I am constantly worried about my health; is this normal?

Hi. It’s Jenny at AnxietyBoss.com. Our question today is from Ann in Detroit. I am constantly worried about my health; is this normal?

Well, have you ever found yourself in a situation where you think that you may be suffering from a serious disease, but upon a visit to your doctor, it was actually nothing at all? Maybe there was more than one occasion where this was the case. The constant fear that you may be sick is called hypochondria. It’s normal to worry about our health from time to time; everyone wants to stay healthy, right?

But when you find yourself scheduling unnecessary doctor’s appointments and also bookmarking WebMD, which will always ultimately tell you that you’re going to die on your computer, there may be a problem. You can convince yourself of practically anything. Health related issues are no different. Your body may even experience symptoms pertaining to the particular disease that you’re obsessing over. These are all symptoms of hypochondria.

Has someone close to you been recently diagnosed with a health related problem? Have those symptoms been coincidentally creeping up on you as well? Well, the good news is that these feelings are most likely not real. The not so good news is that overcoming hypochondria is not easy. Just for a final sense of reassurance, visit your doctor for a full body checkup, so that you’re reassured that there’s actually nothing wrong with you.

Following this, you may find that you benefit from therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT is especially helpful in this type of scenario. Your therapist will speak to you step by step about what you’re feeling, so that you’re better able to understand it yourself. He or she will then assist you in discovering coping mechanisms that may help you to overcome these hypochondriac behaviors.