The "health anxiety" section of this forum needs some serious tweaking!

[benjamin222]

Instead of the forum being a place for hypochondriacs to come together and support each other, it's hypochondriacs talking about their symptoms and asking whether or not they're about to die. Just talking from the experience I've gone through over the last 6 months and posting the very same questions about symptoms, but posting in the forum became one of my anxious habits. It only fueled my anxiety to enter that section of the forum and when I did post in the forum, it never helped ease my fears. Over the last 2 weeks my anxiety has FINALLY almost come to an end, and it came from making huge changes in my life. I got a new job (making fairly less money than I used to make), however I actually enjoy what I do now. Ever since the job started my anxiety has gone down tremendously.

I know I can't really type all this in the health anxiety section of the forum without offending a few people, so for whoever is reading this, tell me what you think we could do to help the people that still frequent the health anxiety section! I feel horribly that they're still in that awful place where they're turning to a forum for help.. constantly monitoring themselves and discussing symptoms.. I was just in that place a month ago and it was HORRIBLE. Unfortunately just constantly telling them that they're not sick offers only temporary relief if any.

I think a solution would be a new sticky (the stickys currently there are awesome by the way, and have certainly helped put tons of minds at ease. The "stop using Dr. Google" one especially helped me out a ton)... I'll be on the search for an article about hypochondria or SOMETHING out there that explains why someone becomes a hypochondriac and how the symptoms of anxiety aren't dangerous. I'm sure something like that could be of great help there.

[Veronica H]

:bighug1::yesyes: I think it is important in the forums to strike a balance where possible between giving support to people where they find themselves at that particular point in their illness e.g with reassurance, and posting successes and ideas which they might want to draw on when they feel stronger. You have a very good point and balance is the answer I think.

Veronicax

[sarah jayne]

Not everyone that suffers from anxiety is a hypochondriac, some people like myself suffer from real symptoms and illnesses and come on this forum to 'chat' with people going through the same thing. We come on here to support each other, well thats the reason i come on here anyway...

[nomore]

Hmmmm....an interesting post. I think that it can go both ways. Initially, when people are really worried and have no idea what is happening to them, the forum can be extremely helpful. I remember my first days of panic and the thoughts that something was really wrong with me, that I was going to die and that I was the only person in the world feeling this way. Finding this forum and realising that there are a million other people out there feeling the same way I did was extremely reassuring and helped me to calm down. It also helped in understanding what was happening to me. However, there were also plenty of times where my anxiety was fuelled by reading other people's posts about symptoms which were similar to mine. There were times were I felt OK on a given day and had forgotten about a certain symptom, but after seeing a post or two about it flared everything right up.

People can always choose to go to the "Top Tips" or "Success Stories" sections, which have some great stories and can make you feel really positive and energised.

[StandFree1903]

I am a health anxiety sufferer and i find that posting my symptoms in the forum made me feel worse..... so i stopped.

i do feel that ppl posting their symptoms is a bit catastrophic in a way but would also be good if there was a sub forum i think for people to speak about their symptoms instead of seeing them plain in sight.

[i love tea]

I definitely agree benjamin222!

As a fellow health anxiety sufferer, I know how tempting it is to google or to post symptoms for reassurance. It just fuels the anxiety - if no-one replies, you think it must be a serious illness that no-one can reassure you about, or if people do reply, you are not happy until a certain number reassure you. If someone suggests going to the doctor, the panic just increases further.

I've started reading a good book about health anxiety (think it's called 'Overcoming Health Anxiety' but it's at home, so not 100% sure). The first thing I've learned is that I must stop seeking reassurance about my symptoms.

You see post after post by the same people, asking for reassurance about the same set of symptoms. There are many kind people who try and offer that reassurance. I empathise, I really do, but aren't we just fuelling the problem for people?

I know that the health anxiety section here has really helped me, and I'm not saying it should be removed or anything like that. As someone said, I am sure that it's possible to strike a balance somewhere. I don't know the answer, but now I can see that I need to stop constantly seeking reassurance, I feel uncomfortable that the problem is almost being encouraged in some cases.

Hope I'm making sense - I'm not trying to criticise anyone, I'm just not sure that constantly reassuring people actually helps their recovery from health anxiety.

Sarah :hugs: