Do you apply TV illnesses to yourself?

[skippy66]

When you see someone have a heart attack on TV do you start having chest pains, palps and/or shortness of breath?

When you see that horrible stroke advert do you start feeling more dizzy and have shooting head pains?

If someone mentions cancer on TV do you become even more convinced you've got it?

Did you think you were at risk of pulmonary edema when Steven Gately died?

I do to all of the above. It's seriously p*ssing me off.


I just watched a heart attack on a soap, and I'm now feeling crap. Sure I will have one very soon.

The thing is, in the back of my mind I know its anxiety because of the timing, but that WHAT IF keeps shouting at me from the back of my mind.

I also think, anxiety is bad for my health, it puts stress on my heart, so by worrying about my heart it puts me more at risk, which makes me worry more, etc, etc,

I'm really struggling to break the cycle.

[PanicMan]

I dont suffer from fwhat I see on tv but I do think it has an effect because the 'Hollywood' heart attack consists of people clutching their heart area and almost always dying yet the pain from a heart attack is in the centre of chest but as most dont know this they get a pain in the left hand side of their chest and instantly its heart attack, I myself have fallen for that one.

What I find is I avoid programmes that play to my axiety. I have a big cancer HA so I cant watch Greys Anatomy anymore as one of the main characters has it as is the case with Brothers & Sisters, one of the main characters in Home & Away died recently of a brain tumour in the show so thats were tv gets me, its not the thought of having it that worries me its seeing what happens to you that does so if I do get it I just imagine what all these characters have gone through which make me worry then about getting it so it is a cycle of sorts.

[teez]

i have heart disease anyhow,,so seeing it on telly sets my mind racing,,so i hide behind a cushion,lol, if hubbys watching it cos he loves all the hospital and rescue programmes ,,,worst nightmare

[Adelle]

Hi, we are heading into summer now in Australia and the Melanoma ads have started. Sends my HA into overdrive. Im checking all my moles, spots all day everyday. :(

[looking4answers]

STOP WATCHING tv.. I have been ranting and raving on here for ever about the bad things that come from televison .. and the news and cause anxiety.. Pick up a book something you haven't read but want to .Television sux.. lol.. Michael

[Maj]

It's just that when we're anxious we can be very suggestable to everything that's going on around us, everything we see on t.v., read in the newspapers, and think we'll be next! It's all part of anxiety and when calmer it doesn't stress you out as much.
Myra

[rebeccad]

my hubbie loves house every time i watch it ms always gets a mention of course i take it as a sign lol

[justbananas]

you can't really STOP watching tv or seeing things that may trigger your HA. triggers are everywhere. you have to pursue CBT, or meditation, or distraction techniques and let these triggers slowly become meaningless to you. it's obviously easier said than done but mere avoidance will not work. you can't avoid all scary things in life but you CAN control how you react to them.