My health anxiety is making me mentally insane, please help

Posted , 2 users are following.

I've been dealing with health anxiety for about 8 years now and it seems like it keeps getting worst. Today I went out to a local store near me and purchased a poptart that had no expiration date on the package, checked everywhere and it was nowhere labeled. I should of just picked something else, but I really wanted to try one the flavors that I never tried before and it sounded interesting, when I got home, I toasted the poptarts and breaked one of the pieces apart to see if the inside is moldy or green, it looked normal, smelled like the flavor and the piece I had didn't taste foul at all and it felt soft. I wasn't worried about it until I got to the center of the poptart and took a bite of it and it tasted pretty hard in the center and I quickly spit the whole piece out in response. I threw the rest out after that and now I'm getting a panic attack and worried about me having food poisoning now and possibly dying from the pieces I did eat and swallow earlier, since the ones I did eat tasted like a regular poptart, but just really warm. I'm not sure if I should be worried or not by this, but I can't stop thinking about it now. I really don't want anything bad to happen to my health while I'm already dealing with my menstrual cycle today that gives me really bad cramps and makes me feel nauseous throughout almost the entire day.

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  • Posted

    Hiya, sorry to hear about your worries when it comes to your health. I hope that I can reassure you by saying that shops are required to regularly check stock dates etc and perhaps the date for the poptart was missed on this packet but maybe on the outer packaging it arrive to the store in. Being a pop tart fan too, you've maybe just overheated it and the middle has burned a little, making it a different texture. I don't by any means mean to offend or belittle you with this reply, as I appreciate your worries are genuine, I just know I need similar assurance about these things if I panic about food.

    I have always been a worrier too and although maybe in a different way I wondered if this might be of at least a little help. Have you ever looked into premenstrual syndrome? (sometimes referred to as premenstrual dysphoric disorder). I used to be particularly "over worried" before my period was due and this caused a lot of anxiety and even panic attacks at times. Now that I have been diagnosed, I can manage my anxiety better and its actually really interesting to learn about how much it can affect you, and with treatment it might also help if you are having painful periods as you have noted there.

    Hope this helps, even a little, and take care.

    C x

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