Why do you have these things?

[venusbluejeans]

So reading the threads in the Health Anxiety forum there is one thing that keeps cropping up that I really don't understand.

I am not a HA sufferer so to me it is just puzzling.

Why do you as health Anxiety Sufferers have medical equipment to check up on your symptoms, almost 95% of the time you read it and you then panic about it as you think there is something wrong with the readings.

I understand having them if you have a medical condition and need it BUT surely they must be the HA sufferers nightmare :shrug:

You wouldn't be medically trained to diagnose the results you get from them and they seem to just make you worry even more.

I know it is easy for me to say, but I think they should be thrown away and you trust your doctors.

I am not critisising anyone......just puzzled and curious I guess.

[SarahH]

Hi Venus,
As an HA sufferer, as well as other things, my guess is that having equipment at home allows someone to seek reassurance. However, psychiatrists will tell you this will perpetuate the problem. But I understand the need for HA sufferers to do this. Its a really difficult cycle/habit to break, like "pulse checking".

sarah

[lalouba]

For the same reason that we google - for reassurance. Unfortunately often times we don't get the reassurance we're looking for, but we always think "well... maybe this time!"

[chickpea]

This reminds me of a visit I recently made to stay with my mum.
The first thing she said, after we had driven for over 7 hours was, "You will remember I gave a water meter, won't you?"
Thus began a week of her constantly monitoring our water use, even down to how much we used to make a cup of tea.

As I pointed out to her, if she didn't gave a meter, she wouldn't be so stressed - I mean, who know what's a reasonable/acceptable amount of water to be using? And don't you gave to allow for certain factors, like how many people are in the house etc.
Ditto health monitors!! If you don't constantly check your blood pressure/temperature/pulse etc, you won't need to worry about the readings. The majority of the population are walking around, oblivious to their blood pressure AND ARE JUST FINE!!

Sure, people go to their doctors feeling unwell, have their pressure checked and find it's a little low/high, but the point is, they had the symptoms FIRST. A person with no symptoms doesn't need to be constantly monitoring themselves.

Take a lesson from my mother - trying to know and control everything only leads to more stress and worry...not less.

[Fishmanpa]

I believe it's part of the disease, much like Googling, self checking etc. Unfortunately, the intent fails miserably as evidenced in many threads. It only serves cause additional stress and worry. The users are not medical experts and the machines can be inherently unreliable. And like a drug addiction, it's very difficult to stop once you start. I'm waiting for the iPhone6/health app to become the next obsession and trigger .." OMG! my iPhone says I'm dying! ;)

Positive thoughts

[almamatters]

It is most definitely for reassurance, I must admit I have a blood sugar testing kit ( I am not diabetic ) I also had a blood pressure monitoring device which I convinced my GP I needed ( my blood pressure is normal ) It is a horrible cycle to get into I used to test my b/s levels a dozen times a day which in itself used to set off panic attacks if I thought something was wrong. I suppose it's the constant need of a HA sufferer to have something or someone to tell them they are healthy.

[debs71]

I have momentary periods of HA, but I can normally rationalise most symptoms, and chill out again pretty fast, but I get why people use these monitors I think.

As most people have said already, I think HA suffers feel it will reassure them, and act as a comfort blanket in some way, but it is a loser's game really, as what happens when you monitor your blood pressure and then see it is normal, or what you perceive to be normal? You relax...

...but it doesn't just end there. The next day you double check, and it is off whack, or what you perceive to be off whack. Then your anxiety rises, so you check, check again and so it goes.

It just becomes an endless cycle that never leads to any resolution or mental relaxation.

I am a firm believer in the old adage that when it comes to HA, 'ignorance is bliss' and too much knowledge is NEVER a good thing.

[Carnation]

There's quite simple answer to this. If the GP/Doctor checks you out for something and says you are ok. In the Mind, you start thinking; but what about tomorrow, next week , next month. I might contract some Illness/Disease. It's a constant battle and fear of not knowing if you are ok and about to Die! With the added feeing of that pain in the chest and that mark on your breast and the head-ache that won't go away, you start obsessing about it chronically. Like Fishmanpa says; it's an illness! You have to check to reassure yourself and the slightest defect sends Health Anxiety Sufferers into overdrive. I was like this, and was in tears everyday. Then after visiting a really good GP he made me realize that I was making myself worse with the obsessing. It doesn't help if you have family members that have had Cancer, Parkinson's, Heart Attack; especially if you have witnessed their suffering full-on, you then obsess that you will also have to experience this painful and debilitating Disease. Hence the need for checking. It's like we have to be prepared for whatever is coming?????:scared15:

[skippy66]

I wasted a small fortune on home medical equipment when I had health anxiety. Blood pressure monitors etc.

But not as much as I wasted on the mainly utter crap homeopathy products, supplements, old wives tale-type cures that I read about on the internet - e.g. for heart palpitations drink apple cider vinegar. Utter rubbish, and deserving of it's own thread actually...

The most ridiculous thing I bought was a home glucose-testing kit as I was convinced I had diabetes or was hypoglaecemic ar something. I've still got it but never use it these days.

What was I thinking.......? :shrug: