Health anxiety - how do you get over it?

I have suffered from general anxiety/panic attacks for years but over the last couple of years it has consolidated as health anxiety.

These days I only have to get a spot on my chin to fleetingly think it's a lump, then I have to spend a totally disproportionate amount of time rationalising and understanding why and how it has happened and get left with a high anxiety level for ages.

I do have some real health problems to deal with at the moment which means I am particularly focused on my health. And I am under a particularly high level of stress too.

I battle constantly with anxiety about doing anything on my own and set myself challenges to deal with this but anything that raises my anxiety levels seems to mean at some point soon afterwards a physical symptom will appear and freak me out. I do relaxation exercises and positive visualisations and stuff.

I don't panic any more over palpitations too badly. I deal with repeated bouts of swallowing difficulties. I hide the level of my anxiety well in my day to day life.

But I have not found a way of practically challenging my health anxiety, how I can stop that constant checking of minor symptoms, constant awareness of my ageing body and its inevitable deterioration!!

I don't seem to have come across any particular help for this problem - how can you gradually expose yourself to health problems??

I am getting loads and loads of support here but feel bogged down in sharing my symptoms (which does help) and would like to do something positive and pro-active about it. Does anybody have any ideas?

I got an appointment through today for a gastroscopy I have been waiting for, and to see a dermatologist and I am also going to the Dentist! It just seems a relentless battle to keep myself together and get through each day - it was easier to hide it when I was working and distracted, but it was there all the time anyway. I have another 5 weeks off sick and want to use it to get help - but I am not finding the help I think I need.

Thanks for reading - if anybody has!!!

fee
xx

fee first you are on here so that is a start. also you no what the problem is which is also part of the battle. you are not alone and i feel as desperate as you to get better, but try not to look for the quick fixes as i have dont for they do not exist.

other things that have been suggested to me include
cbt therapy. apparently this is a godsend to alot of people
i take herbal medicine which sometimes helps.
talk to others just like yourself, just to no you are not alone is a great thing.
als o i, like you have a deep desire to get better, so i feel that must count for something and that one day we will have the strength to get over this. but one step at a time. firstly ask your gp about cbt.

most importantly dont give up. lets support eachother through the good and the bad. read some of the success stories in here, they will help. eat well and drink water. try to be kinder to yourself. i am trying this too, easier said than done i know.

also read claire weekes books and others on the subject. i have also 2 comical books on the subjevct about famous people who had it, hitler had it. florence nightingale had it, and many others. i will pm you some of the funny things they said about it if you want.

im here if you need me
sorry to go on, dont talk much in the house which is full of kids
jackie

Fee,

This is one I have too but when it was at its worst and I had far too many conditions on the go I decided to write them all down, as even I knew I couldn't have them all.

I then decided what needed to be talked over with the doctor and that included even the silly ones.

In amongst the many were things that gave genuine symptoms and had to be investigated - the cyst on my ovary for one (which I had for over a year until it decided to go), my indigestion one which resulted in me having a gastrocopy (this was clear and it eventually sorted itself out with alot of help from yoghurt with bacteria).

I also had a mole removed (but not before I had let it ruin a whole summer for me by keep twisting round to see if it had changed - this was clear).

Oh I won't go on and bore you but there are plenty more and lots of things like palpitations thrown in for good measure.

I now make a decision that if it is going to freak me out then I go to the doctors and get reassurance, if I know I am being ott then I ask on here but I DO SEEK REASSURANCE!!! Then I can get on and worry about other things like going out alone.

I write in the book the outcomes and then if I need it I have the reassurance there to hand.

Health anxiety is something lots of people have, the majority I would say, so in this we are most certainly not alone.

Key word - perspective!!! which whenever I am panicky tends to come out as perspex "I must keep things in perspex" I usually wail!!!

Love Piglet xx


"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?" said Piglet.
"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh after careful thought.

Thank you Jackie!!

I think because I have had anxiety for so long, I am kind of missing the obvious sometimes - I think I know it all lol[:I]

I am desperately trying to get CBT but the wait in my area is up to 5 years (great huh!).

I came across (and even once had) the Claire Weeks books many years ago - I think perhaps I need to refresh myself and go out and see what is around - it may be newer stuff than i know about and even if not I need to make more effort to re-read....

I feel like I need some sort of work book _ I am going to go and look on the self-help shelves (which I haven't done for over 10 years lol!).

I would love to see some of the funny stuff, although I am trying not to be too much of a comedian myself at the moment (although old habits die hard[:o)]) because I think I have made myself the butt of people's jokes for a bit too long and hidden the extent of my problems beneath a veneer or comedy and psychobabble!! This site has helped me strip that away and be really really honest about how bad i feel which i am hoping is a good start..

