New here- How did anyone get over their fear of going crazy?

Hey guys,
My name is Brianna. I'm 20f from Canada, a university student and I work in middle schools doing after school science demonstrations. Seems all well and dandy right?
I've dealt with health anxiety mildly on and off since I was 10, but September of this year it became full blown and completely deteriorated my life. I felt like my future was written for me, many times, for various things, yet never can accept it as anxiety.

The most recent and the most troubling of these episodic decisions of whatever illness will be my life story, is a psychotic disorder. I believe it's more of an illness phobia since I never actually experienced any symptoms, I just kind of decided it was worth being very afraid of considering it's chronic and debilitating nature.
This current fear has persisted now for a bit over a month. I know seeking reassurance is BAD and doesn't help someone with health anxiety. But that's the thing-I would be so happy to start my journey into recover or learn coping if it was just anxiety... the whole tough part is I have that nagging feeling of
"but it could be the development of something much worse...."
I'm so hyper sensitive to sounds right now, always making sure I know where every sound came from. I feel I'm always "checking" my sanity to make sure nothing I'm thinking or doing is "out of normal" (as if that itself is normal.... psh)
I wanted to be reassured by some sources saying a lack of insight is a main symptom so I wouldn't know I was ill, but there seems to be exceptions to that as well.
Anyways,
What did any of you do to squash this fear for good, if you have?
I see I'm not the only one who has dealt with this before, which makes me feel less alone. :(

Thank you for the warm welcome!

I know that is the most crucial advice, and friends & family have over this tough year tried to get me to do so. The Canadian Healthcare system, especially my province's, has a pretty flawed mental health system.
I worked up the courage to contact the Anxiety Disorders Association for my city, and they told me one doctor specializes in Health anxiety and runs a group therapy session once a year.

I contacted that clinic and apparently they have a 9 month waiting list even to be assessed for intake into this therapy. That can be extremely discouraging.

So I contacted local private clinical psychologists who specialize in CBT which also took some guts to follow through on, and he told me a few things:

1) your insurance plan won't cover more than 1 and a half sessions. At 170/ per hour, you can't afford our services

2) health anxiety is more rare so regular therapists won't be able to help you. They don't go to school long enough to understand your problem.

3) all you can really do is do the self help method. And he found me "deals" on amazon to order books myself. I did order one and it is a nice book, but I sometimes wish I could just vocalize these things to someone and have someone assess me like you said.

So it's confusing for me to navigate the mental health system here, and it can be very discouraging when you just want some relief but have to deal with referrals and insurance and all that. Also I tried telling my GP about my health anxiety one day and she laughed it off and said "oh yeah I Google things too no worries". So I'm scared/embarrassed to bring it up to her again. :(

You can't go crazy from worrying about going crazy, only crazy people are crazy if that makes sense?

Hi

Welcome to the forum you have received some good input above so I just wanted to pop in and say hi and I hope you stay with us you will find good support here from others who can relate to what you are going through.

Look into Mindfulness Meditation we have some links in our resources it works wonders.

Hibee

Hello Brianna and welcome <3

I agree with what you wrote about the way they are "treating" health anxiety as it usually is not seen as a serious condition but it is much debilitating for us.
Also I am glad you seek out for help and eventually you will get therapy options which is more important than medication in case of hypochondria.

No you will not go crazy and anxiety would NEVER turn into such, for both are different mental conditions :) It would be like a banana evolving into a watermelon lol :)
It feels annoying I know but then I recommend discussing medication options with your dr since meds help with anxiety/panic disorders symptoms.

Health anxiety on the other hand can be caused by MANY factors; a trauma in life, lack of self esteem, certain behaviors, etc. Even thought it's categorized under anxiety disorders... So usually a talk therapy then CBT shall be aimed first.

I am glad you found us, this is a very supportive community. Please keep us updated.

maybe terms like crazy need reviewing?