Why does this happen with health anxiety?

[distressed29]

Why does this happen.....everytime I think I have a disease/illness or cancer, I go to the doctor and most of the time nothing is wrong.  So you believe the doctor for 24 hours before you start to worry again about the same thing or something else.  For example, this past summer I had a biopsy on a suspicious lesion on my leg.  I felt great for 2 days after the results indicated that it was benign.  Then I started to worry that the results were inaccurate.  Just last week I went back to the doctor because I felt a bump on the back of my thigh and of course picked at it (It looked awful.).  He told me that it was a picked hair follicle.  I felt good for one day with reassurance from the doctor, but now I'm back to square one worrying again.  How do you stop this vicious cycle of thinking you have  a disease, seeking reassurance from the doctor and still not feel confident that nothing is wrong with you?  Any suggestions would greatly help.  Thank you!

[RubyWitch]

As we recommended the last time you wrote us about your leg lesions and your health anxiety, you REALLY need to look into therapy. I believe it's the only way you are going to break the cycle you're in. As our dear scaredjo has said, it is very, very hard for those of us with anxiety issues to believe that "something" can, indeed, be "nothing." But  anxiety is not "nothing," as she also pointed out. It is VERY real and it needs treating just like your leg lesion did...........but it needs to be treated with therapy, not another visit to your doctor.
PLEASE seek the real help you need.
Peace
Greenlydia  

[scaredjo]

break it down HEALTH ......ANXIETY speaks for itself, im not being patronising (dunno how to spell it) i jus know what your going through its really rough. i have anxiety over my heart it proper ruins your life, we have to believe the docs and the tests easier said than done!!!, get some therapy the anxiety circle needs breakin. its really rough how our brains overtake our bodies if someone had told me 20yrs ago i would be like this i would never have believed them. are you takin any meds? pls try to believe the docs and tests its so hard but im sure your fine x

[yatta07]

Hi,
I know how u feel, because I too suffer with health anxiety and had every symptom that anxiety brings. The reason why so many of us constantly demand reassurance from a health professional is simply because, we can not believe that NOTHING can cause SOMETHING!!! (Make sense?) Meaning; Dr.'s constantly tell us that it's just anxiety, it's just anxiety...and as we all know, accoarding to health professionals, anxiety is a Physiological disorder...meaning, nothing physical is going on or medical. Now what? Here we are experiencing all these horrible physical symptoms as well as  Physiological
symptoms telling us something is very well wrong and the only option we're left with is too scare ourselves half to death with our own diagnoses such as, heart disease, tumors, and etc. I can't tell you how many times I've been to ER in the pass 6 months and guess what? I'm still not convinced that everything's ok, but I also try to keep in mind that these feeling of un easiness about our health also comes along with anxiety and is a major symptom of the disorder. It's terrible, I know! I just try to stay as positive as I possibly can. Self talk works great as well...when u feel bad or down from anxiety, try to remind yourself that, it's just that...Anxiety and it can not harm u! :) Stay strong!!!!