Thankfully, a lot of prominent folks — men and women — have been sharing their struggles lately, and I was particularly moved by model Ireland Baldwin’s recent discussion of her health anxiety.
In a post on Instagram, she gave a brief rundown of her battle with “cardiophobia,” which is an obsessive fear of dying by heart attack despite good health (see ways of treating cardiophobia here), and as you might expect, is usually accompanied by OCD and/or generalized anxiety disorder.
First, Baldwin’s moving post.
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“….. I am posting this for whoever suffers with anxiety and anxiety disorders like I do.
I ordered a blood pressure monitor to accurately read my heart rate and blood pressure because I live in a constant fear that I’m dying from a heart attack… also known as cardiophobia.
The heart palpitations and chest pain brought on by your typical anxiety attack convinces me that I am a 26 year old with an underlying heart condition that I don’t have.
I do not take medication.
I don’t believe in it but I understand some people need their medications.
I have worked with anxiety specialists and I have gotten into breath work… but nothing brings me more comfort than an EKG.
To answer your question, yes… my anxiety has gotten SO BAD in the past that I have called ambulances and have had hospital visits where paramedics and doctors assure me my heart is ok.
I know it may seem silly to you, but this little [blood pressure] machine has brought me the utmost comfort.
I just want anyone who suffers from their own anxieties to know that I am here and you are not alone. It can be so embarrassing and isolating at times.
My anxiety has made me miss out on a lot in this life and my true 2022 goal is not let it get in my way.
I have anxiety that is caused by food, my digestive system, my heart, big crowds, talking about anxiety, airplanes, you name it. You’re not alone.
Hold on to your comfort item right.
Don’t let people make you feel guilty for having to take a walk or take some space or stay home because you’re not feeling good. Surround yourself with people who understand or at least try to. And if you’re feeling anxious right now… deep breaths.
You’re going to be ok. 🙂 “
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Oof. If you have OCD or health anxiety, you know what she’s talking about viscerally, and that’s a devastating way to have to live, mentally.
So a few things…
According to the American Psychiatry Association, illness anxiety disorder (more commonly known as “health anxiety”) is characterized by an overwhelming, irrational and obsessive fear that you’re sick with some disease or condition, even when you’re not.
You might feel a tingle in your hand, spend hours on Google researching, and conclude you have multiple sclerosis.
So you head to the doctor for lots of tests.
And even when the doctors say you’re fine, you don’t believe them, and you head back to your computer, and nothing can stop your brain because this is a disorder of the brain, and brain disorders don’t just magically get better on their own.
Then you wake up the next day with a sore throat and think it might be throat cancer, and you go down that path.
You visit an ENT, get a clean bill of health, but you still don’t believe it.
And let’s say someday you wake up, and the sore throat is gone. Guess what you’ll feel again. That tingle in your hand.
So if you do have a break from worrying about throat cancer, it’s not because you’ve moved onto something beautiful and life-affirming, it’s because you “have” Multiple Sclerosis, again.
It can eventually become so disruptive that you spend hours, researching, thinking, visiting clinics, obsessed that you’re on the cusp of either death or suffering.
And it’s very difficult to live life, when you feel threatened daily, by death (as Baldwin’s post notes).
Now, as Harvard Health notes, you do need to distinguish between rational health anxiety (the kind that keeps you alive) and illness anxiety disorder.
So if you have symptoms, first and foremost, get checked out by a doctor.
But as Baldwin says, the obsession doesn’t end with the clean bill of health.
Instead, you go to Google and type, “What’s the percentage of false positives.” Etc.
As with all things OCD, it’s a prison. Except you feel as though it’s a hospital and prison at once, and sometimes you wonder: would I just be happier at the hospital, where they could check on me every five minutes to relieve my fear?
Harvard Health points to a few signs that you might have health anxiety: First, you don’t have symptoms, but think you’re sick. Second, if a doctor reassures you that you’re okay, it doesn’t really help your anxiety. Third, you constantly browse the web for info on your health. Fourth, you read about a new disease, and somehow find it in yourself. Fifth and most importantly, those worries interfere and disrupt your daily life.
If you have health anxiety, you’re not alone and you’re not to blame — any more than you are for developing cancer.
Back in April 2020, Harvard Health noted that, although the official numbers say 4-5% of Americans have health anxiety, the true prevalence is probably closer to 12%. And possibly, double that.
That’s a lot.
And if a skeptical person says, “But I don’t know that many people with it,” it’s because we’re unusually good at hiding our anxieties because we’re so embarrassed by the irrationality of our obsession. I’ve got it too.
And here’s an interesting wrinkle to it.
Men are just as likely to have health anxiety as women, despite reports of lower prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder in men.
So why is it so common?
Covid, of course, has probably made things worse.
Then there’s the internet.
Researchers have noted that the web itself doesn’t provoke illness anxiety disorder, but it can certainly exacerbate it for many.
