Is there any way to completeley stop automatic negative thoughts?

[jimlfc6]

Hi, i am new to this forum but am very glad i found it.

I am a 25 year old male and i suffer like everybody else on here with health anxiety.

I take fluexitine and have counselling that i have recently stopped as i felt i was getting better, but i am still not anywhere near being over it.

I have never had a underlying physical illness, and am very active. i play football about 4 or 5 times a week.

What i think has triggered off this health anxiety again, is one of my friends has been diagnosed with colon cancer at 25 years of age, which came as a shock to me, as everytime i go to the doctors with anything i think is serious, the doctors seem to shrug it off because i am young, and bad things like this dont happen to young people hardly ever.

Anyway, i am obviously gutted for my friend, but I am finding these automatic negative thought coming more and more into my head, about me getting something like that, and i have started to get pains in my back, stomach and head. I cant seem to ease the pressure from me, and am constantly checking my body for anything and everything alot throughout the day.

Because the fluexitine in my opinion isnt working (ive taken them for 6 months) i have resulted to having a few beers every night to help forget about it. This does seem to help me as i feel uplifted, but the problems are still there in the morning plus a hangover!

my question is, how do i stop these automatic negative thoughts coming into my head?

i would be greatful for any advice

thanks alot.

[Vanilla Sky]

Hi there, I can relate to what you are saying , I am like that myself. And you've hit the nail right on the head, It is a shock to you that a 25yr old can have colon cancer, so it brings it home to you that none of us are " safe " . But that is a natural reaction to have when someone you know is ill and it doesn't matter how old you are, it's still a shock, it's all part of life and you will accept that as you get older. Have you ever thought of having Cognitive behaviour therapy , which concentrates on your mind set and finding ways to cope with the negetive thoughts. Whenever i get the thoughts i have a red STOP sign in my head and i sometimes say stop aloud to myself to try and distract away from it , then i try to get back into a nice thought, eg a good day i had or a nice holiday. You will find your own way to distract and at first it wont be easy , but keep trying and it will become habit. Also getting up and physically doing something is a good way to dispell thoughts, you say you play football, i bet your mind is only on that when you are playing Good Luck Love Paige x

[Vanilla Sky]

By the way , welcome to NMP ! You will find understanding and support here x

[jimlfc6]

thanks alot for your reply and welcoming to the forum.

What you say makes sense, and i have done some CBT with the counsellor, but cant say as of yet it has helped me, maybe its partly my fault for not mking the extra effort to make it work.

I am going to go through all my paperwork that i have got, and try using some techniques of dealing with it.

Football for me is a great relief from stress, and i feel better during in playing it and maybe for a couple of hours after it too.

[jimlfc6]

maybe i should ask to change the medication too, but the doctor isnt happy about changing it as i asked him about a month ago

[tiredOfOcd]

I take fluexitine and have counselling that i have recently stopped as i felt i was getting better, but i am still not anywhere near being over it.


IMO, we will ALWAYS have the ability to develop HA. It just takes the right circumstances to get it started.

Symptoms increase/decrease but the ability is always there.



What i think has triggered off this health anxiety again, is one of my friends has been diagnosed with colon cancer at 25 years of age, which came as a shock to me, as everytime i go to the doctors with anything i think is serious, the doctors seem to shrug it off because i am young, and bad things like this dont happen to young people hardly ever.

Anyway, i am obviously gutted for my friend, but I am finding these automatic negative thought coming more and more into my head,
You need to realize that what happened to your friend DOES NOT mean it will AUTOMATICALLY happen to you.



about me getting something like that, and i have started to get pains in my back, stomach and head. I cant seem to ease the pressure from me, and am constantly checking my body for anything and everything alot throughout the day.
You MUST stop checking as it only feeds your anxiety.



Because the fluexitine in my opinion isnt working (ive taken them for 6 months) i have resulted to having a few beers every night to help forget about it. This does seem to help me as i feel uplifted, but the problems are still there in the morning plus a hangover!
What dosage are you on? HAVING A FEW BEERS TO RELAX IS A DANGEROUS THING TO DO. It is waaaaay to easy to develop an alcohol dependency and then not only will you have HA to deal with, but also the psychological/physical dependency on one of the most easily available legal drugs in the world.

IMNSHO you are setting yourself up for worse problems.

And, for all I know, it could be taking away from the effects of your meds.

Did you notice any improvement while taking them?



my question is, how do i stop these automatic negative thoughts coming into my head?
Try this - whenever a negative thought starts, imagine a stop sign and scream (in your head) STOP. It takes many many many many repetitions of this, but eventually the negative thoughts will slow down and stop.

