I had severe health anxiety in my early twenties. I'm talking REAL severe. I would be trying to lay perfectly still in bed, petrified that any slight movement would cause my body to break down in some way. I was terrified of all sorts of diseases and all the different ways your body can shut down. I am half-convinced that it was because I obsessively watched the TV show "House". Now I avoid that show like the plague.

A month after my 30th birthday, I was diagnosed with tuberculosis, of all things. I came to learn that, although typically found in the lungs, tuberculosis can also attack other parts of your body. For me, it was my eyes. I was gradually going blind, so I can relate to you here. It was terrifying. I had to endure intense treatment, similar to chemotherapy, for 12 months. Also another dreaded fear of mine.

What I will say though, is that this experience showed me the strength I had all along. While I was previously absolutely terrified of these things ever happening to me, when the worst actually did come true, I powered through it. I thought to myself "well, the worst has happened, I can't do anything about it now except carry on". So, in a really bizarre way, getting that awful disease is what calmed me down? Obviously I would never want that to happen again and I do wish it never happened to begin with as it was a traumatic experience, but I am glad that it showed me the reality, rather than the distorted horrors my anxiety was trying to convince me were real.

I made a full recovery. My vision is not the same as it was before it happened, but I can still see, and that's what I am so thankful for. I'm hoping that my response here fills you with hope instead of fear. We humans are much more resilient than we think.