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Health Anxiety at 38: Will I Ever Feel Normal Again?

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Emma_Rush

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Jun 23, 2025
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For most of my adult life, I’ve struggled with crippling health anxiety. It started back in my early 20s, right after a panic attack that sent me to the emergency room convinced I was having a heart attack. That moment changed everything.


Since then, I’ve spent over 15 years bouncing between doctors, specialists, and ER visits, always convinced that something serious was being missed. I’ve had every test under the sun — bloodwork, MRIs, EKGs — all coming back clean, yet I couldn't shake the fear.


I've tried SSRIs, beta blockers, holistic remedies, meditation, yoga, deep breathing, journaling... you name it. I've seen therapists, CBT specialists, even hypnotherapists. The “air hunger” sensation, the racing heart, random chest pains, and the nagging feeling that something is deeply wrong — they all come and go like waves.


Now at 38, I’m exhausted from constantly scanning my body for symptoms. Even a simple headache can spiral into a night of Googling symptoms and convincing myself I have a brain tumor.


My question is for anyone who's been in these shoes: Does health anxiety ever really go away? Or do we just learn to live around it? I'm tired of feeling like a prisoner in my own mind. I just want peace.
 
Hi there, and thank you for sharing your story so openly. I want to start by validating your experience — health anxiety is a real and exhausting condition, and what you're describing (ER visits, body scanning, fear of undiagnosed illness, air hunger, etc.) are all common symptoms.


Here’s the encouraging part:
While health anxiety may not disappear overnight, it absolutely can improve — and even become manageable — with the right support and strategies.


A few key things that tend to help long-term:


  1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
    – Specifically targeted for health anxiety (also called illness anxiety disorder), CBT helps reframe distorted thoughts about bodily sensations.
  2. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
    – This helps reduce compulsive symptom-checking, Googling, or seeking reassurance — all of which reinforce anxiety.
  3. Mindfulness & Acceptance-Based Practices
    – Techniques from ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) can help you sit with discomfort without spiraling.
  4. Medication (in some cases)
    – SSRIs like escitalopram or sertraline have been helpful for many patients when used under the care of a psychiatrist.
  5. Lifestyle Tweaks
    – Limiting caffeine, exercising regularly, cutting back on late-night Google symptom-checks, and structured routines can lower baseline anxiety.

Remember: Recovery isn’t about eliminating every symptom. It’s about changing your relationship with those symptoms so they no longer dominate your life.


You’re not alone in this, and healing is absolutely possible. I’ve seen patients go from daily panic to living full, joyful lives.


Take care,
– Dr. Adam
 
I just wanted to say — I see you. I’ve lived with health anxiety for over 10 years, and I still have bad days. What’s helped me is journaling what’s actually happened vs. what I feared. Most of the time, my fear was 100% wrong.


Hang in there. You’re not broken. You’re just dealing with a hyper-alert brain.
 
You’re basically telling my story. What helped me was deleting WebMD and staying OFF Google. Seriously. I was spiraling over every twinge or bump.
Now I follow a rule: No symptom searching online. Ever.
Also, CBT was a game changer. Find a therapist who gets health anxiety.
 
Emma_Rush, I could’ve written this myself. I’m 46 now and have dealt with health anxiety since my early 30s. Chest tightness, tingling limbs, thinking every headache is a stroke — been there more times than I can count.


Here’s the truth no one told me early on: you don’t “cure” health anxiety by proving you’re healthy. You beat it by learning to stop believing every fear your brain throws at you.


What helped me was something my therapist said:


“Your anxiety wants certainty. But health is never 100% certain — and that’s OK.”
Click to expand...

That hit me hard.
I still get waves of fear sometimes, but now I can ride them out. I do deep breathing, distract myself (video games help more than you'd think), and remind myself: it’s just anxiety, not reality.


You’re not crazy. You’re not weak. You’re just stuck in a loop your brain thinks is keeping you safe. Keep fighting, and don’t give up.
You've got more control than you think.
 
I’ve had that “air hunger” sensation too. Mine would kick in during high stress or after coffee. Breathwork didn’t help me until I paired it with journaling and naming the anxiety aloud. Like: “This is fear, not fact.”


Also, cutting back on reassurance-seeking (asking my husband 10 times a day if I looked “ok”) helped me take back control.
 
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