News stories as triggers

[Worrywart1234]

Does anyone else find that news stories on health trigger their anxiety? There have been so many stories in the last few weeks on people who found out they were terminally ill and it same as a shock to them, some of them dead so quickly....My anxiety has been out of control the last few weeks because of it. I’ve decided that i’m Not watching or reading ANY news for the next 2 weeks to see if that helps, but gosh it’s hard to go cold turkey! Why is it I dread reading the health stories, but at the same time it’s like I have to read them??

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yep, it's the problem with compulsion. You know it only reinforces the obsession, or in the case of some it is searching for a trigger to a cycle, but you feel like you can't stop it. It's a battle I know only too well, just not with Google & stories from a HA point of view.

Initially your anxiety is going rise when you try to resist them but they do get easier as you cross a point where the anxiety fades. It's how exposure therapy works.

If you can't cold turkey it, I know I just couldn't, then gradually reduce. This still is unpleasant but over time it is easier than a flooding approach. Reduce frequency of checks, time involved, number of sources, etc and slowly take the control back.

When you feel you need to do it you could also try to substitute it with something else not related to what you are trying to resist. Distract yourself with other activities.

When anxiety is fever pitch it really does feel right to conduct compulsions, they feel intuitive. But really we do have control & can resist if we want too but it may not feel that way.

I gradually eliminated mine but I remember a few were just sticking more. So I switched to stopping myself pre-compulsion and applying new thinking to accept I was going to do it but not because of my fear demanding it but because I was choosing to do it. Afterwards I would reaffirm why I did it. I found this worked on these ones I was stuck on.

Good luck.

[Careful1]

Yes and sometimes I feel like the universe is trying to tell me something esp when it comes to cancer... Like 2 weeks ago I was searching symptoms of the flu when my 3 year got sick. I typed symptoms into the search bar, didn't even get to finish and the first one that tried to populate was symptoms of lung cancer. I have never searched that before so I thought it was odd. Then I was on another site I belong to and there were 8 ads on that page that had to do with lung cancer... Then while leaving the ER, putting my 3 year old in her car seat I realized she had a magazine in her hand. When I grabbed it from her on the cover in big letters it said lung cancer. Stuff like that happens to me all the time, even when I'm not anxious or thinking about illness and it triggers my health anxiety.
The news of even flipping through the channels and seeing all the commercials.... Frustrating :(

[MariMelyn]

Yes and sometimes I feel like the universe is trying to tell me something esp when it comes to cancer... Like 2 weeks ago I was searching symptoms of the flu when my 3 year got sick. I typed symptoms into the search bar, didn't even get to finish and the first one that tried to populate was symptoms of lung cancer. I have never searched that before so I thought it was odd. Then I was on another site I belong to and there were 8 ads on that page that had to do with lung cancer... Then while leaving the ER, putting my 3 year old in her car seat I realized she had a magazine in her hand. When I grabbed it from her on the cover in big letters it said lung cancer. Stuff like that happens to me all the time, even when I'm not anxious or thinking about illness and it triggers my health anxiety.
The news of even flipping through the channels and seeing all the commercials.... Frustrating :(Absolutely agree with this - I only came on to the forum tonight after seeing a news article on a man's heartbreak having lost his young wife to cancer for missing a smear test [emoji52]

And like you Careful1 I feel like it's a sign specifically for me. It's definitely a trigger for my HA, so am also trying to cut down on social media and news websites until I feel stronger. I've found this forum really helpful when I feel a bout of anxiety coming on.

Sent from my WAS-LX1A using Tapatalk

[Careful1]

Absolutely agree with this - I only came on to the forum tonight after seeing a news article on a man's heartbreak having lost his young wife to cancer for missing a smear test [emoji52]

And like you Careful1 I feel like it's a sign specifically for me. It's definitely a trigger for my HA, so am also trying to cut down on social media and news websites until I feel stronger. I've found this forum really helpful when I feel a bout of anxiety coming on.

Sent from my WAS-LX1A using Tapatalk

I often have to do the same... Health anxiety is a very difficult condition to deal with.