Stop Googling symptoms

[Catherine S]

That's all really.

On the other hand, if all the people who post about symptoms they've asked Google about, if they were all suddenly removed there'd be hardly anybody left on the forum. Sorry about that Nic :D

[Mindprison]

You are correct in saying that that the internet provides easy access to medical "advice" that the average person would have no need to know.

However, having been one of these people myself in the past and to some extent even now I will say that sometimes it's not as easy as just "not doing it"

Sadly the only person qualified to deal with obsessive behaviour like this is a therapist/psychiatrist.

The problem? By the time most HA sufferers finally seek psychological help the seed is planted so far that it becomes extremely hard to break.

[Fishmanpa]

There's no harm in hoping :) That being said, the reality we know will be different. And THAT being said, if you're going to give in to the compulsion, add the word "anxiety" to the search :yesyes:

Positive thoughts

[Catherine S]

When I was at my worst with health anxiety and panic attacks it was in the 1980s and didn't have the Internet, but did have a huge medical encyclopedia. I looked up the symptoms one day, didn't like what I was reading so never did that again.

On this forum, so many people post saying they've stupidly Googled and then expect us to make them feel better by reassurance they don't have the life shortening disease they now think they have

Sorry, but i'm a little tired of hearing it's not that easy to stop googling. Actually. ..yes it is. The next time you feel you want to input your symptoms into your search engine, listen to the voice that's telling you not to. Stop making yourselves more miserable for goodness sake. :shrug:

[melfish]

Ah yes, I well remember the medical reference section of bookstores and libraries ... good times, good times :shades:

[Mindprison]

I do see your point, I didn't disagree that it's a problem.

However, everything seems easier in hindsight. I look back to my first spiral 10 years ago and can rationalise it better now than I ever could then, even with a current anxiety disorder.

Regardless of whether it's self inflicted or not, I don't think it gives any of us the right to belittle their struggles and certainly not call them wimps.

[Catherine S]

Ok, i'll remove that word. Don't want to offend.

I'm not trying to dismiss people's struggles...been there myself, but really, most of the forum is made up of people googling symptoms and freaking out, its become ridiculous. And extremely sad.

[swajj]

If you want to get well you have to stop Googling. You will not get well until you do. It’s that simple really.

---------- Post added at 15:32 ---------- Previous post was at 15:22 ----------

btw Catherine you don’t need to apologise because you are spot on. I used to Google symptoms until one day my psych said I would never recover until I stopped. It was an easy choice for me, keep Googling and stay mentally unwell or give up Googling and recover. We tell people here the same thing time and time again. They say they want nothing more than to have their lives back and yet they refuse to take one critically important step...stop Googling symptoms.

---------- Post added at 15:37 ---------- Previous post was at 15:32 ----------

I’m actually glad to see the mods are starting to address the problem by moving threads to the symptoms section of the board. If you want to Google symptoms then go to the symptoms section for advice. If, however, you want to talk about how your anxiety can cause your symptoms and receive advice about what you can do to combat your anxiety then this is the place for you. :)

[Violet Blue]

That's right swajj. We just have to take responsibility for our own mental health, and that means being sensible with the Internet.

I'm liking the hard line the mods are taking too. I can think of one serial 'no seriously, I'm DEFINITELY ill' poster who seems to be silenced because they aren't getting so much attention now on the relevant board for their symptoms. Hopefully they are feeling better because of that, which would be wonderful.

[pulisa]

I'm glad these threads are being moved too because unfortunately getting too much attention just feeds into the problem as we know. Cutting off "supply" is essential-it's hard for the OP but that's the nature of HA and nobody on here should be receiving special attention.

[ankietyjoe]

Sorry, but i'm a little tired of hearing it's not that easy to stop googling. Actually. ..yes it is. The next time you feel you want to input your symptoms into your search engine, listen to the voice that's telling you not to. Stop making yourselves more miserable for goodness sake. :shrug:

I agree with this. It might sound like tough love, but people need to understand that the most powerful form of help they can get is self help. Suffering with anxiety doesn't absolve you from being self disciplined, just as you would need self discipline to quit smoking or lose weight. All of them hard, but all of them require discipline and extended effort to succeed.

