Hello!

I research my symptoms like crazy online aswell. I enjoy research, so this enforces this habit of mine.

Sometimes if I read xyz thing, I automatically feel like xyz thing is wrong.

I don't think you are a hypochondriac, but I do think you are concerned about your health as any good patient should be.

Sometimes I get myself so worked up over random things that happen, I have chest pains and think I am having a heart attack. While this is good, because I have learned to check pulse because of this, it isn't so great for me.

I have learned something that helps me, is realizing the severity of symptoms for it to be diagnosed. You wouldn't be diagnosed with OCD if you didn't have obsessions/andor/compulsions would you? If you only spend 30 mins a day thinking about these, and it's not taking over your life you wouldn't qualify for a diagnosis. Just remember, most people usually only see the doctor when it gets to the point where it is taking over their life. If your diagnosis doesn't fit into this category, most doctors wouldn't diagnose you with anything, or diagnose you with "mild" and refer you to somewhere for coping strategies. Not putting down anything mild as non clinically significant, or saying that coping strategies are bad...