Jabberwoxx
11-03-20, 14:42
Hi everyone,
I've been recently lurking on this forum, having had bad health anxiety for various issues over the years, and even posting a few threads myself a long time ago.
Recently I've been having bad bouts of health anxiety - the "dying suddenly in my sleep from an undiagnosed heart condition" has reared its ugly head again, as well as various other diseases/illnesses.
However, something which occurred to me when browsing this forum is that I am not entirely sure why people seek reassurance, because even if they are reassured from one disease, the nature of Health Anxiety would surely mean another "disease worry" will strike.
Surely the better way to combat anxiety is accept the possibility of actually being ill (even if it is like a 0.00000001 % chance), rather than being reassured that you are definitely not ill. This is because it can honestly happen to anyone at any time. As I am likely to have GAD rather than specifically HA, I don't just worry about illness, but also about other ways I could suddenly 'die' e.g. a random accident, terrorism, traffic accidents, etc.
I've learned that anxiety and uncertainty are best friends, but anxiety and acceptance are not.
It sounds quite dark but as a fellow HA sufferer myself, I know that no matter what, I will always be worried about something - and that you really cannot control everything in your life. Death can occur at any time, anywhere, and no one is immune to suddenly developing a serious illness. This is when I get the stark realization that worrying about my health is absolutely pointless. Surely it is better to come up with ways of how you would cope IF you did happen to get a serious illness, no matter how unlikely it is. And how it is such a waste of time to be worrying about something completely beyond your control, as we take years and years of enjoyment from our lives. As I have done.
Just a thought. I hope this thread has not offended anybody but I have sought reassurance for practically every disease in the medical journal over the years, and I am exhausted/weary with it, because I still continue to worry about disease/dying. Because I know no matter what, my brain will latch onto 'something'.
I've been recently lurking on this forum, having had bad health anxiety for various issues over the years, and even posting a few threads myself a long time ago.
Recently I've been having bad bouts of health anxiety - the "dying suddenly in my sleep from an undiagnosed heart condition" has reared its ugly head again, as well as various other diseases/illnesses.
However, something which occurred to me when browsing this forum is that I am not entirely sure why people seek reassurance, because even if they are reassured from one disease, the nature of Health Anxiety would surely mean another "disease worry" will strike.
Surely the better way to combat anxiety is accept the possibility of actually being ill (even if it is like a 0.00000001 % chance), rather than being reassured that you are definitely not ill. This is because it can honestly happen to anyone at any time. As I am likely to have GAD rather than specifically HA, I don't just worry about illness, but also about other ways I could suddenly 'die' e.g. a random accident, terrorism, traffic accidents, etc.
I've learned that anxiety and uncertainty are best friends, but anxiety and acceptance are not.
It sounds quite dark but as a fellow HA sufferer myself, I know that no matter what, I will always be worried about something - and that you really cannot control everything in your life. Death can occur at any time, anywhere, and no one is immune to suddenly developing a serious illness. This is when I get the stark realization that worrying about my health is absolutely pointless. Surely it is better to come up with ways of how you would cope IF you did happen to get a serious illness, no matter how unlikely it is. And how it is such a waste of time to be worrying about something completely beyond your control, as we take years and years of enjoyment from our lives. As I have done.
Just a thought. I hope this thread has not offended anybody but I have sought reassurance for practically every disease in the medical journal over the years, and I am exhausted/weary with it, because I still continue to worry about disease/dying. Because I know no matter what, my brain will latch onto 'something'.