[axolotl]

I'm liking the hard line the mods are taking too. I can think of one serial 'no seriously, I'm DEFINITELY ill' poster who seems to be silenced because they aren't getting so much attention now on the relevant board for their symptoms. Hopefully they are feeling better because of that, which would be wonderful.

Agree with this, it's much better that the Health Anxiety board drifts towards people wanting to get help for their Health Anxiety rather than poring over minutiae of blood tests and rashes, and the Symptoms board drifts towards practical help for the annoying physical symptoms of anxiety, rather than asking if every little thing = cancer.

I have sympathy, I have health anxiety myself and sometimes my brain is screaming for me to post something on here for reassurance of particular "symptoms", but I (almost) always resist it because I've seen what a dark path that is to many posters on here if it becomes a habit.

[TheGroundhog]

Completely agree. Yes, it's hard, because it's a compulsion, and compulsions are hard to overcome. But that doesn't mean it's not achievable. You just have to take it a minute or even a second and a time and deal with each urge as it arrives. It quickly becomes easier.

Unfortunately googling with the word 'anxiety' attached is just as bad as it's reassurance seeking and reassurance is crack to a HA sufferer. All through my worst bits I only ever googled 'xxxxx anxiety' or tbh, mostly 'no more panic xxxxx'.

I have spent enormous amounts of time on these boards trying desperately to reassure myself and so kept myself
ill for a very long time.

I think these forums are tricky, because humans are generally kind, we don't want to see people suffer, most of us know how horrible HA is and it's natural that we tell people they will be okay, it's almost certainly not the thing they are scared of.

In all honesty though I think it does the anxious person a disservice, accepting lack of control, tolerating uncertainty is absolutely key to learning to live with HA. To most people who post 'oh my god, could it be......' the answer should probably be 'yes, maybe, maybe not, no idea'. How cruel that sounds but it's what my therapist has always said to me, whilst banning me from checking with a GP. When I would sob and say 'but what if I die?' she would tell me not to worry she would come to my funeral :yesyes:

[axolotl]

Unfortunately googling with the word 'anxiety' attached is just as bad as it's reassurance seeking and reassurance is crack to a HA sufferer. All through my worst bits I only ever googled 'xxxxx anxiety' or tbh, mostly 'no more panic xxxxx'.

Exactly, the key is to start letting these thoughts come and go without comment. "Researching" benign stuff is still training our brains that everything is a puzzle to be solved and certainty can be achieved by amassing more information. Plus most anxiety sites have a disclaimer or two because they don't want to put genuinely ill people off going to the doctor, which just opens the rabbit warren enough for you to start to slip into it.

The way I see reassurance seeking is it's a compulsion. You tell yourself oh just a quick look on the NHS site, I won't go elsewhere else, and I'm in a good frame of mind and I'll be reassured... three hours later you're on page six of the Google search for some deadly thing you hadn't even thought of before. It's like an alcoholic who's been clean for a while and decides it doesn't matter if they have a couple of lagers...

[swajj]

lol exactly. And even if you don’t immediately start experiencing the symptoms of that illness you accidentally came across whilst researching a different illness, all those little seeds have been sewn and will sprout somewhere down the track.

[pulisa]

It does seem that the tougher the therapist, the more success is achieved with managing HA. But others will say that this is all down to the individual's personality, I suppose. I know I wouldn't want a wishy-washy approach and would much prefer rules to bolster my self-discipline.

[KK77]

I was initially directed to NMP (via Google!) while researching people's experiences of certain meds. I had an undiagnosed physical condition at the time and feared it could be a sinister neuro disease. I was shocked to subsequently see literally hundreds of others fearing MS, MND and other progressive and serious illnesses. All this made me feel less isolated and alone in my suffering and anxiety. I realised that many others have HA. But I felt no compulsion to post asking for reassurance or advice. Seeing so many others fear the worst yet time and time again, test after test, have nothing more than HA or GAD/OCD diagnosed was reassurance enough.

There is a term called Occam's Razor. The simple and most probable explanation is often the reality.

[swajj]

It does seem that the tougher the therapist, the more success is achieved with managing HA. But others will say that this is all down to the individual's personality, I suppose. I know I wouldn't want a wishy-washy approach and would much prefer rules to bolster my self-discipline.


“There, there” (pat, pat on the head” would never have worked with me. My psych was one mean b’strd :roflmao:

but I’m recovered lol