[Wee-Mee]

Firstly that is awful to hear about your friend..And I can relate to what you are saying that it sort of started after hearing that. My friend's friend whom I met and was lovely,was diagnosed with lung cancer both lungs and he is only 21! So that shocked the beejeebus out of me and only a rollercoaster of HA followed after..along with the Jade Goody effect and my own womanly problems..

Anyways..my point is I understand alot of what you are saying love but hopefully the fact your friend IS young will benefit them in recovery :)

As for the beers..no no no,please don't resort to that. You sound healthy otherwise what with playing the football etc. The thing with doctors shrugging of illness because of being of young age..That is a worry for me too,I'm only 22 and I am scared they 2miss" something but my rational side(which is small :p ) tells me that if the doctors did this,then they probably would be setting themselves up for a lawsuit!

I do the CBT which does make sense,it is just down to us I suppose to put it into practice.

Welcome to the forum by the way. IT IS WONDERFUL :)

XXXXXXXXXX

[jimlfc6]

IMO, we will ALWAYS have the ability to develop HA. It just takes the right circumstances to get it started.

Symptoms increase/decrease but the ability is always there.

You need to realize that what happened to your friend DOES NOT mean it will AUTOMATICALLY happen to you.

You MUST stop checking as it only feeds your anxiety.

What dosage are you on? HAVING A FEW BEERS TO RELAX IS A DANGEROUS THING TO DO. It is waaaaay to easy to develop an alcohol dependency and then not only will you have HA to deal with, but also the psychological/physical dependency on one of the most easily available legal drugs in the world.

IMNSHO you are setting yourself up for worse problems.

And, for all I know, it could be taking away from the effects of your meds.

Did you notice any improvement while taking them?

Try this - whenever a negative thought starts, imagine a stop sign and scream (in your head) STOP. It takes many many many many repetitions of this, but eventually the negative thoughts will slow down and stop.

hi thanks alot for your reply i appreciate it.

what you say makes alot of sense, and even though to be honest i kind of knew already that checking myself all day feeds my anxiety, i can't stop myself doing it.

With the medication, i dont know if it works. I presume it does because i was ready to come off them as things were looking up and i wasnt having many real problems, but as soon as i cut down on them everything went bad again. I don't know if its just coincidence that happened or not. The thing is i dont feel like they benefit me at all now, it dosent feel like they are lifting my mood. The dosage i take is 20mg a day, so only a small dosage.

[jimlfc6]

Firstly that is awful to hear about your friend..And I can relate to what you are saying that it sort of started after hearing that. My friend's friend whom I met and was lovely,was diagnosed with lung cancer both lungs and he is only 21! So that shocked the beejeebus out of me and only a rollercoaster of HA followed after..along with the Jade Goody effect and my own womanly problems..

Anyways..my point is I understand alot of what you are saying love but hopefully the fact your friend IS young will benefit them in recovery :)

As for the beers..no no no,please don't resort to that. You sound healthy otherwise what with playing the football etc. The thing with doctors shrugging of illness because of being of young age..That is a worry for me too,I'm only 22 and I am scared they 2miss" something but my rational side(which is small :p ) tells me that if the doctors did this,then they probably would be setting themselves up for a lawsuit!

I do the CBT which does make sense,it is just down to us I suppose to put it into practice.

Welcome to the forum by the way. IT IS WONDERFUL :)

XXXXXXXXXX

hi, the forum seems to be very helpful as you are talking to people who are pretty much having exactly the same problems as you, so you are talking to people who understand.

dont know about you, but i hate going the doctors and avoid things like blood tests and urine tests even if they are just routine. Last time they did one on me everything was perfectly normal, so dont know why they worry me so much.

I am also sorry to hear about your friends friend, it just dosent seem right people that young getting cancer.

in terms of my HA, i think its best i do go back to the doctor (even though i hate going) maybe look into a medicine change, go back and do some more CBT, and play football as much as possible, and stop having a few beers.

what i mean about the beer is last night i went out and had about 8 pints with my mates socially, but its been the other nights when ive been at home i have been having a couple of pints to take the edge of me being anxious. i never have more than 2 or 3 at home, but ive found myself doing it more often, and ive never really been a big drinker. It wont be a problem to stop anyway, as its not helping things in the long run.

[june]

hi thanks alot for your reply i appreciate it.

what you say makes alot of sense, and even though to be honest i kind of knew already that checking myself all day feeds my anxiety, i can't stop myself doing it.

