This Thursday I will graduate. Not from college—sadly, that was many years ago. Rather, I will finish a health anxiety class, taken in desperation when untimely hypochondria struck. I admit it. I’ve always been a bit of a worrier when it comes to health and illness. Working as a health care writer/editor doesn’t always help. I just have too much information at my fingertips, and a brain that jumps to the extreme (a pain in the side can mean cancer, and so on).

Before getting a degree in writing and journalism, I studied human biology with the intention of going into some type of health care work. But reading about diseases made me start to self-diagnose with fervor, so I decided to switch majors. And this was before the advent of the Internet, where one can constantly consult “Dr. Google.”

Years ago, while working at a medical publishing company in Spain, things got worse. I was put on the cardiovascular beat, which only increased my health fears. Diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse as a child, and on medication for arrhythmia at the time, reading about this particular disease made my heart literally flutter. My boss, recognizing my discomfort, took me off the topic and asked me to instead […]