A 2019 article in the International Journal of Social Psychiatry looked at health anxiety among those visiting medical clinics for appointments.
They found a significant rise in the prevalence of health anxiety over a two year period, which they postulated was fomented by “cyberchondria,” which is using the internet to diagnose your medical condition, which only makes your symptoms and anxiety worse.
There’s something else to note.
If you have health anxiety, you probably don’t think you do.
The University of Vermont notes that one of its hallmarks is that it often takes a family member or health care provider to bring it to your attention.
You think you’re being totally rational.
After all, you’re you.
And you know your body best, and you wouldn’t let all this googling disrupt your life if you didn’t think it was a big deal.
Further, you often do experience symptoms that then grow worse as your anxiety gets worse.
Over at Healthline, Em Burfitt has a tremendous read on her battle with health anxiety and the science behind how health anxiety can produce true physical symptoms (in other words, it’s not all in your head).
That’s because worry stimulates the adrenal glands, which produces cortisol, which affects the brain, which regulates the fight-or-flight response, and that produces real symptoms. And those symptoms then make you worry even more and you go through the cycle again.
There’s really no end to what anxiety can do to our bodies (I recently wrote about studies showing anxiety can actually cause… fevers!).
One of my favorite quotes from Burfitt’s piece is here:
When you have health anxiety, you’re forced to walk hand-in-hand with your deepest fears — after all, they all reside within your body which you can’t exactly step away from. You obsessively monitor, looking for signs: Signs that appear when you wake, bathe, sleep, eat, and walk.
Over at the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Laila Resende details her own struggle with it.
My health anxiety gives me the sensation of being held hostage by my own body. As though my cells, tissues and organs do not belong to me. Instead, I must do as they please, whether it is through exercising, eating or absorbing a precise amount of sunlight. Protection of my physical body is not so much a healthy choice, as it is an uncontrollable, addictive survival mechanism.
Realistically speaking, nothing would happen to me health-wise if I set my worries aside and stopped my daily inspections. My rational side occasionally reminds me of that. However, worrying has become habitual. The hardest part is deconstructing this pattern—a skill I have yet to perfect.
So if you have it, what are some things you can do?
Well, the Anxiety & Depression Association of America says, first, do get yourself checked out — just to make sure you are okay.
Don’t ignore those first heart palpitations. Get that EKG.
But if you’re okay, physically, then accept the problem isn’t best treated by a cardiologist, but a psychologist.
So, find a therapist.
A large meta-study showed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is an effective form of treatment. So is Exposure and Response Prevention.
And psychiatrists are gifts from God, as well. Medicine has helped me a lot, and talking to a doctor is the best thing to do.
Now this is a Christian website, so I should add something spiritual here right?
Something like, “They can kill the body, but they can’t kill the soul.”
Something about having faith that God loves us and will always look out for us, and just trust that even if that tingle is MS, it’s for your best, because all things work together for good.
Something about “for our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever.”
All of those things are true, the ultimate reality, and for some Christians who think they have health anxiety, perhaps it is helpful.
But there are two reasons I’m not doing that.
First, when Jesus was confronted with people who were suffering, he usually healed them. He didn’t try to talk them into being okay with being lame, or blind, or deaf.
So if health anxiety is a medical condition, and there’s healing for it, why not suggest counsel from someone who can offer relief?
Let’s say you’ve broken your foot, and I know a pastor and an orthopedic surgeon.
It would be cruel of me to say, “Hey, go talk to the pastor about how to live to the glory of God with your broken foot” when I could instead say, “Hey, go talk to a doctor getting surgery for that foot, and you can be running again.”
A lot of Christians might worry about their health, but they don’t have a disorder over it, and I think verses and such can help.
When my OCD isn’t going nuts on me, verses do help quite a bit.
But for OCD, get medical help!
Second, when Jesus was thinking of his coming physical and mental suffering, he said in John 12:27 that his soul was “troubled”, which means his heart was experiencing extreme tension and distress over the approaching agony.
Would we ever try to tell Jesus, “Look, you’re gonna be through this in three days. Your affliction will be over. So don’t be stressed about the suffering. You’re gonna be at the right hand of the Father, and you’ll have just redeemed humankind! And you’re seriously distressed over just three days?!”
It would be blasphemous to tell that to Jesus.
And it is similarly an affront to God when we mock or dismiss or try to halleluiah away the hurt of those struggling with anything. Jesus lives in them and is intensely concerned for their suffering. He knows what it’s like.
If you have a medical condition (and health anxiety, coupled with OCD, is one), the most loving thing any Christian can do is suggest medical treatment for medical disorders.
So….. as always…
Find a psychiatrist here.
Find a therapist here.
And I’ve mentioned this before, but in my own battle with health anxiety (which began after our first son was born and I suddenly thought, “What if I die and leave him without a dad?!” Then my OCD kindly took that thought from there), this discussion board — No More Panic — has also been really helpful.
