Hello, my names Keenan and I'm 20 years old.
ive suffered with health anxiety for over a year now, it started when I use to drink energy drinks daily and it caused me to have heart palpitations which convinced me I had heart problems and then I went on my first holiday which I was worried about because I'd never done it before and it was with friends, i had panick attacks Nearly everyday I was there to the point I nearly went to the hospital in Cyprus. Now I obsess over every little pain my body has, any aches, headaches and just any feeling I get in my body I am convinced I'm ill. Last year I saw my dad Quit his job, lose his house, his friends and become a heroin addict which sadly he's still doing so thought this could maybe be a cause. I found a lump on my testicle over 6 year ago and just left it but since I've suffered with anxiety out of the blue I had problems with it (which it turned out to be a cyst) so after I got the good scan results back I was good for a few days before I found something else to obsess about. I have recently just spent 2 week in Tenerife and was convinced I had skin cancer even tho I've used sunbeds for years and never had problems, then all of a sudden I became unwell with a migraine which I was questioning whether it was the heat or an underlying problem. After that passed for the rest of the holiday I was convinced I was poorly and I've been having pain where my appendix is, I've been so convinced I have appendicitis I'm still getting pain a week later, no nausea and no fever literally just a pain on my right abdomen that I've had for over a week and it comes and goes. I don't know if it's just me convincing myself that I've got it or there is something, my health anxiety is ruining everything I do because I'm always worried I'm ill. I've been so sure for a year that I've had problems to the point I've convinced myself I had an underlying condition such as cancer, or kidney problems even to the point I have a cut I'm worried about it getting infected and causing problems. When I speak about what it's doing I read it and think 'I'm just being stupid' but in the moment when I'm panicking and having anxiety attacks I'm convinced I'm ill, I really can't change the way I'm thinking the only person that makes me feel better when I speak to them is my uncle because he's been through the same to the point he didn't want to be here anymore, he is now better but when I speak to him my symptoms of everything just disappear untill I find something else. I'm wondering if anyone could suggest any councelling or any hypnotherapy or anything that could help.