What the experts say about how to cure Health Anxiety

[skippy66]

Here are a few really useful tips on how to cure your problem - being obsessed with your health daily:

Ive read a lot of books in an attempt to cure my health anxiety, nothing has worked yet because none of them have managed to stop me getting almost daily stabbing chest pains and daily pvcs, but the books do overlap in their themes on how to overcome health anxiety:

1. Face the fear/accept it

This is the one I have the biggest problem with. If you have a fear of death, how exactly do you face that fear - kill yourself? My main fears are heart attack and stroke. Every symptom I get, from headaches, nosebleeds to chest pains, palpitations, even stomach aches, convince me I am about to suffer a heart attack or stroke.

I have used this technique to help me when I feel dizzy etc in public places like supermarkets, and it DOES work. But when I'm in the midst of a stabbing chest pain episode or a run of skipped beats, the ONLY thing that takes the anxiety away is subsidence of the symptoms.

When I dont have symptoms, sometimes I try to face the fear by trying to bring on chest pain or palpitations, but it never works.


2. Distraction

This is key for me. My personality combined with my situation in life is what perpetuates my health anxiety. I work from home (self employed) with a business that almost runs itself, giving me LOADS of free time to do things like google symptoms and post on this forum.

My personality is defined by impatience and creativity. I get bored by the slightest thing. My mind needs to be active, and it is never satisfied. My thirst for mental stimulation is never quenched. Standing in queues for me is a nightmare.

When I am genuinely distracted, like when Im playing a computer game or watching a football match that really grabs my attention, my symptoms COMPLETELY DISAPPEAR.

I genuinely believe distraction is the key to the cure of this illness.


3. Relax

the theory is, if you are relaxed, you cant get stressed, hence a reduction in symptoms. Personally this doesnt work for me because I am COMPLETELY relaxed when I have no symptoms, it is the symptoms that cause the stress. I guess its a vicious cycle. Relaxation techniques are supposed to help though

4. Medication

Diazepam as a short term measure can be helpful but it is addictive. I take a small dose if I am particularly stressed about symptoms and it does calm me down. Still get the symptoms but I dont worry about them as much. Alcohol has very much the same effect, but repercussions later as soon as I stop drinking - the symptoms magnify as I sober up. So I tend to avoid this route.


5. Reassurance

This is fraught with danger. It works in the short term much like alcohol but in the long run makes things worse. I cant count the number of times Ive googled or come on here to get reassurance over chest pains or palpitations. At the time it works, it makes me think PHEW I'm not the only one and its probably harmless. However, during my search for reassurance 99% of the time Ill read something BAD that sticks at the back of my mind. Here's an example:

The other day I was searching for reassurance about palps. I read an overall reassuring thread, with one post that said: "My palps started just after my sister died suddenly of a heart attack"

Suddenly for me this is the only thing I remember in the whole thread. I ignore the tens of posts saying how harmless pvcs are and focus on this.


I think this forum is great but I'm seriously considering leaving it for good because I am not sure whether a reassurance technique is a good idea at all.

Please tell me if there's any other tips Ive missed???

Thanks

[scorpionwhispers]

I completely agree about the distraction and acceptance. I try to use them but nice to see someone else uses them as well :)

[westofengland]

I think this is a really brilliant posting and I hope you don't leave as the forum needs people like you. I agree with everything you say. I guess for me, the acceptance part (the first part you mention) is about accepting you have health anxiety and will have this fear. But the way my therapist describes it, anxiety can only last for about an hour (or something like that) if you don't feed it, by googling symptoms, seeking reassurance etc. It's true that if I just 'sit' with my anxiety sometimes, it disappears. Exercise really helps me too as does thinking what 'holes' there are in my life at the moment that are being filled by all this anxiety. I've just started seeing somebody again, and feel a lot calmer so maybe I just wasn't getting a lot of emotional needs met after the death of my wife

[itoldyouiwasill]

Here are a few really useful tips on how to cure your problem - being obsessed with your health daily:

Ive read a lot of books in an attempt to cure my health anxiety, nothing has worked yet because none of them have managed to stop me getting almost daily stabbing chest pains and daily pvcs, but the books do overlap in their themes on how to overcome health anxiety:

1. Face the fear/accept it

This is the one I have the biggest problem with. If you have a fear of death, how exactly do you face that fear - kill yourself? My main fears are heart attack and stroke. Every symptom I get, from headaches, nosebleeds to chest pains, palpitations, even stomach aches, convince me I am about to suffer a heart attack or stroke.

I have used this technique to help me when I feel dizzy etc in public places like supermarkets, and it DOES work. But when I'm in the midst of a stabbing chest pain episode or a run of skipped beats, the ONLY thing that takes the anxiety away is subsidence of the symptoms.

When I dont have symptoms, sometimes I try to face the fear by trying to bring on chest pain or palpitations, but it never works.


