Convinced my swollen glands are something serious

[Lynsey22]

So , been struggling with serious anxiety/ feeling run down for around 3 months, every time I'm getting somewhere seem to have a knock back, last night I had a lovely evening with my brother at the football and even managed to drive in the dark which is a massive step forward, 2am this morning woke up with my right ear bright red and felt blocked up , couldn't sleep after that , this morning my glands/neck are slightly swollen, my brother talked me out of going to the doctors as I have had a cold the past week but now the anxiety has got me and I think it's something awful like cancer, I'm done in just feel like crying all the time 😭😭😭

[SLA]

So its obviously not cancer.

When we are unwell our brains sense that we are vulnerable. So they go into a mode of high alert. Because we are unwell we need to be hyper-sensitive to everything to ensure our survival.

Take a step back and realise what is going on.

It's not you thats saying... "oh, it's cancer...." - it's your scared subconsious. And you have reacted to it with panic and negativity because you have identified with it.

It's the same pattern in all health anxiety.

Your brain thinks the worst, you panic and believe it. Then it becomes a cycle. Because you panic, your brain goes into a cycle of reinforcing the idea, because it seems like it is a threat.

If it keeps going, this subconsious thought then becomes a belief. "I HAVE CANCER!!"

When we have a belief, our brains look for evidence to support those beliefs even if they are not correct. This is when people google their "symptoms" and ignore all the evidence that is contrary to their belief, and pick out everything that supports it.

This makes the belief stronger, and it all gets worse and worse.


I ignore those subconscious thoughts that suggest the worst. They are unhelpful...

When you ignore them rather than react to them they go away.

[Lynsey22]

Thanks for trying to make me rationalise , I am getting better at doing so , my right leg shook too when I woke up so automatically identified that a fit was imminent I'm such a mess right now

Also being googling my symptoms which is the biggest mistake I can possibly make

[SLA]

It's not about being rational.

It's about identifying the irrational and not giving it power to consume your life.

You will forever be stuck in the cycle unless you step out of it at some point.

[Lynsey22]

Yeah I know, sometimes I can realise that, unfortunately today I cant

I have read your blog about the pink elephants, I'm going to try using that method!

[SLA]

Hey thanks.

Good luck!! It worked for me. It was the first step in truly realising how much importance I was putting on my silly anxious thoughts. Then once you let them pass, and you don't react to them, they subside and go away.