I love roller coasters. Isn’t that a weird way to start off when the title clearly states that this is about health anxiety. So what kind of person who gets anxious about their health would endanger themselves on roller coasters? Well, that is where my story begins.

Last summer I went to six flags, the greatest place to get any adrenaline junkies fix. My friend and I go there once a year and make it our goal to ride all the roller coasters at least 3 times each. When we reached one of our favorites, we decided to wait for the first row because who wouldn’t want to feel like their falling headfirst at 90 miles per hour? Well, front row worked out great like it usually does, so we decided why don’t we try the very last row. It was a less wait time and the air time (while the front is halfway down the track, the back gets the pull and shoots quicker at the top) all the way in the back would be insane. While in the back row, we reached the last quick turn, came to a screeching halt and I felt my neck come forward before my body could come along with it. Ladies and gentleman this is called whiplash. Most people get this while in cars, but not little ole' me. As soon as it happened I thought firstly, well that hurt. But then immediately didn’t think twice because we still had the whole end of the day to ride more coasters.

On the ride home though, my adrenaline wore off and I started to feel more pain in my neck. I got my phone out and immediately looked up what my pain could be on the website, you guessed it…WEBMD. Yeah, first lesson here is to never go on that site. EVER. But let's get back to the story. When I got home I just joked it off with my family saying "oh yeah I got whiplash from the roller coaster, we were going so fast”. In the back of my mind though, I was still a bit worried. The next worst thing I could have done was start watching one of my favorite shows at the time, Grey’s Anatomy. In that specific episode I was watching, a very nice pregnant young women had ended up in the careful hands of Dr. Shepard with a brain aneurysm. She didn’t even know she had one. So want to know what happened to me next? I BELIEVED I HAD A BRAIN ANEURYSM. YEP. The whole night I didn’t want to go to sleep because I thought that if I did, the aneurysm would burst. Mental breakdown 1, me 0.

So long story short, I made myself crazy that whole summer thinking I had one illness right after another. This is what a hypochondriac is. They believe that any little thing, including a cough, a bruise or even an itch can be a dire illness. And as I’ve grown older, I can clearly state that I am a full-fledged hypochondriac. I hate all things that have to do with getting sick. I get nervous about everything that has to do with the body and how it work. I don’t even want to list the different types of diseases and illness I thought I’ve had in the past because you would just think I’m nuts.

Living with another voice inside your head (imagine fear from Inside Out) always telling you that something is wrong is one of the hardest things to deal with. Sometimes it takes over and changes your attitude completely and you don’t even realize what it is doing to the people around you. And having health anxiety can make those symptoms you’re feeling even worse! You can be creating your own symptoms when looking things up because you “believe you have it". Just step away from the keyboard.

This is something I am learning to deal with as that voice in my head never likes to shut up, no matter how many times I tell it to. But I’m realizing that continuing to live my life this way, in fear that I will get sick, is not the right way or healthy way to live. We should be cherishing all the great things that happen to us and make us happy. Not dwell on the things that “might” happen. So please, if you’re like me stop looking things up. I know it is so much easier said than done as multiple people tell that to me as well. But looking things up will mess with your head even more than the brain tumor you may think you have. And I know going to the doctor sometimes doesn’t make you feel better either, but you just have to believe that you are okay and they are there to help you put your mind at ease. Living the way we do is kind of like walking around with an umbrella waiting for it to rain. Think about how funny that would look. So lets all just put some sunscreen on and enjoy the sun.