health anxiety ruining my life

[barry2010]

hi all ...I suffer with extreme health anxiety and it ruins my life ..the slightest pain i get and im worried im dying .
any of you suffer with this and if so how do you overcome it or cope with it ?

thankyou

[daybyday]

I have this also. Not coping well myself.
What symptoms do you get?

[nomorepanic]

The best and preferred treatment for HA is CBT.

I also have an excellent free download about it that you can read in the online shop if that helps.

[saffy f]

I feel exactly the same.I have had this for years but never admitted it.I got myself put on anti depression tablets by the dr by saying that I had PMT.I didnt want to admit the real reason to anyone.
It first happened when I split from my boys father when they were 3.It was a bad relationship and I left him,I then started getting really bad panic attacks about dying and leaving my babies.I kept it under some sort of control(ish) for years, Last week my partner told me about someone he works with that has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and I freaked.The biggest panic attack ever.It really scared me how I reacted and frightened me to think how I would ever cope with anything.I spoke to my partner and parents honestly for the first time ever and went along to see my GP. She has referred me for councelling and I have joined this web site,yesterday.I am determined to help myself and rid myself of this horrible condition.I know i can do it,especially after reading some of the stories and posts on here.

[kah]

Hey there,

I think we probably all react this way to the slighest ache or pain.
I did CBT which helped a lot but unfortunately I'm back at square one. Give it a go though, it may work for you.

Good luck
Kerri-anne xx

[hyper]

Hey Kerri-ann
I have tried cbt, but it made me worse. My therapist did somthing called EMDR which is a system of tapping on my hands, giving me a situation and seeing where my mind took me. The situations she wanted me to imagine were all to do with confronting my anxiety so she wanted me to imagine I was ill with a terminal disease. I couldn't cope with that and ended up increasing dose of sertraline.

Really really want to stop obsessing and googling every ache and pain. I annoy the hell out of my GP but its nice to know that I am not alone in having HA. I want to try hypnotherapy as people are saying some very positive things about it.
Stay positive:)
Ruthie

[kah]

Hey Ruthie,

I've been thinking about hypnotherapy too. I haven't actually heard any reviews about it's effects on HA but I had it years ago for something totally unrelated and it worked wonders! Worth a try I think :)

Kerri-anne xx

P.S. Don't worry about bothering your GP, I go that often that the receptionist knows my voice and doesn't need to ask my name :blush: