kehoewex
01-07-15, 18:26
Hi Everyone,
I am in the middle of putting all of this into a book, but the general consensus is that people on here want to hear how I beat my health anxiety now. So I've decided to summarise what seemed to work for me, and I hope that these things also work for you.
First, let me set the scene...I was about to turn 28, I loved my job, but was doing a stupid amount of extra hours work each week for no extra pay. I was drinking 5-6 coffees a day, me and my now wife were saving for a house and wedding that were coming up the following year, and living in my parents house. I was hardly ever exercising, only occasionally doing weights each month, and I was also studying for professional accounting exams. It's fair to say that I had a lot on my plate.
In February 2014 I had my first ever panic attack, which I thought was a stroke. Since then it moved into glandular fever, where I thought my liver would burst, to thinking I had a parasite infection and getting stomach pains. Then I read on one internet site that constant burping (because I went through a stage of burping all day for about 6 months) could be linked to having a heart attack. Well you can imagine, my brain leapt onto this idea and would not let it go. I was constantly checking my pulse in my neck, constantly thinkibg stomach pains were a heart attack. I developed anxiety about any exercise, even just walking the dog around the block would send me into panic.
I knew this had to stop, as after a year of trying I was getting nowhere. I tried the L***** Method last December, and it worked to a certain degree, but it didnt address my health anxiety. I then put a plan in place, a structure that I would follow each day without fail, and gradually my anxiety reduced, but I was still getting panic attacks. My wife had been telling me for 6 months to see a therapist, and I had always declined because I was sure the L***** Method would eventually work. At the start of this year, I started aeeing a counsellor, and just by talking about my problems, and everything else that had gone on in my life, it did help me more.
The day I had my epiphany, I had come back from work and has a panic attack on the way home. I was so annoyed with myself, and I told my wife about it. She said to me "you want there to be somethi g wrong with you" and when she said it something just clicked on my brain. It was like my brain suddenly said "oh, have I really been that stupid for the last 12 months that I have created this world of constant fear", whilst all along the answer was so simple.
I now know that it was the combination of everything I had put in place, with counselling once a week, that I had set eveything into olace for me to finally see the light at the end of the anxiety tunnel.
Here is what I changed and implemented each day:
1. Drink lots of water - this helps massively
2. If you sit at a desk all day in work, go for a walk every hour. I went to do stretches every hour and it made me feel refreshed when I got back to my desk. Just do it for 2-3 mins, it makes a difference
3. I drank 3 cups of Camomile tea a day, morning, afternoon and just before bed
4. I started going for a 10 minute run, and do any other exercise I could like walking the dog
5. I stopped looking up medical conditions or any "sensations" I got during the day. If you keep doing this you are just feeding the anxiety, so stop it NOW
6. I started doing things I used to love doing when I was younger, but had somehow lost touch with them. I started drawing and writing daily
7. Hang out with friends, I didnt manage this daily, but it does take your mind off things and friends will always listen to you
8. Meditation - just 10 mins a day, just let thoughts come and go, dont give any weight to them
9. I started looking for a new job. My own personal anxiety was telling me I needed a change of job. I had lost all my passion for my current role, and my body was trying to tell me that I need to get the excitement and challenge factor back
10. I stopped looking at youtube videos for how to cure anxiety and instead listened to inspirartional people, like Brendon Burchard, who really helped me get my excitement for life back!
11. Stay away from caffeiene! this will give your anxiety fuel! Im jot saying to cut it out completely, but I never had more than 1 cup a day
12. Eat a balanced diet, lots of fruit and greens in there. Try to keep alcohol to a minimum, as hard as that may be!
13. Listen to your friends and family - they say it how it is, and for the best part of a year I had refused to listen
14. Stop visiting your GP for reassurance. If you have had every test under the sun and they all came back perfect like mine did, I finally took the hint that I should stop seekiing reassurance. When I had seen over 20 different health professional who all said I was fit and healthy, I knew it must be my paranoia that had me going back
These are just some rules that I kept to and, for me, they worked, alongside having a counsellor to speak to, who I only saw for about 6 sessions.
I am not a health professional, nor a therapist of any kind. I am just here to offer some genuine hope to other HA sufferers. If I can do it, so can you!
I really hope this post helped you in some way. I hope to release a book about my own experience later this year as I there is a lot more that I could share with people that they may relate to.
Thanks for reading, and I wish you all the best for the future.
