u/Last_Budget_4375

Why do doctors dismiss/mistreat patients with health OCD/anxiety?

Are they taught in medical school the archaic “hypochondria” rather than helping the patient seek mental/medical help?

At my worst times with health anxiety/OCD, I didn’t get a suggestion for therapy or met with kindness. The doctors I met in that time would raise their voice at me for being anxious/tearing up or they’d dismiss every issue I had as anxiety (when they actually were later diagnosed as life-changing chronic conditions that were dismissed as anxiety).

Does anyone get an “airhead” sensation with their narcolepsy? Not brain fog, it almost feels like my skull has been physically pumped full of air. I get it more often when my narcolepsy is worse.

I struggle with health OCD, and I have a really hard time not taking things as “signs”. I’ll worry I have lymphoma, then the first Instagram post I’ll see is someone young like me and they got diagnosed with lymphoma and now it’s confirmation I have it since I saw it first. Or, I’ll just see a bunch about ALS, then develop symptoms. Or, I’ll see a video about a disease I’ve never heard of and take it as a sign that I have that disease/condition. If I actually have symptoms of it, it’s even worse.

I also have a really hard time forgetting niche conditions or complications. Someone can tell me about this horrid thing that happened to their friend from a routine surgery and now I’m convinced it’ll happen to me in the future and this was my sign that I need to prepare for it to happen.

Those of you with health ocd, when do you know whether to go to the doctor or that it’s just your ocd? Do you have a set regimen/guidelines you follow?