a quick update on my anxiety

[Thelegend27]

So I've bothered a lot of you with my worries but I think I can now rest easy, my biggest concern was that I thought my palpable nodes were the supraclavicular lymph nodes which I've read bad things about, my doctor said that they weren't they supraclavicular lymph nodes but I still worried that they might be, my nodes are so close to the supraclavicular nodes that on my test report it stated supraclavicular area but after examination I was told that they aren't those nodes. Well I went to YouTube and watched several videos of lymph node examines particulaly the supraclavicular nodes at to my comfort I learned that when your arms at rested at your side and you're sitting straight up in order to palpitate these nodes you have to run your finger along the hollow between the neck and collarbone, and the most scary nodes the virchows node is located right near where the clavicle meets the sternum, my palpable lymph nodes are about 2-3 fingers width from my collarbkne or say 4 inches below my ear. So this was a huge relief to me and I just want to say when your doctor tells you something just believe it or you will go insane like I did, my anxiety isn't over but I sure feel I huge amount of relief now. Get educated and it'll shine some light on your situation, don't read half truths and poorly policed sites where people can just say whatever they want to scare you.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Education can help, although I appreciate not everyone is going to agree on this one. But from a CBT point of view you can use evidence to reframe. There are limits to the level of counter evidence you pursue though.

With that in mind:

- When you feel the urge to chck them again, refer to what you have worked out here AND stop yourself checking. It will likely make you feel more anxious as you sit there but it will subside, as ERP shows.

- Now don't Google any further ways to check thee nodes or other conditions about them. Again, it's like the above.

If you can do those, you are working on your anxiety. You may slip or may have to eliminate things in stages rather than immediately but it is essential to recovery.

But anxiety won't just go. If you cold just turn it off, I doubt you would be here in the first place. Some can turn a corner but it just comes back another way so don't stop working on recovery.

[Thelegend27]

Thanks for the advice. And I am far from out of the woods, but as you said, as long as I can refrain from touching them eventually I can overcome it completely. And also what do you mean when you say CBT?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Good, I'm glad you accept that. I've seen people say they are over it and moving on and they will generally be back sooner or later with something else. Accepting it is going to keep trying to flare up helps because you learn not to react so strongly. The mre you move towards a sort of "meh" reaction, the less it affects you. I've found that through working on mine.

CBT = Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. The standard therapy for anxiety disorders. ERP = Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy, which is a part of CBT that deals with Pavlovian elimination - an incremental way to pass beyond what we fear by acclimatising to steps towards it.

[florida94]

As the first poster said, you know that you're all good. There is no ned to continue researching and trying to check up on what could be wrong. It's good to know certain things, but your mind is using it against you.

[ElectricAlice]

Fantastic - keep up the great work! Education is a brilliant tool that can help in so many areas.