Health anxiety and OCD

[Louisey]

Hi all,

I was thinking - from what I've been reading, one of the obsessions OCD sufferers can have is being (often mortally) ill or having something terribly physically wrong with them, leading them to the 'compulsion' - to continually check and assess a symptom to see if it is getting better or worse.

I've been in this situation, badly, at least three times in my life, along with other bad periods of OCD. Anyone else been in a situation where fear/worry about a symptom starts to take over your life, be on your mind constantly? Where you check constantly that a lump hasn't got bigger, a mole changed colour or a cough gotten worse?

These days, sometimes just knowing it's my OCD making me start to panic about a symptom is enough to calm me down and think rationally.

L x

[anxious]

definately, thats my problem spot on. At the moment i seem to have lost the ability to think rationally at the moment. I think i'm the worst i've ever been,

anx x

Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects

[spuds]

For me one of the worst aspects of my anxiety spells is the inability to be logical about my health. You rely on your logic and common sense to get you through so much - eg. you get over worry about flying because you know that statistically you are very unlikely to crash. When my logic goes out the window I am at the mercy of my wild imagination and my tendancy to expect the worst. I have found that writing down my thoughts and then writing down a rational response helps (This is a CBT exercise). I read in a book that people with OCD sometimes find it helpful to say, "It's not me, it's my OCD" as a way of reminding them that it is an illness, not a personal failing. Also, if you feel a compulsion to do something, tell yourself you will wait 15 mins and then do it if you still feel the need. I think most of the people on this forum feel like you do at least some of the time. I am like this about my heart - despite being told I'm fine, I am having trouble logically accepting that I'm ok.