See - I can waffle for England!!

thanks again jackie!

fee
xx

Hi Piglet hun

Thank you for your wise words as ever!

I guess I'm probably just trying too hard to sort everything out at once and getting frustrated with myself... Maybe once i have had the endoscopy, been to the dermatologist, come off gluten, etc... it will calm down again but I shocked myself this morning freaking over a non existent bump on my chest....

I suppose other anxiety exagerrates my health anxiety. But I do feel I need to do something positive about it! I have been to the Doc about 6 times so far this year and I've never ever done that before... but maybe it is undersandable and will calm naturally?

I think the book of outcomes is a really good idea, because sometimes I forget what happened last time I had a recurring problem!

Glad to have you around to talk to!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

fee
xx

Hi Fee,

I'm not sure I should reply on this one! Lol. I think CBT is the best way to get over health anxiety. When I first had CBT in August 2003 I managed to stay health anxiety free for over 18 months. Even when I got a symptom I didn't worry about it. I even managed to go and have ultrasound scans with no fear at one point. Even though I have health anxiety now, knowing that I did overcome it for a while gives me hope that it can be overcome. The one thing the CBT lady said to me was to STOP asking for reassurance as it does not help. Obviously new or changing symptoms should be checked out but once we have been told they are nothing to worry about we should accept this and stop seeking reassurance (easier said than done!). I think sometimes reassurance helps but it becomes a vicious circle, once we get reassured on one thing we move on to something else. In our cases having genuine health problems, especially ME complicates matters. My ME consultant and gp have both told me that ME patients are more aware of what's going on in their bodies as they live daily with many genuine symptoms, therefore any new symptom will be noticed.
Personally I think CBT is the way forward. I must get my notes out and start working through my anxieties again as it does really help when it's done with CBT methods.

Lisa x

Fee,

My CBT lady also recommended this workbook, I haven't tried it though as she's already made me up some exercises to work through.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...880726-0675013

There are many books out there on CBT and health anxiety though, just make sure they are CBT based.

Lisa x

Thanks Lisa

That was exactly what I was thinking - the constant checking how I am and seeking reassurance is just a vicious circle.... But I don't know how to stop - in the past I have gone the other way and missed real problems that could have been sorted out so much earlier because I was trying to accept what the GP had told me... It's getting the balance right that is so hard.

I am definitely going to look into CBT workbooks and will try to learn the skills since it will be at least another 3 years before I get any as far as I can work out!

Thanks everyone!

fee
xx

FEE LET US NO HOW YOU GET ON.

YOUR RIGHT ABOUT NEW BOOKS ALTHOUGH I DONT THINK ANY OTHERS I HAVE COME CLOSE TO CLAIRE WEEKES BOOKS, JUST ME THOUGH

TAKE CARE
JACKIE

Thanks Jackie - I will!

xxxx

fee
xx

Hi Fee,

Health anxiety is the bane of my life!
Just wanted to let you know of a really good workbook, called the Feeling Good Handbook. You can get it on Amazon and it's full of good advice and various CBT-type exercises.
Take care,

Henri x

Thanks Henri

I will try that one and the one Lisa has recommended! I really appreciate it - did it help you?

Thanks again xxxxx

fee
xx

Hi Lucy!

thanks for that - I will add that to my list of books (maybe I'll be too busy reading to worry eh!!)

Hope you are ok xxxxxx

Fee xxxxxx
www.like2like.com

I also suffer with health anxiety and I'm sure many others do so you are not alone!

I often worry about so many things that I can even see how ridiculous it seems that I could have so many things wrong.

I am trying to cut down on looking for reassurance and have only acutally been to the doctors twice in the last year which is amazing for me! The way I go about it is to write a list of things that I will talk about when I get round to making an appointment and it's amazing how quickly I can cross them off because they come to nothing!

I try to rationalise with myself and be logical about my symptoms and I also try to avoid looking anything up on the internet.

I can sympathis with it taking over your life but it does get easier.

Annie x

hi fee,

well, the books that helped me the most have been claire weekes' self help for the nerves (truly brilliant book, but not a workbook) and 'the power of now' by erkhart tolle - this isn't a self help book as such, it's more about helping you change your way of thinking and also helps you focus on the here and now rather than allowing your brain to rehash past events or waste time worrying about 'what ifs'.

but as far as self help workbooks go, the feeling good handbook is really good. each chapter deals with a different problem (panic, fear of death, depression etc) and there are CBT-type exercises that go with each one.
so i would definitely recommend it!

i would be interested to hear which books you go for and which ones turn out to be the most useful.

take care,

henri x