Do you latch on to illnesses that represent your biggest fear?

[Leah88]

I find I am more obsessed with diseases which are incurable or based on something I fear. For eg. I don't obsess over my heart as I know how good modern cardiac medicine is and how there are so many preventative measures that can be taken. I watched my nan survive 3 major heart attacks and live a long life ( not saying this is always the case, just that there are good treatment options for heart problems) I also don't obsess about ms as I know the odds of a long healthy life are favourable and I don't obsess about aids or communicable disease as I don't take the associated risks for catching them. I do however worry about telemerase disease ( I have no family history of genetic illness but my parents had me in their later years) mum 38 and dad 41 so I worry because I have a greater mutational load im more likely to have shit DNA. I have had an obsession with premature aging syndromes for the last 2 years?... I wonder though if I obsess about having the disease because I feared dying prematurely before I found out there were syndromes which could cause this.
Thoughts?

[melfish]

Interesting. I'm not scared of heart stuff for the same reasons as you. Cancer has never really triggered me either. My thing has always been autoimmune/degenerative neurological disease (currently I fear I have ALS). I think it's because I am a control freak and cannot stand the thought of being totally dependent. It terrifies me.

[Cece6]

That is a really interesting question. I think it's really helpful when we delve into it further, it reassures me too.

Cancer/MS/ALS etc don't trigger me. I have huge fears of chronic illnesses (lupus etc.) and also of sepsis and bacteria. So every virus and infection is blown hugely out of proportion!

I think possibly because I have had the threat of both, but I also feel there's something deep down that's causing it, that I can't quite put my finger on yet.

[ktdid2000]

Yup - for me it's cancer, always cancer.

I really can't get worried or anxious about much else, even when I try. It's weird how our brains can latch on to one thing and see it as the "boogey man" to the exclusion of all other things that might happen to us one day.

I'm not sure why it's cancer - no one in my immediate family has ever had cancer and I've only recently (at age 35) had some friends that had it and both are still alive and kicking. I think for me it just represents the thing that so many people get diagnosed with and don't survive, though I might be blowing up the stats in my head. It seems like a diagnosis of no hope - like welp, it's the end! AND it seems to happen randomly to people with no history or risk factors so it's like it's just going to jump out and get me one day!

Crazy, I know. I guess "boogey man" is pretty much the best way to describe it for me.

---------- Post added at 11:39 ---------- Previous post was at 11:38 ----------

Also, I read some article about how you are so much more likely to die from heart disease (it's still the number 1 killer in the US) but people are MUCH more scared of cancer despite it being less likely. :huh:

[ScaredLizard]

This is a good question. I don't worry about heart disease although I do have one. I don't worry about cancer either because they are treatable. I worry about things hard to treat or detect that are very closely tied with death. Like rabies, brain eating amoeba, sepsis. That kind of thing. Sepsis scares me.

I'm afraid of these things because it's something beyond my control and with my OCD I want to be in control at all times. My health anxiety is entirely related to my being afraid of death. I'm a mess when I'm sick too

[AussieWorrier]

Always been scared of cancer ever since my cousin died of brain cancer when she was 21 around 30 years ago and now my mother has breast cancer (stage 3) which was discovered 6 years ago... my dads side has heart disease and I know my cholesterol is considered high(6.9) and for a short time I tried to reduce it and avoid medication but I'm not interested in that anymore ... it's the constant fear of breast cancer and ovarian that causes my anxiety to skyrocket ... and it doesn't help when I'm always too scared to see a doctor !!!

[MyNameIsTerry]

Not a HAer here but OCDer with non health themes. If you talk to most people who experience intrusive thoughts themes you start picking up on reasons why their intrusive thoughts are about their greatets fears, their Achilles heels.

For instance, harming children tends to be parents, teachers, youth worker/coaches, etc. Violence tends to be parents, people who wouldn't harm a fly or have strong beliefs in being responsible. The religious ones are always very obvious as they are directly about areas of faith.

Intrusive thoughts can be experienced by anyone but they are usually considered more OCD. But they may be diagnosed as OCD when the diagnosis is either obsession based or mixed, as opposed to compulsion based. HAers can easily fall into this and intrusive thoughts will be what many are experiencing too.

What I always say about intrusive thoughts, other than the usual ego dystonic stuff, is - what would be the point of an intrusive thought about something you weren't scared of? For instance, you get a thought the milkman is due tomorrow. It's not scary, therefore it gets characterised as something like the Mind Pops that are a newer area of research. To be an intrusive thought, it's scary or evokes shame, disgust, etc.

The subconscious can see what means more to you than something else. If cancer is something that has more importance, and especially if it is linked to fear emotions, then it's a prime target for the subconscious to use it to scare you. When it does this it expects a fear based reaction because the Amygdala looking for the response is the one that only recieves fear. This is why it's slow to remove intrusive thoughts through stopping that reaction and changing it to positive/neutral, which it can't see, basically starving it of feedback until it mothballs it all knowing you aren't scared of those types of thoughts anymore.

Some things are drummed into us. Cancer = death. That's how it's often portrayed, it's put across as something you it leg to the doctors about. Heart disease gets less airtime and people live with it for ages anyway. Rare stuff that's fatal gets thrown at us by the tabloids like rabies, the infamous brain eating amoebas, etc.

[Leah88]

Good food for thought guys .. thanks for the input

[cyberchondriac.]

It wasn't my biggest fear until I latched onto it! Als...

[melfish]

Illness as metaphor. That reminds me, I was about to reread the Magic Mountain ;)

[Ih8HA]

My fear for the past 7 months is HIV and someone purposely infecting me with it.. Even though I am married, have been with the same person for 16 years and do not put myself at risk, I still think it has happened. I have also been tested about 10 times this year alone. :weep:

[emanticoff73]

Brain tumors are my thing. Rare but deadly. Forget if i get a headache. Im in a tailspin for days,

[melfish]

Hmm, interesting. I never worry about brain tumours. Even when they thought I had one (an acoustic neuroma), I was oddly calm about it

[ODA_555]

For me the bogeyman is cancer. This group of diseases we label cancer is the 2nd highest killer in the US. There's quite a bit that's down to chance. You can do everything preventative and still get it. My mother died about a month ago from ovarian cancer. I see it as a death sentence.

[MyNameIsTerry]

For me the bogeyman is cancer. This group of diseases we label cancer is the 2nd highest killer in the US. There's quite a bit that's down to chance. You can do everything preventative and still get it. My mother died about a month ago from ovarian cancer. I see it as a death sentence.

Sorry to hear about your mum :hugs::flowers:

[ODA_555]

Sorry to hear about your mum :hugs::flowers:
Thanks! Sad thing, she was only 63 years old.

[Makdarko2010]

Ugh ALS is my biggest fear, probably because I love to be active and losing that scares me, terrifies me

[MyNameIsTerry]

Thanks! Sad thing, she was only 63 years old.

Yes, that's very sad. You must be in bits at the moment.

[roseanxiety]

For me the bogeyman is cancer. This group of diseases we label cancer is the 2nd highest killer in the US. There's quite a bit that's down to chance. You can do everything preventative and still get it. My mother died about a month ago from ovarian cancer. I see it as a death sentence.



That is my fear too. I think every single symptom I have is cancer related .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[unsure_about_this]

I worried about every symptoms sign I get is bad, including the dizzy room spell for what seems like to last for ages.

[emanticoff73]

Brain tumor. There scare me to death. Rare but so deadly.

[ODA_555]

Yes, that's very sad. You must be in bits at the moment.
Not as much these days.