skippy66
06-02-14, 11:25
Just wanted to check how everyone was doing today? In terms of symptoms you're getting right now, but more importantly in general - how are you managing with your health anxiety? Do you feel like you're making any progress in getting better?
I also wanted to share a tip that helped me. It's this:
Use exercise as an excuse for your symptoms.
What does this mean?
Well, when I was in the depths of health anxiety I couldn't get my head around the fact that any symptom I got may not have been caused by a life-threatening illness or disease. So, if I got a pain in my leg I was convinced it was a blood clot or bone cancer or something. If my eyelid twitched it wasn't tiredness, it was some neurological disease. If my chest was tight it was an impending heart attack.
For me, the heart worries were by far the worst. And I got into a vicious cycle where I didn't want to exercise in case I dropped down dead from it. So I got more and more out of shape.
When I finally managed to turn my HA around and start exercising again, I found that the exercise really helped as it gave me something to pin my weird symptoms on. So, if I got a pain in my leg it was muscle soreness from the exercise, rather than a blood clot. The chest tightness was caused by the exercise stretching my out of shape lungs and ribs, I told myself.
When there is no obvious 'reason' for a symptom, the mind automatically jumps to something horrible and deadly. But by using exercise as an excuse for symptoms it makes you feel a whole lot more relaxed, and helps you to overcome your HA. The more you exercise, the better. And of course all the additional benefits of a regular exercise plan help too. But it's mentally where exercise helped me the most.
Just thought I'd throw that out there - hope it helps! Let me know how your day is going?
I also wanted to share a tip that helped me. It's this:
Use exercise as an excuse for your symptoms.
What does this mean?
Well, when I was in the depths of health anxiety I couldn't get my head around the fact that any symptom I got may not have been caused by a life-threatening illness or disease. So, if I got a pain in my leg I was convinced it was a blood clot or bone cancer or something. If my eyelid twitched it wasn't tiredness, it was some neurological disease. If my chest was tight it was an impending heart attack.
For me, the heart worries were by far the worst. And I got into a vicious cycle where I didn't want to exercise in case I dropped down dead from it. So I got more and more out of shape.
When I finally managed to turn my HA around and start exercising again, I found that the exercise really helped as it gave me something to pin my weird symptoms on. So, if I got a pain in my leg it was muscle soreness from the exercise, rather than a blood clot. The chest tightness was caused by the exercise stretching my out of shape lungs and ribs, I told myself.
When there is no obvious 'reason' for a symptom, the mind automatically jumps to something horrible and deadly. But by using exercise as an excuse for symptoms it makes you feel a whole lot more relaxed, and helps you to overcome your HA. The more you exercise, the better. And of course all the additional benefits of a regular exercise plan help too. But it's mentally where exercise helped me the most.
Just thought I'd throw that out there - hope it helps! Let me know how your day is going?