View Full Version : I HAVE to stop googling
Well, if I'm going to have one New Year's resolution, this has to be it. I know all the reasons not to Google. I know how bad it is for me and how it feeds the anxiety, but it is SO hard not to give in to that need for instant reassurance. I also think about the times when I actually have found reassuring things online because of course it does happen sometimes! It's hard to imagine how I'm going to manage but I truly feel I have to try for my own sanity.
anxious_thoughts
31-12-13, 18:40
I wish you luck!
I'm going to try to do the same thing, I think it will help us both :)
Happy New Years!
hangingbasket
31-12-13, 21:35
Does it give you reassurance? really?
Cause it certainly didnt with me. Sure I'd find the positive comments and think all was ok.... for like 10 seconds. Then I'd carry on scrolling until I found the one in a million chance of instant death or something equally as unlikely, then latch onto that idea and ignore all the less serious, much more likely explanations.
It becomes an addiction and the only thing you can do is just stop. Disconnect your internet if that's what it takes. Switch your phone to an old one without internet. Whatever you can do to resist the temptation.
It's hard, but you cant get better until you do it. Good luck, and happy new year to you :)
I'm going to make this mine too!
Ultimately it doesn't give reassurance most of the time. But sometimes it does! For example, I recently posted about my obsession that my kids might have autism. So recently my son who is two has started biting when he gets over excited. So I Google it and find that this very common, especially with boys. Another example is, I have an eye test on Thursday and I am FREAKING out about it because I am always worried they will find I have a brain tumour. When I am under fluorescent light, I see flickering out of the corner of my vision, so I think optic nuritis, brain tumour etc. But then i Google and find that other people have this and It's normal. These are the things that keep me addicted to Google. But really, I suppose it is false reassurance. In actual fact I won't know until I have my eye test whether or not my eyes are normal. But then whilst an eye test is reasonale and routine, I can't have tests for everything I am worried about, so I don't know what the answer is.
Look, Google is a very useful tool for the vast majority of people who don't suffer with HA. If I need to look up photos of a hot actress ;) or a recipe or a myriad of other things, it's awesome. However, from what I've seen here, to an HA sufferer it's like heroin. You have to give it up totally otherwise you're right back on it.
Positive thoughts
I am the same! I've been really ill for the past 2 weeks with brain fog and horrible physical symptoms, I've sat here every morning to night googling trying to find answers, which has caused me a lot of worries, I am actually doing it now! I read up on serotonin syndrome which I really could have and I had a small panic attack when I read about it as the symptoms are the same as I am experiencing. These symptoms are the cause of my Health Anxiety.
annie.hall
01-01-14, 04:09
I find that even when I try to search healthily on Google, I always end up readings things that "cannot be unread"!! And then I'm stuck with my brain tumor or my ovarian cancer.
Yep, and once you've read something you can never unread it, in fact I think half my googling is trying to mentally 'undo' stiff that I've read in the past. If I see a link about the thing I fear I am compelled to read it. So for exapme if I searched 'sore big toe' I would read maybe five pages about people having a sore big toe because their shoes didn't fit right etc, then there would be a page about sore big toe being the first sign of some obscure foot cancer, and I would feel like I had to read it, even though i had just read five other pages that said it was nothing serious. Then as I was reading it I would be having a panic attack and that is the page that would stay in my mind, then every time I got a sore toe it would be the first thing I would think about. It's illogical, but that's how it works.
As a test of this I typed in "runny nose". Within minutes I was reading that it could be a sign of a polyp or cancer. Then I read about a man whose runny nose turned out to be leaking brain fluid! It's evil but so hard to give up. Oh, and I must ensure I never Google bowel mucous again, but of course I will. Most sites say it's normal but I must find the few again that say it equals cancer......
I have to agree that Google is like heroin to a HA sufferer. The few times that I found reassurance on Google are far outweighed by the number of major illnesses that I have ended up fearing after a read on Google. It is imperative to give up Google in order to recover from HA.
Jojomarymoo
01-01-14, 22:11
I am currently having a severe anxiety episode which hasn't helped by serious illness in the family this year. I have just had a kidney infection and at the same time of treatment was changed to sertraline from paroxetine. I did this as I did not feel it was doing anything, but did not have bad anxiety like now.. my anxiety has now become very bad and I am convinced that something bad is going to happen to me or my family. I wish Google did not exist! I would love to cancel the internet but cannot do this as rely on for other things and my family use it. I have never been like this before. I think it's changing my medication to sertraline. Yes I must stop googling, it is an addiction for reassurance but then it makes you worse 😢
hiya, I know what you mean about googleing about stuff, I suffer with itchy hives for a few years now, and now ive convinced myself ive got everything from histamine intolorence to gluten intolorence.....ect ect ...:weep::weep:
Google always makes me paranoid, even if I can't find what I'm looking for I assume I have something so rare even google can't find it! Only good it's done for me is cooking tips. And finding out actual information for example how far from my house to London. I hate google but I really can't tear myself away when worrying about a symptom :(
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.