Crippling fear of retinal detachment

Hi all,

I’ve been suffering from health anxiety (and general anxiety) for quite some time. MS, cancer, stds (when I was still a virgin &#129315, you name it. About 7 months ago, I had an accident and suffered a mild concussion that resulted in some vision issues. Nothing major, I had my eyes checked multiple times in the last 7 months and everything came back ok. At my last (and final) appointment, the ophthalmologist said everything looked normal but that some of the vitreous in my eyes got shaken as a result of the impact and caused more floaters (why I went to see an ophthalmologist in the first place). She said that although this is rare, I should go to A&E if I get an increase in floaters, flashes and a dark curtain coming over my vision as this could mean “retinal detachment” which is sight threatening. As I left, she said “it probably won’t happen”, in a reassuring way. But she triggered me. MASSIVELY!

I didn’t think anything of it, but when I got home I googled retinal detachment and basically started driving myself mad. One of the main causes is vitreous traction from trauma. I convinced myself that it will happen. A few weeks after my concussion, I managed to ignore the floaters so much that my brain filtered them out. Now I see them again and I obsess over them. Was that one there before? What if my retina is detaching? What if it will happen when I’m asleep and i won’t notice? Will I go blind? I’m only 28, what if this concussion ruined my life?

In time, I got better at dealing with these anxieties, but this one seems to have knocked me to the ground. I posted on a couple of eye forums and one doctor said “it’s fairly unlikely”, while the other said my risk is small, “certainly less than 1 in 1000”. The reassurance keeps me going for a few days but then I notice the floaters again and I think my eyes are ticking time bombs ready to explode. I don’t know how to ignore the floaters anymore. I had my last eye check two weeks ago and I’m already debating if I should make an appointment at specsavers for peace of mind. I can’t keep living my life like this.

I’m not really sure what I’m hoping to gain from posting this, maybe I’m just venting. But if someone has anything reassuring to say or if anyone else has had this particular anxiety before, please let me know what helped. I feel like I’ve fallen down a very painful and scary rabbit hole and I’m losing my mind.

Thanks in advance.

I saw your title and was going to pass on this because the last thing I need is to have more things for my health anxiety to worry about. But I know how freaking hard it is, so thought I could at least offer some support. I am not a doctor or therapist in anyway.

I have health anxiety (among some others) but it's the one dominating my life at the moment. The first thing I learned and I can absolutely recommend is to stop reading Dr. Google. Everything you read will freak you out if you're already close to freaking out anyway. At the end of the day, you don't really know enough to make sense of what you're reading and you don't know the quality of the information the site or the author are giving out. Best to look at most sites on the internet with a very critical skeptic's mind. Take my words here with a grain of salt, too. I know you're looking for something to make sense of what you're feeling, but when you're mind is spinning, you are not able to make good decisions or interpret information correctly. When anxiety is running it's con on you, your thinking is broken and most things you read or hear won't get through all the crazy intact. Best to not assume Dr. Google knows anything about YOUR situation. Heck, you don't know everything about your situation when your anxiety is on full blast.

The other suggestion, and one I still need to work on, is to stop scanning your body for aches, pains or symptoms. Your body will do weird things, that can freak you out in the moment but might be totally normal. And never underestimate what adrenaline and cortisol pumped into your body will do. All of that will freak you out if you put too much focus on it. When your heart beats funny, don't assume that is a symptom of anything more than your body doing weird things. Over time you'll learn the different things that your body does and accept that they're normal FOR YOU. Again, other people, including me and Dr. Google, don't know YOU. Any advice has to be taken with a grain of salt and run through your own BS meter. If anything health anxiety has made my own BS meter stronger.

The last suggestion and the hardest one for me, is to stop thinking about your health. The more you think about it, the more your mind learns that it's important to you and it should keep thinking about it. Even trying to refute what your anxiety is telling you is thinking about it. If your mind tells you that this pain here is something critical to worry about, you can run that through your own knowledge of the situation and simply tell your anxiety "Thanks for letting me know." And then move on. If you try to fight your anxiety with proof of why it's not critical and that you have a completely logical explanation for it (hearts beat faster and harder when you exercise, for example) it just knows you're still thinking about it. Now, this is freaking hard to accomplish. That's where distractions come in. Put of rescue kit together of things that you like to do to relax and distract and have some of them ready at a moment's notice. For me it's music. Music goes with me everywhere I go.

I've heard there are therapies that can help with health anxiety, but I don't have any real experience with them. I tend to take in information with a taste testers mind. If it makes sense and helps, I keep it, if not I don't. So there may be parts of some therapies that help, but not all of it. Keep what works for you.

I guess that's it. I totally understand what you're going through and I'm dealing with my own stuff too. I wish you well, it's a terrible situation.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. I’m sorry you are also dealing with this horrible anxiety. What you wrote makes a lot of sense, it all feels like a planned escape route for when things start to get unbearable. I definitely need to work more on this.

Again, thank you for your kind words!

Yeah don’t Google stuff. I should take my own advice though. I just googled Covid in my state and I am freaking out: I also had a spot on me that I was sure was skin cancer. I Google imaged skin cancer and the spot looked exactly like melanoma. In the waiting room I was worried I was going to lose my foot. But the doctor told me it’s just a blood blister, like my mom and the immediate care doctor told me, and the doctor told me to just try to switch up the shoes I wear.

But then I have a major surgery coming up in October which is a legit thing to not necessarily be anxious about but to be preoccupied about. Especially since it’s only the start of August.

But I totally understand health anxiety. That and anticipatory anxiety are the 2 types I deal with the most. Then you add them together and it’s like no wonder I have a benzo addiction.

Normally this happens when you have a blow to the head....like immediately....happened to two people I know and guess what both of them can still see....surgery can fix this if it happens but you need to go in right away, that’s why they’re warning you...so you can fix it.

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Certainly get scheduled check ups and go to ER if necessary.

But...do you think obsessing about it will make it not happen? (Maybe just the opposite as bp can affect it too)
It's ok to be aware and watch for abnormalities but try not to dwell on it. I'm old, and learned that worrying doesn't help at all. Now I'll admit that I don't take my own advice sometimes, lol

Its ok to learn about it (from facts, not self appointed experts). It's good to be informed. But not good to worry about things that may or may not happen.