2. Distraction

This is key for me. My personality combined with my situation in life is what perpetuates my health anxiety. I work from home (self employed) with a business that almost runs itself, giving me LOADS of free time to do things like google symptoms and post on this forum.

My personality is defined by impatience and creativity. I get bored by the slightest thing. My mind needs to be active, and it is never satisfied. My thirst for mental stimulation is never quenched. Standing in queues for me is a nightmare.

When I am genuinely distracted, like when Im playing a computer game or watching a football match that really grabs my attention, my symptoms COMPLETELY DISAPPEAR.

I genuinely believe distraction is the key to the cure of this illness.


3. Relax

the theory is, if you are relaxed, you cant get stressed, hence a reduction in symptoms. Personally this doesnt work for me because I am COMPLETELY relaxed when I have no symptoms, it is the symptoms that cause the stress. I guess its a vicious cycle. Relaxation techniques are supposed to help though

4. Medication

Diazepam as a short term measure can be helpful but it is addictive. I take a small dose if I am particularly stressed about symptoms and it does calm me down. Still get the symptoms but I dont worry about them as much. Alcohol has very much the same effect, but repercussions later as soon as I stop drinking - the symptoms magnify as I sober up. So I tend to avoid this route.


5. Reassurance

This is fraught with danger. It works in the short term much like alcohol but in the long run makes things worse. I cant count the number of times Ive googled or come on here to get reassurance over chest pains or palpitations. At the time it works, it makes me think PHEW I'm not the only one and its probably harmless. However, during my search for reassurance 99% of the time Ill read something BAD that sticks at the back of my mind. Here's an example:

The other day I was searching for reassurance about palps. I read an overall reassuring thread, with one post that said: "My palps started just after my sister died suddenly of a heart attack"

Suddenly for me this is the only thing I remember in the whole thread. I ignore the tens of posts saying how harmless pvcs are and focus on this.


I think this forum is great but I'm seriously considering leaving it for good because I am not sure whether a reassurance technique is a good idea at all.

Please tell me if there's any other tips Ive missed???

Thanks

You are bang on the money with that. Our personality types often make us prone to health anxiety and as a result we totally 'buy into' the idea of 'our' anxiety and 'our' health anxiety. We think that the Googling and Forum visits are us being proactive and problem solving but the reality is that we are just entrenching ourselves further into the mire.

This post strongly indicates that you have the smarts and above all the insight to move past health anxiety and return to the world of logic and rationality. As you have alluded to the first and most important step is to leave all the forums behind and never look back as they only compound the problem. Yes, these forums may need people like you but think of yourself and make all this a distant memory.

[Ella_Jayne]

Good tips. The distraction one is the key to helping anxiety for me.

[SleeplessFog]

Distraction does seem to work for me as well. I just wish I had more to do sometimes!

As far as the reassurance, this may sound weird/silly but when I was dizzy a year ago...I started writing down all of my symptoms down every day. Now if I am feeling pain, I look in that book and 9 times out of 10 I see the same pain in there from 10 or so months ago and it reassures me that it is just stress and anxiety.

[meg86]

Hello :)

Its interesting what you said about Reassurance, when i had CBT they advised that the worst thing you can do with anxiety is avoidance, for example you have a trip planned but you avoid it because you are afraid you will be really anxious or have a panic attack, this will give you instant relief but in the long term make you more anxious, i agree with this as i used to be afraid to do everything, but i pushed myself and put myself in difficult situations and i have overcome that fear.

When i spoke to her about Health Anxiety she said reassurance is just the same as avoidance, it gives you temporary relief but if you dont work through it on your own it will make you worse in the long run. When i first had anxiety no one explained the physical symptoms it can cause, so to make yourself familar with them is good! its a hard one because i understand what she is saying and she is probably right but its doesnt make it easier, i think seeking reassurance about health is just like any other addiction, its hard to crack! maybe its an idea to have some sort of goal setting approach, when you first feel anxious about a health issue, leave it for a day and see if you are still anxious instead of seeking reassurance at the first twinge, gradually extend the time and write down what it is you are anxious about and write down the evidence and possibilities?

I dont know, if i beat this ill let you know :) xx

[darrenc]

I think that seeking reassurance just perpetuates the whole cycle. When I was having panic attacks 10 years ago I was continously going to my doctor complaining of chest pains and breathing problems. They did some tests, and I felt fine for a couple of days when the results were ok. But sure enough I started feeling stressed again, and since I found relief by going to the doctor's I kept on going back again.

Realising this I took the bold decision to move to Germany with work. I never registered with a doctor there, and a combination of that with the new environment meant that my panic attacks stopped after about 3 months.

[westofengland]

also don't forget we in the UK have become a very scared society - all this health and safetly stuff, panic-inducing health stories in the paper, cancer campaigns everywhere, don't do this, don't do that - keeping perspective really helps.

