Bored with this ha

[herbie73]

Afternoon all,
Just thought I would have a little rant, so one minute I'm obsessing about my IUD and spotting then its back to the uneven groin, I just wished this would go away for good, don't get me wrong I am a lot better than I was 2 years ago, but I have these 2 worries that I can't shake, first being the spotting I get with the copper IUD that I have had from day 1 which is two years, and second because my right side ofmygroin is slightly more obvious, I'm making myself I'll, and I really want to stop this before I end up back where I was 2 years ago, so if anyone has got advice I would be grateful.

Sherry

Xxxx

[ServerError]

It's great to hear that you're better than you were. Don't let that progress slip just because anxiety still tugs at you.

I suspect you recognise your fears as irrational. There is nothing in our DNA that codes for perfectly matching groin areas. Symmetry is not a human trait, yet it's surprising how often you see posts from people fretting because something doesn't perfectly match its counterpart. That's just the way we are. If you went looking for other examples of this on your body, you'd find them.

Your title says you're bored of this health anxiety. How about distracting yourself from it where possible? Anxiety doesn't go away in one stroke, so how about making friends with it while you have it? Forget about being bored of it. What does that achieve? For the time being, how about allowing your mind to create this scary thoughts without identifying so heavily with it? Just because your mind thinks something or catastrophises something doesn't make it true.

[herbie73]

Thank you for your reply everything you said is so true, I'm going to try to distract from checking and getting on with my life, and realising that things are different in the body and are uneven.

Xxxxx

[ServerError]

Distraction is a practical thing we can do to take the sting out of anxiety, especially if we're not currently in therapy.

However, a bit of further advice I would give is this: you'll probably be determined to distract yourself and not to worry. But anxiety is a persistent beast, even more so when it looks like we might be winning. So at some point, you may feel an urge to check again, and before you know it, you're all over it, examining and worrying. I don't believe in suppression as a good way forward. Suppression sbd distraction are not the same thing. Don't turn distraction into another layer of your anxiety battle. If you find yourself checking again, don't beat yourself up about it. Don't feel like you've failed. Treat is as a chance to make progress by rationalising what you see or feel, and above, when you're done, move on from the fact you checked.

I'm sure people without anxiety sometimes check themselves and feel as if something isn't right. The difference is they will shrug it off. They won't take it out on themselves.

All I'm saying is, be patient with yourself. If you slip into bad habits, observe it, notice it, learn from it, move on.

I hope this is helpful advice. I'm no therapist or professional. I'm just an anxiety sufferer who has made a lot of progress by putting these approaches into practice in my own life.