CrystalChord

So, I'm home for my Winter/Christmas Break, and I am trying to relax, but I'm still worried about aneurysms. This is driving me nuts! I'll go for about a week without worrying, and then boom! I'm back to freaking out that I'm gonna just keel over and die.

Logically, I can work through why it's NOT likely that I have one, but then I think that they can still come up and affect me.

The risk factors that can cause an aneurysm can be easily explained away, and show why I probably don't have one:
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1. Older people get them. (I am 21)

2. Smoking increases risk. (I don't smoke. Period.)

3. High Blood Pressure increases risk. (My BP is normally 120-125/80)

4. Having a first-degree relative with one increases risk. (None of my family members from sister, to parents, to grandparents had an aneurysm)

5. Drug use, like cocaine increases the risk. (I have never even SEEN cocaine before...)

6. Head injury increases the risk. (Last big head injury was Freshman year; slipped in the shower and whacked the back of my head)

7. Heavy Alcohol Consumption increases risk (It's rare that I drink at all...)

8. Blood infections increase risk (My blood is as healthy as the next persons...)

9. Lower estrogen levels after menopause increase the risk (Again, I'm TWENTY-ONE!)
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The only risk factor that worries me at all is Number 6. I slipped in the showers freshman year, and smacked my head on the tile. I only blacked out for half a second, and I was okay, but the next day my head and neck hurt SO badly, it was indescribable. I'm worried that this smack to the head could have caused my arteries in my brain to weaken and balloon somewhere. It doesn't help that when my sister and I used to fight, one of her favored techniques was to bash my head against the wall, or thwack me with a cordless phone...But that was when I was like...15 or 16, and we don't fight like that anymore.

I really wish I could get some help getting over this fear, but darn it, I don't have a therapist at home, and my parents never listen to me.