Can someone please help

[Nico]

I waste so much of my time looking up symptoms and I just can't stop myself. For instance I may have an essay due in the next day and yet I waste hours on flipping mayoclinic, NHS, Daily Mail health, and any random forum. I then work myself into a frenzy and can't work. I somehow need to stop this because my life is being ruined, I never have fun in my free time, like I will plan on watching a film but spend 2 hours looking at symptoms instead, and I don't even enjoy it, it's compulsive!

[Invalesco]

I hope someone can answer this for you as I'm exactly the same, I'll come online to check emails or Facebook and somehow waste three hours giving myself diseases :(

[Nico]

I know, it's really getting me down

[cattia]

I know exactly what you mean. I have done this all Christmas and got myself into a terrible state which i am still in now to be honest with you. There is no easy answer, you just have to try to make a committment to yourself not to do it and then use whatever strategies you can to keep to it. I sometimes find that having a list of all the bad results of googling right there by the computer might help. Distraction is good, even if it means online window shopping on eBay or whatever, anything apart from google. Like I say, I have not truly found the answer to this yet, I have stayed off google this week but i sometimes think it doesn't make much difference any more as I have read so much about the things I fear that I am like a walking internet.

[flumpkin]

I have been there and still lapse when I have some new symptoms worrying me. Definitely try to stay off Google and if you must then at least use an NHS site or search with 'anxiety' included in the search text (if could be an anxiety related thing such as throat etc). Don't have the answer but hope it helps a little. Try to keep busy - maybe say ... I will watch film and if still need to google later then will consider it then?