other explanations for your medical symptoms. Trust them.
Acknowledge that you sometimes feel bad without a serious illness behind. If you can, go to work when you are mildly ill instead of staying at home to worry.
Good luck.
Are you always worried that you're sick or ill? Are you paranoid that every little bump or mole is some kind of terminal disease? Are you obsessed with sterilizing your environment because you're afraid of getting yellow fever or tuberculosis or some other deadly disease?
If yes, then you probably are a hypochondriac.
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