Some encouragement for HA sufferers

[Beckybecks]

I've suffered with health anxiety for many many years. last year I completed a CBT course that has helped me to change the way I think and react to situations and symptoms.

Recently I've been through a very stressful time which has triggered all sorts of symptoms. I've managed to deal with each symptom in a rational way and I've found that although the symptom is there it doesn't feel or last as long as it used to when I reacted in panic.

Also where I've had real health issues I've found the same results. For instance I have an old back injury that flares up occasionally. In the past I always felt very anxious about it and of course it felt so much more severe and lasted sometimes for months with me not being able to walk at times. This time around it's been so much easier and after just one week is so much improved.

IBS is another problem with me and in the past when I've had a flare up it has sometimes lasted for over six months. This time it's been only days.

I just want to let all fellow HA sufferers know that it IS possible to recover and that those symptoms aren't NEARLY as bad as we perceive them to be when we're under the influence of the monster :)

I fully recommend CBT and can't tell you the relief I feel now after years of worrying and suffering from this condition.

[KatiePink]

I have many the same symptoms as you and worry about them each time they arise, I always get symptoms after a stressful period and freak out instead of letting them be. I tell myself it's too much to be stress related, I.e vision changes, dizziness, sleep problems, skin proems, headaches ect when they are all classic stress symptoms x

[Beckybecks]

I understand what you're going through. I know how hard it is.
One of the things I learnt in CBT is to keep a Mood Diary. I can write everything I've been through each day, my symptoms and how I reacted to them.

I can then look back to see where I've had similar symptoms in similar circumstances, what I believed them to be (i.e. Cancer, brain tumour, terminal and terrifying illnesses) and what the eventual outcome was.

This helped to prove to my panic riddled mind that they were Never what I suspected them to be and were always magnified by and due to my anxiety.

This was the proof needed to change my way of thinking. So that I can know now, for sure that these symptoms are not worth worrying about and will fade away as I stop worrying about them.

[.Poppy.]

I understand what you're going through. I know how hard it is.
One of the things I learnt in CBT is to keep a Mood Diary. I can write everything I've been through each day, my symptoms and how I reacted to them.

I can then look back to see where I've had similar symptoms in similar circumstances, what I believed them to be (i.e. Cancer, brain tumour, terminal and terrifying illnesses) and what the eventual outcome was.

This helped to prove to my panic riddled mind that they were Never what I suspected them to be and were always magnified by and due to my anxiety.

This was the proof needed to change my way of thinking. So that I can know now, for sure that these symptoms are not worth worrying about and will fade away as I stop worrying about them.


Journaling is awesome for the exact reasons you've said.. It is what helped me beat my HA the first time around and being able to read what I wrote six or seven years ago regarding similar symptoms I'm having now has been super helpful - it turned out fine then, after all.