[skippy66]

BUMP

I wrote the original post in this thread 2 years ago. I've hardly visited this forum in the past 2 years mainly because I've cured my health anxiety. It absolutely crippled me for years and now I'm 99% free of it. I'm on no meds whatsoever.

I'm just finishing a kindle book on how I managed to cure this debilitating anxiety, and I'd be interested to hear whether people would be interested in buying it, what they would be prepared to pay for such a book and just general thoughts about it? I haven't finalised a good title yet so any suggestions would be much appreciated!

The book will probably be free for a 5 day period, I will forewarn this forum about when that is so you guys can get it for free.

This forum was a huge help to me during my darkest days and for that I'm eternally grateful to everyone involved here.

Thank you, and I'm happy to help anyone who needs it.

[ricardo]

If it has cured you 99% it would definitely be something I would consider reading.

Reading your original post you appear to be a perfectionist,have your own business and probably pretty intelligent :)

If we are reasonably intelligent and a perfectionist we tend to go into the minutest detail about everything in life and of course when mental illness takes over we tend to ask so many questions that perhaps others wouldn't even consider., not that they wouldn't be just as anxious.

As an example I know a guy who told me he hadn't felt well and after going to the doctor and having various tests,was told he had prostrate cancer. He then said he didn't even know what a prostrate was, and wasn't even anxious about the chemo he was going to have. He is now fully recovered.

I wish I had that attitude.

[spottitchsam]

BUMP

I wrote the original post in this thread 2 years ago. I've hardly visited this forum in the past 2 years mainly because I've cured my health anxiety. It absolutely crippled me for years and now I'm 99% free of it. I'm on no meds whatsoever.

I'm just finishing a kindle book on how I managed to cure this debilitating anxiety, and I'd be interested to hear whether people would be interested in buying it, what they would be prepared to pay for such a book and just general thoughts about it? I haven't finalised a good title yet so any suggestions would be much appreciated!

The book will probably be free for a 5 day period, I will forewarn this forum about when that is so you guys can get it for free.

This forum was a huge help to me during my darkest days and for that I'm eternally grateful to everyone involved here.

Thank you, and I'm happy to help anyone who needs it.
skippy I would definitely be interested in reading your book.please let me know when it will be available.thanks.x

[almamatters]

Keeping as busy as possible and distraction are key for keeping my HA under control as well.
It's suprising how when I am sitting watching TV, I have heart palps, chest pain, head pain etc etc, but when I am focused they fade into the background.
I tried the rubber band on wrist when I went for dinner in the week. As soon as I sat down in the restaurant, I became panicky and breathless and told my sister I was going to have to leave. Instead I concentrated on flicking the band onto my wrist. It did work, I was able to finish the meal.

[cattia]

I'd love to read it Skippy. I agree that distraction works really well but I also think it isn't possible to always distract yourself and sometimes you have to try to face up to your fears and figure out what they're all about. I totally agree about the reassurance thing as well it's like a fix for a drug addict! I think it's easy to fall into using forums like these four reassurance but I also think they serve a very important purpose if you are able to actually talk about your anxiety with others who understand. For me, just coming here most days at the moment and looking at posts makes me realise I am not alone and that in itself is a massive help to me, I feel like there are people out there who are going through it with me and somehow that gives me strength.

[rsanchez]

Skippy I have to add that I'd like to read it too. There's a lot of books out there that promise cures (I'm reading a couple right now too), but coming from someone who's been there, who visited these forums and got better, gives me more confidence that there might be a solution to finally feel better.

[xvolatileheart]

I would be interested! Your original post sounds really similar to my situation (i.e. symptoms set off the anxiety, not the other way around) so any help you could offer would be appreciated.

[missfishlash]

I would like to read it, but I dont have a kindle :D

[agastya]

Well veru well compiled post But i think ur basic problem is lack of activity in life ,I guess u need to make ur time usefull wid gud habbits like reading books,swiming,writing and anything u like.I guess dats ur ultimate cure!

[Evey1986]

BUMP

I wrote the original post in this thread 2 years ago. I've hardly visited this forum in the past 2 years mainly because I've cured my health anxiety. It absolutely crippled me for years and now I'm 99% free of it. I'm on no meds whatsoever.

I'm just finishing a kindle book on how I managed to cure this debilitating anxiety, and I'd be interested to hear whether people would be interested in buying it, what they would be prepared to pay for such a book and just general thoughts about it? I haven't finalised a good title yet so any suggestions would be much appreciated!

The book will probably be free for a 5 day period, I will forewarn this forum about when that is so you guys can get it for free.

This forum was a huge help to me during my darkest days and for that I'm eternally grateful to everyone involved here.

Thank you, and I'm happy to help anyone who needs it.

Hi there I am very interested in this book how an I get it????