New here and looking for advice...

[haleigh]

Hi! I am new here and to all of this. I have always been an anxious person but over the past few weeks-month things have just spiraled. I experienced my first real panic attack and it was so frightening. I seem to have a lot of anxiety issues and it all seems to come back to health anxiety. Any small pain, bump, lump, ill feeling, etc, I am freaking out over. The worst part is I google any symptom I have and then freak out even more. How do you stop yourself from thinking the worst everytime you have a pain or sick feeling? Any advice?

[swanick15]

If you get a new symptom the habit is to google it, but before you do make yourself aware that it will likely tell you have cancer, but think about it; what are the chances of it really being something serious? Hardly anything! Here's an example brief episodes of tingling in your arms and legs, some people with HA will immediately think, MS... You then use a rational thought to counter the bad thought, it is really MS or more likely just a harmless bit of tingling which will pass shortly?
To summarise counter irrational thoughts with more likely outcomes and try not to google, remember we are all the same with our bad HA habits and you're not alone with it! Good Luck

[haleigh]

Thanks! That is some good advice :) I think I try to counter with rational thoughts but sometimes my worries get the best of me. Definitley a work in progress. Thanks for the tip!

[swanick15]

Your very welcome but might take you a few tries to do it, one of the plagues of HA but good luck