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Thread: Conversations that set you off !

  1. #1
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    Conversations that set you off !

    A colleague innocently asked if I had lost weight the other day in work. I think I frightened him to death, shouting 'of course I haven't I haven't been dieting, so if I've lost weight you must think I look ill'!! I immediately went to the vending machine and ate loads of chocolate just in case !! It got me thinking about how what people say sets off my health anx and stays with me. For example, here are some snippets I've heard, some more than once ......


    "he's just mowed the lawn, sat down, and he went!!"

    "she took a Rennie and said she'd had indigestion all day, then just died"

    "she was stirring the gravy and said she felt a bit 'funny"

    "he said he just didn't feel right ..... then had a stroke"

    "he pulled over the on M4 coz he didn't feel right ...."

    "she only went to the hospital for a minor procedure but she was riddled with it...."

    and so and so on. So what you might think, but .... everytime I stir the gravy, mow the lawn, have indigestion, drive on the M4 etc, you can imagine what I hear ! What can you do? Warn people not to tell you bad stuff cuz it sets you off?? How do others cope with these kind of things?

    Kay x

  2. #2
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    Re: Conversations that set you off !

    hi!

    i totally relate to this post!
    all the above sentances would set me off too!!!

    i find that even ppl just talking about illness makes me feel ill myself!
    and they seem to talk about it a lot these days?! im starting to wonder if there is something in the water or something, because ppl seem to me to be getting sicker and sicker in general? do you think?
    how do we beat this one?

    take care.

  3. #3
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    Re: Conversations that set you off !

    Hi , interesting thread, the things people say,hum. i guess that sometimes we just do,nt know what to say ,and when we do it comes out wrong.

  4. #4
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    Re: Conversations that set you off !

    Hi,

    You are not alone with this one, these things in life start me off worrying.
    I also find TV or films, when the dreaded C word is mentioned, I clam up and start to worry.

    Red

  5. #5
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    Re: Conversations that set you off !

    Yes, totally agree with this!

    I have gained a good 7-10lbs since my ha started a year ago. Normally I would have shed this weight; I hate being this size. But I'm sure an inner part of me thinks that all the time I'm gaining weight, I can't be ill. If I lost weight, even intentially, I'd be worrying more that maybe it wasn't the diet that caused it, maybe I'm ill.

    People know I'm usually "dieting" and often remark they think I've lost weight. They probably say it to be nice rather than because they think I'm thinner! But it tips me over the edge, sends me off in a panic.

    As someone else says, everyone seems to have a story of someone ill. We seem to have stopped making small talk on the weather and turned our topic to illness.

    Everytime I hear something worrying, I take it as a warning. Like someone elses illness was sent to them to warn me to protect against whatever it is, or be on lookout for it. As if the whole world is just about me and everyone in it is here for my own benefit, for me to learn from!!! Very self-obsessed way of thinking on my behalf, I think

    My way of coping? Well, I had some counselling and that helped me a lot to realise that this isn't rational thought. Nor is my obsession with counting magpies and other supersitions. In a very sensitive way, my counsellor challenged me to think about these things, without me feeling really stupid. She taught me some CBT exercises, so that when I feel the panic rising because someone has just told me about someone else getting ill, or dying, and I start to relate this to me, to challenge this thought and turn the negative thoughts (why have I just heard about someone with bowel cancer? Is it because I have bowel cancer? Blah, blah, blah) - to a positive thought (ok, so someone I know who knows someone has bowel cancer, but their symptoms aren't the same as me, I've been checked out thoroughly by doctors and all tests have come back positive), etc.

    I'm just finished reading a great book called Overcoming Anxiety (you can buy it from Amazon and other places) which my counsellor recommended and it has lots of interesting and useful techniques on challenging thoughts, and many other anxiety related problems.

  6. #6
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    Re: Conversations that set you off !

    I can totally relate! Theres a highway sign in NJ that says "The C Institute of New Jersey". I pass it twice a day. It cannot be avoided. It drives me crazy! I sometimes have to look the other way to make sure I don't see it.

  7. #7
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    Re: Conversations that set you off !

    Some interesting responses! Peach, I agree people do seem to talk more about these issues, or have we just become atuned to them?

    Reddevil & Gabes .... I can't read horoscopes as I seem to focus on the star sign cancer!

    Lass - I'm sure one of the reasons I am over weight is because if I stay over weight then I can't be ill can I! In my head people who are overweight are healthy (when probably the opposite is true) .

    Kay x

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    Re: Conversations that set you off !

    God Kay what an interesting post and replies too wow xxx I can so relate to people asking have you lost weight now that really sets me off big time. xx
    __________________
    Take Care

    Mandy xx

    "DILLIGAF"

  9. #9
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    Re: Conversations that set you off !

    I totally get what you are saying.

    I think one of the reasons those comments about people not feeling right and then dying are so scary is that with panic we don't feel right. It's hard not to merge the tow together.

    Lately, I have been trying to avoid people who make those comments as well as neagtive movies but man it is everywhere!

  10. #10
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    Re: Conversations that set you off !

    My star sign IS Cancer. Wish I could change my birthday.
    Phill
    __________________
    Don't believe everything you think.

    Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

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