my fears with rare diseases and coping. . (vCJD)

[f0rest]

well over the pst 4-5 months ive been having really bad thoughts most concerning a disease called vCJD so ill get to the point..
i googled about this disease alot and iknow mostly every symptom its supposed to bring and it fits with mine :( im now learning to cope and i no longer take anxiety attacks on a daily basis so thats a step up from a few months back.

but i guess im seeking for re-assurance again (or something like that) i just cant get the "what if" thoughts out of my head and i keep thinking things on my body are deterierating day by day, theres a few lovely people in here thats got me through the dark days and now i really think things are getting better mentally :) but as i said im not 100% yet and would like some advice on the subject if anyone knows anything about this type of anxiety or the disease im most scared of by re-assuring me.

additional info 17 years old, i live in scotland, male, i get bad dizy spells and mini sezure like head sensations i normally feel spaced out, thanks if u read this far take care xx - kevin

[swgrl09]

Just so you know - and my boyfriend reminds me of this daily - every single time I have self-diagnosed myself through the internet I have been wrong! Literally every single time. Even when it matched the symptoms completely, I still was wrong once I got to the docs and it was something harmless.

You're young, you're healthy, you've got a long life to live. That's my mantra.
What you might want to try to do (although really really difficult, I've been there and still am there) is try to change your thought process. Think of it like an A+B=C pattern. A is the symptom you notice + B is your thought about it, resulting in = C, your feeling. Ex - you notice being dizzy = A. You think "I have this disease, I am going to die" = B. The result is C, you panic.

If you can work to actively change B over and over again, eventually your C (Feelings) will change too! But it is not something that happens overnight.

Think positively! If it helps, I get dizzy spells all the time. Has a doctor seen you about this? If so, listen to the docs, they know health better than we do.

---------- Post added at 08:28 ---------- Previous post was at 08:26 ----------

And also - great work learning how to cope with this! It really is a battle. I struggle every day! You are already taking the steps you should take!

[f0rest]

thanks for the reply:) , yes i dont panic i "self sooth" now and break the circle.. its just the thoughts that kinda bother me now and it gets really bad at night i have noticed :(.. thanks for explaining the ABC side of things it makes things look more clearer and ill definetly look at this reply when im ever feeling anxious.

THANK YOU!! <3 - Kevin

[saro]

Kev, you must try to remember that although you are saying that you feel better mentally you are still worrying about symptoms and worrying about diseases you may have. You are young fit and healthy physically but you need to get the Health Anxiety under control and stop comparing symtpoms because you might find that doing that is making you more anxious. Well done for making progress :) xx

[f0rest]

ok thanks for that sar <3