Tips on not checking.

[worried girl]

Hello,

I have suffered from health anxiety for a few years now and although I manage to keep it under control most of the time I wish I could kick out my nasty habits and completely forget about it.

My main concern has been bowel cancer in the last few years, no family history, I am not even 30 and have no obvious symptoms so don't know why...
At some point I did feel better as I stopped looking at the paper after wiping for a few months, however I got scared I was missing something and got convinced I was leaving blood stains everywhere I sat. As a result I would then feel the urge to check and would rub paper until I found something suspicious, like marks on paper or on my skin... I then decided to look when I wipe again as I thought maybe this would stop this. Well, it didn't... I never see anything obviously wrong at first so keep on checking till I do, and still have urges during the day.

Do you have any tips on how to exit this vicious circle and how to distract myself when I suddenly feel the urge to check ?
Thank you for any advice.

[mollymalloy]

What has helped me was that if something serious was going on it would manifest itself in some significant form or other. And that I should not always be looking out for or be on guard 24/7 for the slight possibility that I am seriously ill without knowing it!!!

[Shivmarie]

I need tips too :-(

[emma jo]

me to

[worried girl]

Thanks for the advice Mollymalloy.

Glad to see I am not alone guys !!

I was thinking whether anyone had something he/she did when feeling the urge to check. I have heard you can try to say to yourself ok I won't check now but in like 10 minutes for ex and hoping that by then the urge will have stopped. In my case the though of checking makes me anxious so knowing I will check sends my worry level in overdrive and I go like well since I will check anyway might aswell get it over with so no luck there...

Trying to get this checking thing under control really reminds me of quitting smoking... If only there was a patch for that lol.

[Button1]

I have this too and am currently on sertraline and on a waiting list for my second round of CBT. I remember from my first round my therapist asked me to note down the number of times I would check on a normal day and then we agreed to reduce it each week. I managed to get down to once a month but then panicked and went to see my doctor to ask whether I was putting my health in danger. She, like someone above has said, that anything serious usually manifests itself in other ways (persistent abdominal pain, continuous change in bowel habit) and that blood when wiping is more usually caused by fissures and piles.

The only thing that helps me is going in the dark. It's not foolproof but its usually enough. My only problem then is being convinced I can smell blood when having a BM. I don't know what to do about that...I do still try to check once a month and its always fine.


I'd be really interested to hear any other tips...

[aggiecuttler]

wow this is really hard, habits are hard to break. all i can say is try and be distracted as much as possible, and speak out loud to yourself "come on stop it you can do this" sometimes this can really help you keep it together, so i hope you can move past this blessings

[worried girl]

Thank you so much for those word of advice. If anything it makes me feel better to see that I am not the only one with this very exact issue. I feel so embarrassed that I never talk to anyone about it... If I was worried about any other form of disease it probably would be easier to search comfort from friends but anything to do with one's bottom is usually best kept quiet lol.
I am trying to be strong at the moment and to tell myself that what I think I see is only my anxiety talking. When I had cbt I remembered that the first step was to accept to live according to the theory that you have an anxiety problem and not a health issue, so I guess I am there already.
Anxiety sucks though, I hate this feeling of not being in control of my rational mind ! And to think of all the enjoyment I miss out of life...