I am making this post because I see this a lot under health anxiety posts. Whether it's the dismissive "just go to the doctor" comment or the well-meaning "it's probably nothing, but you should go to the doctor if you're so concerned", not only is it unhelpful, it can be at worst a complete shut-down. This is something I'd expect from a non-anxiety-conscious space. In fact that is probably the normal reaction from someone who doesn't suffer from any kind of anxiety. But in a place that's meant to be a safe space for anxiety sufferers of all kinds I find that us health anxiety people are the ones most talked down to. 

Ok, so here are my points:

\- If I am making a health fear post, I am actively fighting against the urge to rush to the doctor. The amount of money I've wasted going to the doctor over something that was meaningless is in the thousands.

\- A doctor visit might not even help. A lot of doctors are dismissive too and many times you will get a shrug and shown the door. And, it's not exactly easy to get to the doctor. People with health anxiety will have co-morbid things like social anxiety or driving anxiety. The visit might even make things worse. You are nervous, so your BP will read higher—then you're worrying about that.

\- To expand on this many health fear posts are made after going to the doctor but the problem is persisting or the doctor visit didn't do anything for them. 

\- Sure, a part of it is reassurance seeking. That is not necessarily good? But it's no different from people suffering from other types of anxiety here: everyone knows there are reassurance-seeking posts to commiserate and relate to one another made daily. This is usually what health anxiety sufferers are looking for too.

\- If you're thinking, 'but I'm not a doctor, so I can't give any advice', I'm pretty sure 90% of us here aren't therapists either.

So what should you do? I would say, if you have an experience that relates, to share it. Because when I am posting a health fear, that's what I'm looking for...proof we are in this same boat together, and if it even warrants worry (and thus, a subsequent trip to the dr). And maybe if I get lucky, someone who actually has the condition I'm afraid of so we can compare symptoms. I guess, the only go to the doctor comment I would appreciate is if you are LEGITIMATELY concerned about a symptom.