Do you have any ideas how to be rid of health anxiety?

[mimie]

Has anyone any thoughts on how to be rid of health anxiety?

I saw a friend die of bowel cancer and another from breast cancer and I am convinced I have one or the other and petrified. My GP knows about this and is not helpful. I seem to spend the whole day thinking about what symptoms I have at the moment, it is affecting my life so much that I cannot go too far in case I get the symptoms especially if it is the tummy ones. As I think about it and worry I then have stomach pains and need to go to the toilet again- then that worries me as it is a change of bowel habit and i spend the rest of the day thinking "is it a change of bowel habit or is it because I am thinking about it"? then I will have a pain under my arm and think "is it breast cancer or am I just noticing a normal feeling but being hypersensitive"?
It is wearing me out so if anyone has any advice or info I would be grateful
Thanks :D

[Presto]

I really wish I could say yes I know how, but like yourself am battling with this everyday myself. I have had cbt tho and have learnt methods to help myself cope when I have triggers, like today my arm is hurting, the whole of my arm is aching it's heavy throbbing and annoying me, I try and rationalise that perhaps I slept on it funny or it's just a dull ache but I replay in my mind constantly, on a good day I would try and push the negative thoughts out of my head and go out and distract myself, but on a bad day like today I phone the gp as soon as they open I ask my mum what it could be I seek-constant reassurance hoping that I'm ok. Since I've realised i have health anxiety I found the bad days get easier, going back 7 months after I had my daughter and this all started I could barely function, couldn't hold down a conversation couldn't be left alone googled all day every day about my symptoms, I couldn't go out because I felt like I was going crazy, my sensors were so so high I felt like I was flying, I would bring myself to a complete state of panic because I thought I had seriously something wrong with me, I would get angry no one would listen to me, I would think about my death and my funereal and children's faces every single day the list is endless, the more I thought the deeper I got the more stressed I got the more physical symptoms I got, it was a complete vicious cycle. I'm so much better now I have some back ground knowledge about my disorder, I don't google anymore, oy about health anxiety, it's interesting knowing people feel and think the same as you do and it's not abnormal, I don't feel so alone, I've learnt my triggered and my coping methods all taught from cbt, don't get me wrong I'm not cured, like I say today is a bad day, but I'm coping better and I'm nothing like I was. I really hope that I can fulfil the power of my mind and get over this, I'm having a little relapse as my dr said but the months in between are getting longer and longer. I know exactly how you feel and it really isn't nice, i hope we can both get over our health anxiety. But I definitely would recommend cbt x

---------- Post added at 11:25 ---------- Previous post was at 11:19 ----------

Oh and just to add I have a pain my armpit too, I keep getting it, I've been to my dr because of the exact same fears of you , she checked for lumps or any differences and reassured me it's probably muscle related, always get checked that's what drs are there for but I know 100% the more I think about my armpit the worse it gets, that's because I out so much energy into it. Now my arm hurts I've forgotten about my armpit. (Strange I know) I'm new to this forum so Ice never posted before, sorry I've gone on I know :-/

[mimie]

Thanks for your reply and please do not apologise as your reply helps me - just knowing that it happens to others too and how they cope. I am on the waiting list for cbt, have had it before and hypnotherapy which both helped but I know my anxiety levels are high at the moment another time and I can forget it, but when it is there it is constant and desperately looking for reassurance. I have had a stomach ach all day as I am worried about bowel cancer at the moment and it does seem that the more you worry about it the worse the symptoms get - I think if I was distracted they would lessen. My gp I think has had enough of me at the moment and I am embarrased to keep going back. Your reply has helped, I wish I could remember if stomach upset is a symptom of anxiety, I wasn't to google to find out but am scares as to what I will see.

[Presto]

Do u feel the onset of your anxiety is triggered by a physical symptom ?? Like a pain in your tummy?? I'm pretty certain your tummy ache is just an ache, we all have them, it could be something you've eaten or wind or just a bug , it's easy for to say that tho because it isn't my body and I can rationalise it for you but I know myself how hard it is to do this myself with my own symptoms. Don't google just see how your tummy goes?? The less you think about it I'm sure it will slowly start to go but if it doesn't and your still worried ask ur gp for a telephone app just to reassure you. I have my mum as my reassurance, I probably drive her insane but she is my security blanket despite me being nearly 30 she probably shouldn't. Have u no one to just voice ur concerns too? Sometimes just saying it out loud helps me, hope your day improves, mine has I've managed to clean my windows *the joys* haha :)

---------- Post added at 13:40 ---------- Previous post was at 13:36 ----------

And yes stomach upset is a symptom, the list is endless. I used to wake in the night every night and have upset tummy. It's a common symptom of stress x

[mimie]

thank you so much, yes I do have my husband to talk to he can be very helpful and understanding but I can see at the moment he is thinking oh not again!!

if I am going through an anxious time I usually get some anxiety symptoms and can say to myself this is just anxiety it will pass. with the health anxiety I get something into my head that I have a certain illness and it is always serious and then I get the symptoms and they will stay with me until i am distracted or forget - it is very exhausting. I have some valerian downstairs which I would like to take as I am told they are good for anxiety but am scared that they will affect my tum with side effects and make it worse.

Wee done for cleaning your windows, I hope the sun is shining wherever you are :D

[Dragon1988]

:)

I get all these symptoms !!! I pee a lot... like right now i need to pee... And im at work.

lol but i can't go. I got often, and in my family they make fun. I am bloated, and suffer ibs symptoms which are exactly the same. Plus i have two aunties that have suffered genetic cancer, and gone through all the sadness of it. But both still managing... Its very sad, but if anything I could say i should be worried, or my cousin who did the genetic test, and now shes positive; she has the gene.

Imagine :( this effects of getting mortgages of house, and how u FEEL....for the rest of your life. but shes coping so well...

they have brca 1, genetic cancer. :(

So honey,


please don't stress.. YOu know my untie, she is the healthiest healthiest out of all my family...and she was the one :( to get it....

So i am trying to say is do not stress, you can do tests... But it probably isnt anything. Stress gives all the same symptoms. I have them, i have such a big bloating belly that I worry im pregnant !!!! :shrug:


xxx

[Presto]

Mimie, that's really good you have a good supportive husband, my oh has found this a struggle to cope with me at times, I've only been this way for 7 months now and it's been up aNd down, it's been very sunny where I am which is lovely, hope I've managed to help you out of one of those moments if despair, I have many all the time ;/) ha. I hope your days improved. Positive thinking and remember your techniques from cbt :/)

[mimie]

thank you, It is so hard! Tomorrow eve I am having a sigmoidoscopy for tum pains, change in bowel functioning and I saw blood once on the tissue. I am too worried to think about cbt training at the moment.

[Presto]

Oh bless you, good luck with it all. Sending positive thoughts your way.

[mimie]

that's kind of you - I am petrified as you can probably imagine! will try to relax and remember cbt

[pringles]

Hi
I used to have health anxiety. I may get it in the future again who knows. But the one thing I can say is that the only way to get rid or control it is to get on with your life planning other things. Then before you know it you would have forgotten about it. Sounds easy but I say to you to try it..