With the medication, i dont know if it works. I presume it does because i was ready to come off them as things were looking up and i wasnt having many real problems, but as soon as i cut down on them everything went bad again. I don't know if its just coincidence that happened or not. The thing is i dont feel like they benefit me at all now, it dosent feel like they are lifting my mood. The dosage i take is 20mg a day, so only a small dosage.
First - welcome"" :welcome: you will get good information on here - look at the left of screen ""main Menu"" panic / symptoms / health worries - do have a read of it - it will help you to understand some of your own symptoms:blush:
Second - i am sorry to hear about your friend - i only have to see or hear anything on TV about an ""illness" and it worries me for days.
Third - stay away from alcohol - it is well known that if you feel depressed the beer will make you much worse (not counting the hangover - that is the least of your worries)
Lecture over:yesyes: hope you feel better soon
Best wishes
June

[tiredOfOcd]

to be honest i kind of knew already that checking myself all day feeds my anxiety, i can't stop myself doing it.


You've literally got to tell yourself not to. As crack is to a crackhead, heroin is to a junkie, alcohol is to an alcoholic - then checking is to folks like us.



With the medication, i dont know if it works. I presume it does because i was ready to come off them as things were looking up and i wasnt having many real problems, but as soon as i cut down on them everything went bad again. I don't know if its just coincidence that happened or not.
Ummmm, who took you off the meds? You or your dr? If it was you, don't do that. Fooling with your meds is like climbing out onto a car speeding down the road and working on the engine. Its doable but the risk is out of the world.




The thing is i dont feel like they benefit me at all now, it dosent feel like they are lifting my mood. The dosage i take is 20mg a day, so only a small dosage.Any meds are just to give us a little help. There's still plenty of work to be done, either CBT or otherwise. You have to learn what behaviors are/aren't good for you. One of them will be checking, its extremely bad for you as it starts episodes of anxiety. Resisting the urge to check will be one of the most difficult things you do. The meds will help you to handle your anxiety and allow you the mental energy/focused attention to do the stuff that will, long term, allow you to shut down episodes of anxiety when you identify they start.

[jimlfc6]

i tried coming off the meds cold turkey, after the doc was going to reduce them slowly. so it was my own fault.

[tiredOfOcd]

i tried coming off the meds cold turkey, after the doc was going to reduce them slowly. so it was my own fault.

Ok. So you're off the meds and having a hard time.

What is your next step?

[jimlfc6]

no i realised after a week that i couldnt cope without the meds so went back on them straight away, that was about 6 weeks ago.

since ive gone back on them, things havent been good either though, so am unsure if they benefit me anymore.

Alot of my habbits are the same as what other people on here do, check my body alot, use google as a doctor, dwell on things, alot of overractive thinking. I know all of which probably dont help me one bit, but sometimes it feels like a relief when you check something out and it comes back nothing, but it is a horrible feeling when google shows you might have something serious.

I know that i do things the wrong way, and am trying to sort that out.

[tiredOfOcd]

no i realised after a week that i couldnt cope without the meds so went back on them straight away, that was about 6 weeks ago.

since ive gone back on them, things havent been good either though, so am unsure if they benefit me anymore.


IIRC, one of you earlier posts said that you did experience relief after starting the meds.

Likely, your anxious state would be WORSE without the meds.

Remember, the meds won't prevent you from feeling anxious - they'll just diminish its level. YOU still have to do things to shut it down completely.

In case you are wondering what things you have to do:



Alot of my habbits are the same as what other people on here do, check my body alot, use google as a doctor, dwell on things, alot of overractive thinking. I know all of which probably dont help me one bit, but sometimes it feels like a relief when you check something out and it comes back nothing, but it is a horrible feeling when google shows you might have something serious.
Stop checking. Stop googling. Find things to occupy your mind. Learn to recognize when you start dwelling on something and devise strategies to interrupt it.

This page, on the No More Panic site has great information:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/NMPcms.php?nmppage=healthanxiety




I know that i do things the wrong way, and am trying to sort that out.Don't feel bad. Its not an easy problem to control. And sometimes we all (especially me) need a little reminder about what to do.

[jimlfc6]

okay thankyou, its a great help

[jimlfc6]

ended up going back to see my doctor today, (even though it scares me even sitting in the same room as a doctor) anyway she was really good, and explained things to me about what i was worrying about.

She thinks i may have OCD aswell as i do constant checking throughout the day, and can't seem to stop it.

I have to try and make a real big effort to stop these checks, as they are making me worse, its things like i check my body for lumps, check my urine is the right colour, check my stools are the right colour.

Its very difficult to stop this but i know its a strange thing to do.

the doctor has doubled my medication, and said they will get me sorted out.