FEARING THE THOUGHT OF DEVELOPING A FEAR

I have a common fear of fainting that I consistently work on.

My fear is normally triggered by lightheadedness from my anxiety or hunger or heat.

I've especially been frightened while driving and a bit agoraphobic lately and a few days ago I exposed myself to a 46min drive ALONE to a JOB INTERVIEW!
It took a lot of guts and breathing and talking but I felt like queen of the world afterwards!

The next day, I felt so empowered that I decided to journal about all of my fears that came to mind, and then google each one and learn more on how to conquer them.

Google is never good news for me or my common hypochondria but I felt like I was using it to learn not to diagnose.

I searched my biggest irrational fear: fainting.

and THEN I READ IT.

"Panic attacks do not cause fainting, they raise your blod pressure"
I'd already known that and found comfort in remembering this during panic but
THEN I READ
"but those with a blood/injury phobia DO faint"

My world felt like it caved in...

Background: I'm 23, female, no medical conditions (besides anxiety), no medications, and on top of that...have never fainted in my whole life.

I have been working on coping and conquering this fainting phobia for about 5-6 months and have had many triumphs and a few setbacks.

but this feels (though i feel better now that I'm typing) like by far the most confusing, scary, and complex set back...


basically, I'm now afraid that IF i become afraid of blood/injury then my fainting nightmares will come true.

I've never been afraid of blood/injury before. i actually find seeing my menstrual cycle to be naturally relaxing or think watching a bruise form and heal is kind of cool.

but no, I've never loved getting shots (piercings and tattoos are awesome), or seeing surgery on t.v., or overly gorey films, but I've never passed out from any of it.

and Now when my new anxiety about this kicks in, i obsess and look and my hands wondering if i have a cut. or get scared in the bathroom to look if I've started my menstrual cycle or not(its coming soon) AND I'm an artist and now my brain tries to scare me while just looking at red paint!

But I can't tell if I'm actually scared of blood now or if I'm just scared it will make me faint.

I think I'm just still so scared of fainting that my brain is doing anything to trick me with new "new fear"...


anyone relate?
can someone just up and start a phobia like this?
do i need to be worried?
what the heck do i do?

wait til my period comes and see if i pass out?
idk what will bring some rationality to this.... ugh... help.

I've definitely struggled with this!
What helps me most is guiding my thought process to something else as soon as that 'fear of fear' starts to take over. Guided imagery is really great, positive mantra's, and any type of distraction.

I think it's fairly uncommon to develop such an intense fear of something if you never really had it in the first place, ESPECIALLY if you use the resources to help you along with it.