Things that have helped me!(:
My story-ish thing:
I have been anxious since I was a very little child, beginning with severe separation anxiety in kindergarten... I went to a psychiatrist and she helped me wonderfully, beginning with little things like bringing a picture of my parents to school...
Then in second grade, around age 7, my health anxiety began... I freaked out about germs. Something I remember saying was stuff like, "I touched that *thing* do I have to wash my hands?" etc, etc.I went back the the psychiatrist and voila!
hehe(:
Now flash forward to the february of sixth grade...eleven years old...and we started the 'learing about the eye' unit in science. Following that lesson, I became hyper-aware of everything in my vision, from the blue field entoptic phenomenon (little sparkly lights in the sky, in it's simplest explanation), to floaters, and eventually looking a lot of stuff up on google...
I began to constantly take notice of the blue field entoptic phenomenon, and It was really bothering me everytime I was outside. Doesn't help that around that time I started to get ocular migraines and of course I thought I was going blind.
From february-may-ish I kept quiet about my anxiety but eventually told my mom and of course she brought me back to the psychiatrist...didn't work so magically this time. I noticed, however, that I seemed to get less anxious when distracted...which brings me to the present. I still get on-and-off HA, mainly circulating around my vision...and here's my list of tips!(:
1. Accept. Accept the pain in your legs, the weird thing in your eyes, just tell yourself that it's okay. Say 'Hi' to it. I know that sounds silly, but it works.
2. Assess. About a year after I first started noticing floaters in my eyes (by this time I was twelve years old) I realized–I had been convinced that my retinas were detaching because I had floaters. Hold on, wasn't that an 'urgent condition' that required 'immediate medical attention'?! It had been a year...
3. Distract. Join a club, make some cookies, write a novel–whatever floats your boat. Joining the writing group at school helped me so much...plus I made some great friends!
And those are my tips! I have a whole lot more, too. I might add to this post later.
Good luck!
-penguin
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