my health anxiety curing strategy

[randomworry]

hi guys

i am wondering if anyone has ever tried this method for becoming cured of health anxiety.

i am currently scared of lumps and bumps on neck so i thought 1) i could avoid looking and one day slip up and check then spiral into depression or 2) look and check excessively to the point where i become accustomed to the lumps and bumps

i have chosen method (2) dont get me wrong i am now almost convinced i have cancer but in the long run is that what being normal is all about.......i.e. the ability to notice things but remain rational and 'normal'

wonder if anyone has tried anything similar
i sure hope it works

[busybeingmum]

Hi Randomworrier. What you are supposed to do, according to the professionals, is to break the habit of checking. This is what I am trying to do now with my scary groin lump. I have had it checked my the docs and they say it is normal. I am therefore trying not to check it and therefore not to worry about it..... It is breaking a habit really. xx

[randomworry]

hey busybeingmum.........what i am doing may seem totally strange but i am checking a lot so that my brain gets an idea of what normal lumps and bumps are like then i will go to the doctor and they will probably say you are fine.

therefore in this way i get to know my body and if i discover over lumps and bumps in the future i have a reference point so therefore wont panick!!

i dont suggest others try this though because it definitily makes the anxiety worse first but hopefully in the end it will be beneficial.

then after seeing the doc i will never check excessively again.....well thats the plan anyway!!

[jojo1976]

I say neither. It's the constant checking, verifying, assuring that's feeding your anxiety about lumps and bumps. Been there done that (I've panicked over probably every inch of my body at one point or another during my year of daily panic days) and I used to do it too. If the bumps are small and not growing, don't check it anymore. If you play with them, they will get bigger because they don't like to be messed with.

Here's a new plan - feel yourself all up today. Find every lump and bump on your body. Now, don't touch or look at them again. Hard to do at first, but it will let your mind move away from the lumps and bumps anxiety. Promise.

[randomworry]

hey jojo thanx for the advice are you completely free of health anxiety now then or are you managing it well.........i would love to know........cheers

[Lou 1]

I agree with JoJo! i had a huge obsession with Lymph nodes a few months back - i was so concerened they were something serious and i would constantly touch them and feel around my neck for more. I like you, thought if i touch them i'll know what size they are and if they're normal or change, and then if i get a new one i'll be able to identify if its nomral! well after all the checking i did find a new lump because when u check ur bound to find something!! - this just made me anxious because the 'what if's' kicked in, i personally wasnt able to rationalise and think oh its ok its just like the other ones in my neck- i thought they were abnormal but my gp confirmed they were fine.
My cbt therpist tells me not to check because the cheking just fuels the anxiety and he's right. i dont check them now and if i do i get soo anxious even though over 6 gps have confirmed they are normal. Its hard self not to check but i know if i do i'll get myself worked up.
All the best ..

Lou x

[jojo1976]

@random - in 2006, after the birth of my third child, I developed HORRIBLE health anxiety where I woke up every morning with a panic attacks, panicked all day long, and was even afraid to sleep. This went on day after day after day for a full year. I tried every method known to man to try to calm myself, went to doc after doc after doc, had ultrasounds, MRI, bloodwork, therapy, - visited the ER on a daily basis. Nothing was working to help me, even though all the tests came back normal. I doubted the doctors. I felt the therapist didn't understand. My husband thought I was being rediculous. I wasn't able to function. I couldn't take care of my kids. It was a REALLY bad case. I've thought I've had everything from lung c, to brain tumors, to blood clots, etc, etc, etc. Docs put me on Lexapro which resulted in a toxic reaction and sent me into a tailspin - 18mo took me to recover from that. Ugh. A year later, I managed to find the solution how to deal with my anxiety - without drugs, without constant reassurance. I was both panic attack and completely anxiety free for four years. Course, there was a little anxiousness here and there, as any normal person would have, but I knew how to deal with it and it never lasted long nor developed into panic attacks again either. It's almost like a switch - those of us with anxiety and health anxiety have brains that have been switched into the "on" position and our bodies/brains react with anxiety and panic inappropriately. What I learned (with the principals I wrote about above) is that you can retrain your brain to react in a normal, healthy way again, but you have to take the steps to do it.

Yes, I have been cured of my major anxiety, in general, to the point that it normally doesn't interfere with my life, and I know what I need to do when I notice things spiraling in the wrong direction. Of course, there's always the "what if" in the back of my mind too and a little reassurance along the way never hurts, but anxiety works the same way/cycle every time so I recognize it quickly. It goes - high stress (whether I'm conscious of it or not), physical symptoms, worrying over the symptoms, brain goes on high alert, more physical, anxiety...then it's just symptoms=anxiety=more symptoms= never ending anxiety. Gotta break that cycle by stopping the obsessing over the physical symptoms. This is the first time in four years I've ventured into another anxiety forum since then. I have been triggered again by high stress and the wrong thinking but am almost 100% back to normal once again. I will always have health anxiety, but it it doesn't have to have me. :)

[Lou 1]

well done JoJo lovely post :) xx