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Thread: Fear of flu is taking over my life.

  1. #1
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    Fear of flu is taking over my life.

    My health anxiety has seemingly morphed into obsessive behavior. I am terrified of getting the flu. Yesterday I was at the doctor for a shot I needed and one girl who was there was sick (the nurse gave her a mask after a bit). I keep feeling like she probably infected me and I only have a few days left. Rationally she wasn’t coughing and was on the other side of the room but I am like this constantly. I see “danger” from flu everywhere. If I sit in a cafe a usually move around a million times to find a “safe” seat. If someone coughs I freak out. What is the best way to combat these behaviors?

  2. #2
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    Nov 2018
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    Re: Fear of flu is taking over my life.

    Move outside your comfort zone a little at a time - stay in one place a little longer than feels okay, or maybe look and mindfulness techniques that help you recognise anxious thoughts for what they are.

    Unless you're very young, very old or immunocompromised, flu is very, very unlikely to seriously harm you.

  3. #3
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    Re: Fear of flu is taking over my life.

    good advice from blueiris.

    oh honey. i feel for you. i did this last year and it sucked the joy out of at least a month of my life. i vowed not to do it again this year.
    the flu last year was horrible. maybe this year i have found it easier to not worry as much since the shot is way more effective this year than it was last year, and the flu hasn't been as bad.

    my son did end up getting the flu last year. it was mild and we all took tamiflu and avoided getting it.

    rest easy knowing that if you've had your shot, you are well protected. and even if you do get it, it will be mild. and you can take tamiflu if you do get it.

    the best thing to do for me was to stop reading about it and go on with my life.

  4. #4
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    Dec 2018
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    Re: Fear of flu is taking over my life.

    For many years I have had a horrible flu phobia. I would track online to see outbreaks and numbers. It ruined weeks of my life due to the fear. My small son has asthma. I also was 7 months pregnant during swine flu.
    Did you get the vaccine? If so it a match this year! You can still get flu but chances are it will be mild .
    I got the flu winter of 2015. Sure it sucked I stayed in bed for 4 days, drank fluids, took Tamiflu and motrin and made a full recovery.
    A young girl with special needs who lives in my neighborhood has the flu now. Her mother said it’s been super mild and this little girl has SEVERE respiratory risk factors.

    I don’t think it’s crazy to wash your hands when I’m public. If someone is coughing like crazy I would probably scoot away but beyond that try not to obsess.

  5. #5
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    Re: Fear of flu is taking over my life.

    Are you doing anything to try and deal with these irrational fears?
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  6. #6
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    Re: Fear of flu is taking over my life.

    I don’t know. It isn’t an irrational fear because flu is comlon

  7. #7
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    Re: Fear of flu is taking over my life.

    Quote Originally Posted by scaredpt View Post
    I don’t know. It isn’t an irrational fear because flu is comlon
    When you look at some simple facts it is. Yes, the flu is common. Death by flu is ridiculously rare amounting to 80,000 people worldwide.

    When you look at some more common fears on the boards like heart fears for example, where there is one heart attack every 40 seconds in America (do the math), does the flu still feel as rational? And the survival rate for the flu blows away heart disease!

    Positive thoughts
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  8. #8
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    Re: Fear of flu is taking over my life.

    Quote Originally Posted by scaredpt View Post
    I don’t know. It isn’t an irrational fear because flu is comlon
    i use this rebuttal often.i have an immune disorder. i actually do. so, i have reason to be careful. and this statement of yours to so many of my continual fears. like food safety. there are so many recalls and warnings now. i didn't fear avocados until they told me it was common for listeria to be on them. bed bugs are a huge fear as well. i used to love hotels. until the bedbug returned. and it's real. they really do exisit.

    so, i don't make this stuf up. as a matter of fact, my therapist told me that all my fears were founded. that's the hard part. even if it's just a slight risk, i just can't live with it. that's the difference between us and those without HA. We cannot live with any uncertainty. and the drive to make ourselves 100% safe, which is impossible, is what causes the anxiety. you cannot be 100% safe.

    So, for the flu. trust me. this is a fear of mine. but last year, i actually lost friends over my fear of the flu. (long story). i refused to do that this year. i'm not sure if my commitment to not do that to myself did it, or the fact that the vaccine is very effective this year, and i'm not being bombarded with the flul scare news, not sure. but i have been living my life. i do wash my hands, and avoid people at the grocery who seem sick but it's not like last year. which is where you are.

    you just need to know that if you got the vaccine you are good.
    please don't ruin your life over this. take it from me.

  9. #9
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    Re: Fear of flu is taking over my life.

    Quote Originally Posted by scaredpt View Post
    I don’t know. It isn’t an irrational fear because flu is comlon
    I disagree completely. Regardless of how common something is, if you’re revolving your life around fearing it, it’s irrational.
    Automobile accidents account for a MUCH higher number of deaths each year than flu. Yet still, if you’re driving to work every day with sweaty palms and rapid heartbeat, paranoid of a crash, that’s in and of itself irrational.

  10. #10
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    Re: Fear of flu is taking over my life.

    I went through this last year because the flu was so bad and the shot so ineffective. I also have a 4 year old so it was extra hard since she's a germ factory. It was a tough winter because I tried to stay inside as much as possible, but with a kid it's very difficult to do that.

    But, statistics really help me. You have to try to ignore the news - though this year hasn't been too bad since the flu is really not bad at all this year, both in terms of the severity of the strain and the number of cases (because the shot is extremely effective this year - it covers both the primary strains that are out). The media is always talking about flu deaths, but the fact is that the count isn't only flu deaths - it's flu + pneumonia deaths that occur during flu season. Yes, there are a lot of instances when someone with the flu develops pneumonia and that is why they die. But there are also SO many cases of pneumonia (particularly in older people and young children) that have nothing to do with the flu. Yet, they are still grouped into the "flu deaths" category.

    The vast majority of people who get the flu recover completely in just a few days.

    And, if you got the flu shot, which I assume you did if you're afraid of the flu, the illness is even more mild.

    There is really nothing, objectively, to fear about the flu if you're an another otherwise health person.

    Plus, I caught this year's primary strain (H1N1) back in 2009 and was completely fine and I hadn't even gotten the flu shot that year.

    ---------- Post added at 15:24 ---------- Previous post was at 15:21 ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by AMomentofClarity View Post
    I disagree completely. Regardless of how common something is, if you’re revolving your life around fearing it, it’s irrational.
    Automobile accidents account for a MUCH higher number of deaths each year than flu. Yet still, if you’re driving to work every day with sweaty palms and rapid heartbeat, paranoid of a crash, that’s in and of itself irrational.
    I agree with AMomentofClarity. Just because something is common, doesn't mean it's rational to be afraid of it. Colds are common - far more so than the flu - and it would be irrational to fear getting a cold. If we based what was and was not rational to be afraid of on what's common we'd be paralyzed completely. Tripping and falling is common, but we can't go through life afraid to walk across the room.

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