Hypochondriac Conundrum

[HypochondriacPreMed]

Hi,

Kind of embarrassing to talk about this but recently a bout of hypochondria has come over me. I'm a pre-med, just been admitted to the Medical School I've wanted to go to since childhood! I've always wanted to be a physician, practice rural medicine in the town near my home. I've even received an acceptance for an NHSC type program for my state. So basically, I'm set to attend a great medical school, on a full scholarship, and now I have to go through this weird stuff.

I'm not going to be specific about the disease or my "symptoms," but I've seen my GP, and they did some tests, and ASSURED me I don't have said disease. I believe them. I still think about it time to time, but I'm over it. However, I feel like now I have a tendency to think I have diseases I hear about. For example, my HC started when I saw this trailer for a movie about this disease, and looked it up, and attributed these symptoms to myself.

So whatever, I got over this, but then in Anatomy class we were learning about Schizophrenia. I kid you not, I thought oh snap, I think I'm going to have that when I grow up. There are currently zero indicators in my life that point towards it. I'm happy, health (thank God), and have no issues that would point towards it. Still, though for like a good seven hours, I was like thinking about it and was like, well I'll probably have that.


I want to be a physician. But I don't want this mental anguish. I go to counseling, and that helped me get over the initial bump, but whenever I learn about a new disease, I feel like I go into that cycle.



......My undergrad degree is teaching. I'm thinking about becoming a teacher to avoid this horrible recurring cycle.


Am I nuts? Has anyone experienced anything like this? Again, I'm thinking of throwing away a full scholarship to medical school, because I'm a hypochondriac. It sounds crazy even when I type it -__-


(If anyone is wondering how my HC came about, I've always been very confident in my body, last year I got diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, had a flare during finals, which was a stressful time. I started meditating a lot and doing yoga to manage my stress, and have had no flares except that initial one, don't take any medication, but I feel like I've lost a lot of confidence in my body. I'm just hypersensitive to myself now.)

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[QuinnTheEskimo]

I have not experienced hypochondria, but I have a friend who did. Like you, he developed it after battling an autoimmune disease.

I recommend counseling/therapy to deal with this. I think it is common, especially in someone who has had health issues in the past.

 

[Lucca]

I have bouts of hypochondria as well, mostly stemming from my battle with severe depression earlier in my life. I'm better now, just fyi.

My advice is to always arm yourself with science and knowledge. Hypochondria seems to stem from a fear of "not knowing." I reminded myself often that medicine is sort of the perfect field for a hypochondriac because you never have to wonder if you have something because you are competent enough to give yourself a rudimentary diagnosis and manage your stress that way. My hypochondria stemmed from depression and yours seems to have started due to this autoimmune disorder you have, and you have probably looked up everything you need to know about this disorder yourself if you didn't learn it directly from your physician. Take confidence in this knowledge.

Another thing I do is keep a daily journal. At the end of the day I go back and analyze my emotions, diet, rest, and the work I got done that day. Whenever I start to feel anxious, panic, or feel like my body is shutting down on me I take a look back and can usually find a root cause: I only ate one meal that day, ate tons of junk food, didn't get enough sleep, was very stressed out. Fight the anxiety of "not knowing" with "knowing", plus the diligence and will involved in closely monitoring your body and mind will relieve some of your external stress as well. It's great that you do meditation and yoga, I do as well - have you tried adding weight training (if your particular autoimmune disorder allows it) or lifting in order to strengthen your body? Lifting is brilliant for relieving stress and pushing your body to its limits will give you confidence in your body's abilities to overcome obstacles, work at high levels, etc. Cardio does wonders as well.

Best of luck! Never give up!

 

[kyamh]

My mom has hypochondria....and she is a successful physician. Is she better able to think of diseases she may be? Yes. Is is debilitating? No.

Everyone's disease is different, but at the end of the day it is all about how well you manage yours.

 

[Life Sucks]

I know your feel. I wash my hands so much, that they bleed.

 

[ZeaL6]

http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/dangers-of-webmd.jpg

 

[Mad Jack]

Fellow hypochondriac here. When I get really stressed out, I am particularly prone to it. I've had nights where I was pretty much unable to sleep because I was so crippled with irrational fear and anxiety. It only hits me maybe two or three days a year, but those days are -bad-. Most recent bout was freaking out about every mole on my body, worrying that they could be melanoma. You just kind of have to tell yourself everything is fine and just trust that the odds are in your favor. Try working on coping skills for stress, as it tends to be a huge trigger for this sort of thing.

 

[Goro]

What you're describing is so common it's called "young intern's disease". You'll survive.

Hi,

Kind of embarrassing to talk about this but recently a bout of hypochondria has come over me. I'm a pre-med, just been admitted to the Medical School I've wanted to go to since childhood! I've always wanted to be a physician, practice rural medicine in the town near my home. I've even received an acceptance for an NHSC type program for my state. So basically, I'm set to attend a great medical school, on a full scholarship, and now I have to go through this weird stuff.

I'm not going to be specific about the disease or my "symptoms," but I've seen my GP, and they did some tests, and ASSURED me I don't have said disease. I believe them. I still think about it time to time, but I'm over it. However, I feel like now I have a tendency to think I have diseases I hear about. For example, my HC started when I saw this trailer for a movie about this disease, and looked it up, and attributed these symptoms to myself.

So whatever, I got over this, but then in Anatomy class we were learning about Schizophrenia. I kid you not, I thought oh snap, I think I'm going to have that when I grow up. There are currently zero indicators in my life that point towards it. I'm happy, health (thank God), and have no issues that would point towards it. Still, though for like a good seven hours, I was like thinking about it and was like, well I'll probably have that.


I want to be a physician. But I don't want this mental anguish. I go to counseling, and that helped me get over the initial bump, but whenever I learn about a new disease, I feel like I go into that cycle.



......My undergrad degree is teaching. I'm thinking about becoming a teacher to avoid this horrible recurring cycle.


Am I nuts? Has anyone experienced anything like this? Again, I'm thinking of throwing away a full scholarship to medical school, because I'm a hypochondriac. It sounds crazy even when I type it -__-


(If anyone is wondering how my HC came about, I've always been very confident in my body, last year I got diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, had a flare during finals, which was a stressful time. I started meditating a lot and doing yoga to manage my stress, and have had no flares except that initial one, don't take any medication, but I feel like I've lost a lot of confidence in my body. I'm just hypersensitive to myself now.)

 

[DokterMom]

What you're describing is so common it's called "young intern's disease". You'll survive.

Wondered about that! Sometimes, the more you know, the more you have to worry about ;-)