Health Anxiety - anyone got any good ideas of how best to tackle it?

I find using Dr Google can bring up many more possible causes I hadn't thought of and are rare anyway. This can be unhelpful and increase the anxiety. If I do need to look something up online I try to stick to official sites such as NHS.

I think with me the anxiety is largely related to a fear that I might need to visit doctors or hospitals, something which I tend to avoid.

As part of my autism diagnosis I became aware that I experience hypersensitive interoception. That means I am much more aware of my own internal bodily sensations and can become overwhelmed by them. My new found knowledge of my increased awareness means I can reassure myself that the physical sensation is normal and it's just that I am more aware of it. 

I wonder if it is possible that you and your son experience hypersensitive interoception too? When you are much more aware of your body you notice things that most people would not even be aware of. It does not mean that there is anything physically wrong, just that you experience those physical sensations very differently because you are autistic.

The other thing I would say is that stress and anxiety can often find new and surprising ways to manifest in the body. 

Can I second the importance of hypersensitivity here?  I only recently realised the relevance of proprioception and interoception to a lot of issues within our family and getting more of an understanding of sensory sensitivity in general has been really helpful. 

Ausome training do a couple of courses, one on sensory sensitivity and one on interoception which, although they're not on their list now, they say they'll be repeating.  So I'm watching and waiting.

https://ausometraining.com/online-autism-training/

I also find that other, more specific anxieties can grow on my general background anxiety (I probably qualify as having generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) plus a few specialisms over the years like public speaking, spider and driving phobias).  And bringing my general anxiety levels down has also tended to bring down the worst of my "specialisms" too.  

Can I second the importance of hypersensitivity here?  I only recently realised the relevance of proprioception and interoception to a lot of issues within our family and getting more of an understanding of sensory sensitivity in general has been really helpful. 

Ausome training do a couple of courses, one on sensory sensitivity and one on interoception which, although they're not on their list now, they say they'll be repeating.  So I'm watching and waiting.

https://ausometraining.com/online-autism-training/

I also find that other, more specific anxieties can grow on my general background anxiety (I probably qualify as having generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) plus a few specialisms over the years like public speaking, spider and driving phobias).  And bringing my general anxiety levels down has also tended to bring down the worst of my "specialisms" too.  

I've just noticed that there's actually a short presentation on the subject of interoception included in today's lineup on the Autism from the Inside Summit.  

autismexplained.kartra.com/.../63

Plus Kelly Mahler has her own website on the subject.

https://www.kelly-mahler.com/

Many thanks Jenny - I will look at this. I only wish there were services accessible to autistic people that are as helpful and informed as this community! It’s so helpful and useful. I think GPS could learn a lot about autistic people by coming on here and actually listening to autistic people.