View Full Version : Have you ever recovered, is it possible
I honestly can't cope with the way my mind is. Every single tiny little thing. The anxiety I feel with a minor ailment such as an ear infection that nobody else would be think twice about. I don't see me ever getting rid of this mindset and I'd need to. It's not normal. CBT didn't work for me.
venusbluejeans
07-03-21, 23:35
CBT didn't work? or you didn't put in the hours and effort needed to help it work? it isn't a miracle cure!
ankietyjoe
08-03-21, 08:34
What do you do every time you experience a minor ailment? Remember, your mind IS you, it's not a third party force out to get you. What is it that you do when considering ailments?
And yes, CBT should be seen as a training course, not a quick fix that is somebody else's responsibility.
I don’t think you ever completely recover but you learn to deal with your HA. CBT gives you those tools. That isn’t to say you won’t learn to deal with your HA without CBT but the road is longer and more torturous. One day you’ll get so sick of dying all the time that you’ll just accept it and kind of recover. You can wait for that to happen, god only knows when, or you can give the CBT another try. A real try.
My personal experience is that health anxiety is the symptom of something else wrong in your life. You need to figure out what is missing and fill the missing piece.
Worth noting that health anxiety is just ocd. I had ocd with hand washing prior to health anxiety and cbt worked great for me. You need to stick at it though. It doesnt take long if you are disciplined. I appreciate it is hard though.
You can get better.
I really hope you listen and take in the last 2posts Rebecca,remember you have a child in the mix that needs nurturing in a healthy way.
CBT didn't work? or you didn't put in the hours and effort needed to help it work? it isn't a miracle cure!
Its damned hard work, trust me I did it, conquered to a major extent my HA quite a few years ago. CBT did work for you, we all saw it work evidenced in your posts some time ago, then since you stopped the weekly sessions you've not kept up the hard work, and you actually ignore any post reminding you to continue with the skills you've learnt.
ankietyjoe
08-03-21, 10:44
I don’t think you ever completely recover.
Yes, you do. My relationship with my health is now exactly the same as it was before I had anxiety. My health anxiety was bad when I had it, but health anxiety is 90% habit, 10% anxiety.
I'm not sure how your health anxiety works but mine is so bad now I am in the worse mindset withing seconds. Saw a tiny red dot on my child's tum yesterday and immediately thought about luekmeia. Today same bump is more raised so assume its a scratch. My own bruise too. I often know I'm being irrational but my mind goes *that's it, this is it* and I worry if I don't worry something will happen.
I had OCD as a teen and I recovered from that. I was all about touching same spot, checking knives, locks etc. I had CBT I assume then but don't remember as wasn't so consuming as it is now. My child copied me looking at my bruise and they said I look too mommy and I do not for a second want to be a Mom with 'issues' or to pass this on to them. Is it jusst CBT, CBT and meds, CBT and CBD? I worry like I said the second I stop that something will be wrong.
Yes, you do. My relationship with my health is now exactly the same as it was before I had anxiety. My health anxiety was bad when I had it, but health anxiety is 90% habit, 10% anxiety.
My relationship with my health was exactly the same as it was before I had anxiety...for 10 years. But then my HA returned. I once believed in complete recovery and I want to believe in it again, so how long have you been recovered?
I kind of agree with your comment about it being 90% habit, if by “habit” you mean the endless checking of symptoms (perceived or otherwise)...checking, checking always checking.
ankietyjoe
09-03-21, 16:05
My relationship with my health was exactly the same as it was before I had anxiety...for 10 years. But then my HA returned. I once believed in complete recovery and I want to believe in it again, so how long have you been recovered?
7-8 years I think, I haven't really kept count.
It ended when I wrote an online will after developing a bleeding mole. I put my misses and child through a 5 day sulk before I got a doctors appointment. I wall all sighs and tears because 'my boy was going to grow up without a Daddy' etc etc blah blah.
Anyway, I discovered pretty quickly that if you just ignore 99% of your symptoms then your HA goes away too.
I suffer with symptoms 24/7 still, I just don't spend time pondering them, and I never, ever look them up. Not once.
“Anyway, I discovered pretty quickly that if you just ignore 99% of your symptoms then your HA goes away too”
And therein lies the answer to overcoming HA. So simple and yet so hard.
ankietyjoe
10-03-21, 10:59
“Anyway, I discovered pretty quickly that if you just ignore 99% of your symptoms then your HA goes away too”
And therein lies the answer to overcoming HA. So simple and yet so hard.
Yep, it IS the answer.
It's hard because people generally don't even try for more than 5 minutes. I would estimate it took me about 6 months to stop feeling like I needed to check or Google. My decision was overnight, but the triggers remained for months. You just have to be hard on yourself and stop whining about 'oh but it's haaaaaard'.
You have to decide how important your recovery is.
carriewriting
11-03-21, 12:22
CBT helps me to calm down during a spiral, but it doesn't stop the obsessive or intrusive thoughts that lead to checking behaviours. Schema therapy is starting to help with that.
One of the best free online resources I've found is by the W.A health department (search W.A gov health anxiety). It's a series of modules. The one I'm working through at the moment is Reducing your focus on health symptoms and worries.
It asks you to consider whether you hold any positive beliefs about the benefits of continuing to focus on your health symptoms or worries.
Examples of such positive beliefs include:
“Focusing on my symptoms helps me evaluate how dangerous they really are”
“Focusing on my body means I will catch any problems before it is too late”
“Not focusing on symptoms is tempting fate”
“Worrying about my health gets me prepared for anything”
“Worrying helps me solve my health problems”
“If I keep worrying, I will prevent illness and disease”
I don't know about you, but I believe all of these and that's the crux of the problem I think. Until I can change my beliefs, I'll have health anxiety.
Changing these beliefs is what I'm working on every day now with the exercises in the module.
nomorepanic
11-03-21, 13:18
Hi Carrie
We have a post about that website ...
https://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?211324-9-FREE-CBT-ebooks-for-Health-Anxiety
We have given Helen the link many times but she doesn't seem willing to work through it.
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