Hi Alison. Yes, this is a secret between myself and my husband so far. But, I have some close friends I will be talking to soon about it. I've decided not to isolate myself because I think that will make things much worse in the long run, so I am going to trust them and hope they will be part of my support system in this struggle.
I also have a really good relationship with some of my colleagues and I think I will be sharing it with them, in a different way... I think with my close friends I will end up in tears, but with my colleagues I think I will approach it with humour, let them know I am struggling with it, then have some good laughs with them about hypochondria in general. I think dealing with it in humour is a good approach for folks that are friends but not super close friends.
I am very hesitant to share this with my doctor, it's also why I have 3 clinics I rotate thru in the hopes that none of the doctors realizes how often I go to the doctor, so they won't decide I'm just "crying wolf" and stop taking me seriously. That's my biggest concern in terms of telling a doctor that I have this problem, because I worry that if one day I really DO HAVE the disease or symptoms that I think I have, they won't believe me and won't run the tests etc and then I won't get the proper medical treatment. But, I guess maybe I'm underestimating the compassion of doctors, I've just had some really bad ones over the years, and my trust level with doctors is pretty low.
Overall though, I think it feels better to not keep it as a deep dark secret, especially with friends or family.
Caitlin
