Asperger's and Health Anxiety/Hypochondria

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Do you think there's a link or a tendency to be more health anxious among people with AS? I know since I was young I've been obsessed with all things health related and with the human body. But only to the degree that things could go wrong. I'm not interested in how things work or anything of the sort, only how things go wrong.

Recently, I've gotten to the point where I'm googling my physical symptoms (I have General Anxiety Disorder co-morbid with AS) 10-12 hours a day and quite frankly, it's ruining my life and the few relationships I have.

Nothing I've done to treat it has worked and it just dawned on me that maybe this is part of my AS.

So, are there any other Aspies with Health Anxiety or Hypochondria? What have you done (besides medication) to treat it?

When I was a kid I had a morbid fear of just waking up blind one day. It was really bizarre and unfounded. In general I always thought something bad was going to happen to my body. I still do to an extent. I'm not sure what it stems from.
I try to exercise and eat healthy so I can have at least SOME control of what happens to my body. Besides medication I think that's really all you can do.

I also tend to be a health worrier. When I was 16 and a half, our house got flood, my Dad was a bully to my Mom, she was passive and didn't defend herself---so, yeah, it was a pretty bad situation all the way round, and it increased my worries.

And on the other side, when things go well, I sometimes worry that something's going to happen, for that's been my experience on a couple of occasions and maybe on more than a couple of occasions.

Okay, a couple of things have worked for me. One is zen in a thoroughly half-assed way, where I try and view things as texture of life and not necessarily mistakes, which can be hard. Also in zen, if you try and push a thought out of your mind, you can just end up giving it more power. The more zen meditative approach is to try and watch it float hither and there in a detached manner, okay, it's just a thought.

I publish health info on wikipedia. This is both a positive outlet, and often an exercise in frustration. Wikipedia can be very immature. Generally, you're ignored, occasionally you get a nasty-gram. Most people there seem primarily concerned with the formality of the language, more so than the accuracy of the information. And I find that absolutely remarkable. It's as if we've done an experiment, if we re-create corporate communications will it be any better the second time around? And the answer is no. Anyway, even with all that, it's still a healthy outlet. And I try to have a sense of humor about it, if at all possible!

And occasionally, I run across real health gems. For example, you probably know that influenza sometimes leads to pneumonia. And this can be either direct viral pneumonia (the flu virus itself) or secondary bacterial pneumonia after the flu has wiped out some of the body's defenses. Okay, so an obvious warning sign is if a person starts to have trouble breathing. And there's also a nonobvious sign, and that's if a child seems to be recovering and then relapses with high fever. That relapse might be bacterial pneumonia. And presumably this also applies to an adult. Doesn't mean that it is pneumonia, but probably well worth having a doctor call in a prescription for an antibiotic and getting started within a couple of hours. And also, this is why it's good to have an ongoing relationship with a doctor who's at least a halfway decent listener. I've posted a link below.

Report Finds Swine Flu Has Killed 36 Children,” New York Times, Denise Grady, Sept. 3, 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/healt ... .html?_r=1

“ . . . In children without chronic health problems, it is a warning sign if they seem to recover from the flu but then relapse with a high fever [emphasis added], Dr. Frieden said. The relapse may be bacterial pneumonia, which must be treated with antibiotics. . . ”

[Dr. Thomas Frieden became head of CDC. Doesn't mean he's always right, but . . . let's call this a good middle-brow source. It's not a review article in a peer-reviewed publication, but it is a pretty good source]

When I was a kid I was in and out of the hospital a lot because of my ears. I was usually healthy otherwise, however. It got really bad when I became a teenager, mostly due to my having emetophobia. Just a few nights ago I had a dream I was back in junior high and nearly other student except me was barfing their guts out. It was very nerve-wracking, but I read somewhere that's supposed to symbolize cleansing, and since I was about the only person not throwing up I must have been the only one who was "clean".

I hate being reminded how delicate and pathetic the human body really is, especially when compared to almost every other living creature, possibly because in the wild they can quickly become food if they're sick and weak, and when I can't control unpleasant things that it's doing I get very anxious, especially when I don't know what the real reason it's doing it. Like lately I keep getting headaches. But of course seeing the doctor would be a waste of time unless I was in debilitating agony. I hate being stuck in waiting rooms for what feels like eternity, especially if they're crowded and have a TV blaring. And then when you finally do see the doc they do everything so fast they can't possibly diagnose something that might be life-threatening. How I wish they would treat you like a human being.