ImReadyToQuit

I just got home from work, and about 2 hours before I was supposed to leave, I was cleaning my hands. I noticed 2 of the fingers had yellow blotches.. I hadn't touched anything yellow and I wash my hands all the time. I washed them and washed them.. Then totally freaked out thinking this has to be the beginnings jaundice. I wanted to run out of work and cry. I managed to stay and finish my shift, but I washed my hands another 10 times at least.. To no avail.. I even stripped down in the bathroom to check the rest of my body and nothing...

When I got home, a last ditch effort before running to the ER, I used a pumice stone on the affected fingers.. And whatever was on them came off....

Question is, does anyone suffer from hypochondria, and if so how are you getting treatment for it..

BTW, here is what my hand looked like..

Gottalife

Are you a smoker?

I don't know about hypochondria, but I did spend a lot of time (before I sobered up) searching for conditions and illnesses, other than alcoholism, that would explain my behaviour.

ImReadyToQuit

Not a smoker.. Used to be years ago.. I have no clue where that came from.. Total freak out.. ugh

TeriJane

Do you use highlighters at work?

silentrun

B vitamins can stain. Did you take some when your hands were wet?

Leadfoot

I think the whites of your eyes would be the first to turn yellow. Go take a look. As far as the question. No. I avoid Doctors like my life depended on it.

MrTumble

its the first sign of yellowapaline grumpah syndrome.

you need to go and eat ice cream for 3 hours, only then will you be cured

silentrun

<3

smac2166

Did you ever figure it out? It looks like cumin or curry.

hypochondriac

Me me me! I was a hypochondriac! I had all sorts of health problems, with actual pain and everything, some of which were real, some where definitely anxiety related and all of which cleared up after getting sober. All of it. You have just reminded me of how I used to obsess over any blotchy patches on my skin and my veins. Of course I had an excess of thread veins but because I used to check them all the time it was like they were spreading over my body in some sort of hostile takeover. I was nuts. I also watched obsessively for any yellowing of my eyes... I have listed my ailments enough times by now but the important thing was getting sober fixed it all.

PhaseTwo

I was a bit of a hypochondriac when I was drinking because of all the anxiety combined with actually being unhealthy

Doug39

I could have typed this post.

I looked for any and every reason to prove that booze wasn't the reason I had anxiety, dizziness, migraines, pains in my sides, swelling in my ankles, stomach aches, etc etc.

Funny, now that I am 78 days sober I no longer have any of these conditions and my self confidence is so much better.

I was so concerned about my health but yet I poured toxic alcohol into my body everyday for 25 years. But that helped me - not hurt me. What a jerk I was.

Sudz No More

I suppose the most important lesson you can take from this? If you think you have drank enough to cause liver damage maybe it is time to stay completely sober?

They do however appear to just be unexplained stains that you just can't realize where you got them. Jaundice will appear as a yellow sheen all over not splotches.

Bostonsportsfan

Actually yes.

Since quitting drinking I've been a hypochindriac.

dhg66

correct eyeballs show the first signs of jaundice and then I wide spread pall of yellow as it worsens....it wouldn't be spotty

I have been very fearful of my drinking damage and have wandered if my skin was tinged differently or was it the light'

it says in the big book..."we are driven by a million forms of fear...."

newman23

I completely relate. In fact, if I was in your situation, I would have done all of those exact same things. I had some scares in my life that have made me to consider myself a hypochondriac(self-diagnosed, lol). I've had a lot of anxiety which mostly comes from fear of damage I could've done to myself due to drinking. First, when I was 25, I thought there was something wrong with my heart and freaked out a few times. I ended up getting an ekg done on a few separate occasions(always turned out fine) and finally, a stress test and echo-cardiogram, all that. Turns out it was just my chest muscle and anxiety(heart was fine). It was an obsessive fear at the time since I read about the damage alcohol does to the heart(but I still drank, go figure!)

Once that proved to be fine, I moved on to other things like checking for signs of cirrhosis like jaundice, swelling, etc. My doctor says although my enzymes were elevated, I am still in a place where my liver can heal. That was somewhat of a go ahead for "hey, lets drink! Just one more time"). If I cave in and drink, the anxiety comes back with a vengeance the day after and lingers a few days after

It has been 7 days now since my last drink, and the first 4 days were hell. I didn't have any physical withdrawal, but that anxiety was pretty bad(it has reduced some the last couple days). I am hoping with longer abstinence(being involved in AA and outpatient as a plan for that), this is something that will go away, especially while I'm not putting that poison in my body, and am eating right and implementing exercise. At this point, I have found deep breathing to be helpful. I also use rational thoughts, such as: I'm not a professional nor do I have a medical degree, so I am not qualified to diagnose myself. If this is such a concern, I will make an appointment with my doctor and not obsess over it, nor google the issue in the mean time. I am planning to set myself up with a therapist as well. Do you have a doctor you see regularly?

JacksonWhipple

Oh I can completely relate. In fact. I've just posted a new thread this afternoon after I saw an identical patch as in the picture on the top of my hand.. Luckily, after 30 mins of checking everything else on my body I saw the packet of Tumeric in my cupboard that I'd used the night before!

I'm 24 days in and the hypochondria is unbearable. I guess it's the rigid thought patterns that develop as a result of the alcohol that drives it but even though I know that I can still spend hours on the internet trying to find out how soon until I die.

I guess the biggest problem for me is that my digestive system is a lot more tender and sensitive since I've quit. That said, it probably always was like that before but I just didn't notice.

Does anyone else know anything about oversensitivity to sensation/pain/itch in withdrawal/paws? I haven't found any info on it but I assume that the constant down regulation of certain neurotransmitters for so long causes a hugely catastrophic backflip when the alcohol is removed, thus making us more sensitive to things?

Ncognito13

I did the same thing. I waited tables for years but one day, very randomly my hands started to shake so badly that I couldn't put a martini on a table without spilling it (embarrassing). Anxiety over going to work took over my life. I looked online for every possible reason. Essential tremor, low blood sugar, etc.. But every site I went to said that excessive alcohol usage could be a factor. I wrote this off because I had been drinking for years and this never happened. That was the beginning of physical dependance but I refused to accept it until I had worse symptoms.