Chris
I am in the middle of putting all of this into a book, but the general consensus is that people on here want to hear how I beat my health anxiety now. So I've decided to summarise what seemed to work for me, and I hope that these things also work for you.
First, let me set the scene...I was about to turn 28, I loved my job, but was doing a stupid amount of extra hours work each week for no extra pay. I was drinking 5-6 coffees a day, me and my now wife were saving for a house and wedding that were coming up the following year, and living in my parents house. I was hardly ever exercising, only occasionally doing weights each month, and I was also studying for professional accounting exams. It's fair to say that I had a lot on my plate.
In February 2014 I had my first ever panic attack, which I thought was a stroke. Since then it moved into glandular fever, where I thought my liver would burst, to thinking I had a parasite infection and getting stomach pains. Then I read on one internet site that constant burping (because I went through a stage of burping all day for about 6 months) could be linked to having a heart attack. Well you can imagine, my brain leapt onto this idea and would not let it go. I was constantly checking my pulse in my neck, constantly thinkibg stomach pains were a heart attack. I developed anxiety about any exercise, even just walking the dog around the block would send me into panic.
I knew this had to stop, as after a year of trying I was getting nowhere. I tried the L***** Method last December, and it worked to a certain degree, but it didnt address my health anxiety. I then put a plan in place, a structure that I would follow each day without fail, and gradually my anxiety reduced, but I was still getting panic attacks. My wife had been telling me for 6 months to see a therapist, and I had always declined because I was sure the L***** Method would eventually work. At the start of this year, I started aeeing a counsellor, and just by talking about my problems, and everything else that had gone on in my life, it did help me more.
The day I had my epiphany, I had come back from work and has a panic attack on the way home. I was so annoyed with myself, and I told my wife about it. She said to me "you want there to be somethi g wrong with you" and when she said it something just clicked on my brain. It was like my brain suddenly said "oh, have I really been that stupid for the last 12 months that I have created this world of constant fear", whilst all along the answer was so simple.
I now know that it was the combination of everything I had put in place, with counselling once a week, that I had set eveything into olace for me to finally see the light at the end of the anxiety tunnel.
Here is what I changed and implemented each day:
1. Drink lots of water - this helps massively
2. If you sit at a desk all day in work, go for a walk every hour. I went to do stretches every hour and it made me feel refreshed when I got back to my desk. Just do it for 2-3 mins, it makes a difference
3. I drank 3 cups of Camomile tea a day, morning, afternoon and just before bed
4. I started going for a 10 minute run, and do any other exercise I could like walking the dog
5. I stopped looking up medical conditions or any "sensations" I got during the day. If you keep doing this you are just feeding the anxiety, so stop it NOW
6. I started doing things I used to love doing when I was younger, but had somehow lost touch with them. I started drawing and writing daily
7. Hang out with friends, I didnt manage this daily, but it does take your mind off things and friends will always listen to you
8. Meditation - just 10 mins a day, just let thoughts come and go, dont give any weight to them
9. I started looking for a new job. My own personal anxiety was telling me I needed a change of job. I had lost all my passion for my current role, and my body was trying to tell me that I need to get the excitement and challenge factor back
10. I stopped looking at youtube videos for how to cure anxiety and instead listened to inspirartional people, like Brendon Burchard, who really helped me get my excitement for life back!
11. Stay away from caffeiene! this will give your anxiety fuel! Im jot saying to cut it out completely, but I never had more than 1 cup a day
12. Eat a balanced diet, lots of fruit and greens in there. Try to keep alcohol to a minimum, as hard as that may be!
13. Listen to your friends and family - they say it how it is, and for the best part of a year I had refused to listen
14. Stop visiting your GP for reassurance. If you have had every test under the sun and they all came back perfect like mine did, I finally took the hint that I should stop seekiing reassurance. When I had seen over 20 different health professional who all said I was fit and healthy, I knew it must be my paranoia that had me going back
These are just some rules that I kept to and, for me, they worked, alongside having a counsellor to speak to, who I only saw for about 6 sessions.
I am not a health professional, nor a therapist of any kind. I am just here to offer some genuine hope to other HA sufferers. If I can do it, so can you!
I really hope this post helped you in some way. I hope to release a book about my own experience later this year as I there is a lot more that I could share with people that they may relate to.
Thanks for reading, and I wish you all the best for the future.
Chris