Health anxiety and the "gut instinct"

[puzzledlass]

I was thinking today about the gut instinct you hear about and how it affects HA sufferers.

Due to our HA, we can convince ourselves of the absolute worst and essentially write ourselves off in our minds! Where does the "gut instinct" come in here, if by nature for is our gut instinct is always terrible and not always very reliable.

Basically I'm curious as to:

Have you ever had an instance where your gut instinct screamed that something was actually wrong, and was?

Do you have trouble differentiating about what could be a gut instinct and what is actually HA?

Myself, as many is you will be able to relate I'm sure, am always convinced I have the big C.. Thing is, I can't tell between HA and a gut instinct.
:(

Any thoughts?

[Fishmanpa]

It's my opinion, having been on these boards for a while, that the gut instinct is short circuited. A simple headache is a brain tumor. Piles are colon cancer. A "bone" in the neck is lymphoma. It's totally skewed and not accurate in the least. Of the literally thousands of worries I've seen here, I can count on one finger the actual cases of a fear turning into reality.

Positive thoughts

[Worried 24/7]

It's my opinion, having been on these boards for a while, that the gut instinct is short circuited. A simple headache is a brain tumor. Piles are colon cancer. A "bone" in the neck is lymphoma. It's totally skewed and not accurate in the least. Of the literally thousands of worries I've seen here, I can count on one finger the actual cases of a fear turning into reality.

Positive thoughts

Am I the "bone in the neck"? ;-)

[Fishmanpa]

Am I the "bone in the neck"? ;-)

One among many 24... although I believe it was you that posted a photo of yourself grabbing your spine through your neck ;) Hey... at least it wasn't a poo thread!

Positive thoughts

[puzzledlass]

What do you mean by short circuit FMP?

[.Poppy.]

I believe that nine times out of ten, correct "gut instinct" comes with a certain level of experience, even if you don't register it right away.

I've had gut instincts be right - but in a good way! I'll have a symptom and have the feeling like I've had this before and it all worked out, so it helps to calm me down. Even if I am not totally aware that I've had it before, I have the "gut feeling" that it's going to be fine and when it is, I check my journals and sure enough - been there, done that.

It's not really HA related but if I'm in the woods and hear a little rustle, my gut instinct may be that it's a rabbit and everything's fine. This seems like a passing instinct, but in reality is based on my experience growing up in the country, maybe I've heard the same or a similar noise before, etc. If someone comes in from the city, never been in the wilderness before, they may hear the same noise and their gut instinct may lead them to believe that something is very wrong.

I think those of us with anxiety put a lot of stock in gut instincts to explain why we are so sure of things, but then I think that society as a whole does as well. If we're in totally new territory, our "instincts" are typically wrong but we believe so strongly that we're right that it causes symptoms to persist and it causes us to feel like our anxiety is justified.

[Fishmanpa]

What do you mean by short circuit FMP?

I mean exactly that. Normally, a person without severe anxiety disorder will get a "gut" feeling about something and it's correct the majority of the time. When I was going through the diagnosis process, I "knew" it wasn't going to be good news. I sure as hell hoped it wasn't but I just had a gut feeling something was wrong. The same goes for other non health related situations in my life. And I was right every time even though I didn't always listen to my gut.

With someone with severe HA issues, that ability is skewed IMO because everything sets off the alarms. Like a short circuit in an electrical device disables the device, the same thing is going on in the mind of the HA sufferer. How many posts have you read where the poster "knows" they have some deadly disease only to be tested and all is normal?

Positive thoughts

[Female healthanxiety]

Fishmanpa - Hit the nail on the head!

[Worried 24/7]

One among many 24... although I believe it was you that posted a photo of yourself grabbing your spine through your neck ;) Hey... at least it wasn't a poo thread!

Positive thoughts

Yeah....I'm the spine grabber...lol