How to start getting over anxiety??

[NinjaDave8]

Hey folks, first time posting.

I believe I have a health anxiety but not 100% sure. Maybe it's just the fact that I do not want to believe I have anything more serious going on.

Anyway, quickly go through the background. One evening I had a pins and needles in my arm while on the computer and thought I had just hit a nerve in my elbow so it didn't bother me. Later that night, I lay in bed and my entire left leg went really into a pins and needles state (no awkward positions) and started throbbing and I didn't sleep.

The next two days weren't too bad, everything seemed to calm down. A couple of days later, the tingling/ pain moved around the body while coming and going when it pleased. I could not work out any triggers that would set the pain off. Places included, back of neck, shoulder, elbows, hips, knees and ankles. Went to docs, blood tests were fine and it started to get better over the course of 4 - 5 weeks and is still improving.

However, the doc asked the question if I had any black spots in my vision. I said no (which I didn't), but now I notice these natural eye floaters a lot more than when he mentioned them which is why I think I have slight anxiety. I'm currently also having stomach/ digestive issues and a minor constant dull headache just over my eyes and at the the top of the neck/ base of the head for the last week or so. Furthermore, I haven't had over 6 hours sleep in one night since this all started. This further confirms my belief that I have health anxiety and have quickly learnt that Google is the enemy.

I'm just wondering if anyone here has any advice on how to start getting over this anxiety. I'm thinking about it all the time and am currently hyper sensitive about every little niggle that I feel. Anyway, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

[Light_Bringer777]

Not completely there yet myself, but here's what's worked for me so far:

1. Don't google. Ever. "But it's just for this meaningless thing.." don't. "I'll just reassure myself by reading how small the odds are" DON'T.

2. Starve your anxiety. What gets fed grows, and anything you give into your anxiety you make it stronger. Be it making scenarios, estimating outcomes, looking online, you're just sensitizing yourself further. It's hard at first, and you might just be able to go from worrying for 2 hours to worrying for 90 minutes, but that's still progress and helps kills the bad habit. Stop the over-sensitizing and hyper-awareness little by little. At the very least slow it down!

3. Feed your positive behaviors. Just as before, what gets fed grows, and just as I started writing a symptoms journal a while back to find out what was wrong with me (it really helped me fix my issues to be honest), keeping a journal of what went RIGHT is great for negative people. "Today I had no tingling at all", "Today my digestion was fine", or even "Today my issues did not get worse". Then when you look back you see things are getting better, not worse, and you're not dying.

4. Live mimicking someone stupid. Well not stupid, but you know that kind of person that just shrugs off everything and never seems to worry? My worried mind tells me they're stupid, but I use them in my head as a reference point. "OMG I am feeling dizzy today, am I dying of cancer?!?" suddenly becomes different when subjected to the point of view of that worry-less person in my mind. It helps desensitize you and carry on with life. A sort of "fake it til you make it" strategy. "What would that person do?". I'm still worried, but I'm working, eating, walking... and eventually the worry fades away and you just find yourself living life.

5. Thrust the judgement of others. If you acknowledge the fact that your judgement on health matters is flawed, ask others what they think of it, what they would do about it if it happened to them, and stick by their judgement. They've got a functional alarm system, yours goes off all the time; use theirs.

6. Notice negative self-talk and replace it with positive self-talk. Again, a case of fake it til you make it. Your mind is telling you "You won't make it to next year", make it stop, then ask yourself how reasonable this is, what are the actual odds of a catastrophic scenario happening, and how wrong you've been in the past. You wake up and think "Another hard day to live through", stop and force yourself to think maybe "Let's give today a chance, it can get better and better". You might not believe it at first, but the habit will slowly change.

7. If you're subject to panics, develop tools to fight them. Personally distraction, positive statements and abdominal breathing do the trick.

8. Expect ups and downs, don't focus on the bad, don't blame yourself for bad days. Look in the long run; yes I had a bad week, but overall I got better and better over the last 2 months. Sometimes, the only way out is through, so give yourself a break on particularly bad days, watch a comforting movie, take it slow, read a book and wait for things to get cool off.

9. Take actions. Read books, watch videos, talk to others, get professional help depending on how you feel about it and how confident you feel about managing this problem yourself or as a team. Don't be a victim, be an actor in your life, and no matter the situation, make the best out of it. I got more and more health issues lately, but my anxiety is actually getting better and I know things will continue this way and my health will get better too with time. And EVEN IF it didn't, I'd find ways to cope and live a meaningful life.

10. Don't google. Seriously. Unless you want to ruin your day I guess.

Wow ended up making a humongous post...:roflmao:

Still, that's what's worked for me so far, and I'm a good 70-80% better. Hardly ever get panics, still get depressed on bad days but this too shall pass, and sure enough the next day I'm better and ready to fight.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Are you sure its HA and not another form of anxiety? I have GAD & OCD and I do a lot of symptom focussing but I know its only anxiety and nothing more sinister and further proof being that I can take or leave Google or any of those triggers because I don't have the Cognitive Distortions that focus on it being something else.

GAD can mimic other conditions so its sometimes hard to determine whether you have something or just an element. Another example is intrusive thoughts which you can have with any anxiety disorder but they don't become classified as OCD on that basis.

So, are you focussing on your health and worrying that it may be something more than anxiety?