A lockdown caused by a global pandemic - what could be worse for your health anxiety right?
Here is what is probably whizzing round your head right now:
1) I can't leave the house, and my anxious thoughts are consuming me.
2) There's a deadly disease outside and if I get it, I will undoubtedly die from it due to all of my underlying health conditions.
3) Even if I don't get it, the health service will collapse and I will die from no treatment of my cancer, ALS, heart disease etc.
STOP.
Just humour me for one second.
What if I told you that instead of letting this lockdown get the better of you, you can use it to actually CURE yourself of health anxiety?
Ridiculous? Maybe not. Read on...
Those who were on this forum years ago will remember me. I was the one affected with severe health anxiety, to the point where I was on this forum multiple times per day seeking reassurance for the most crazy things (which at the time, to me, were deadly serious). For example, my chest feels tight or my little toe won't stop twitching.
Those who have read my book will know that at my lowest point, I was showing my wife my actual stools, highlighting the dark patches of 'blood' from my stomach tumour which turned out to be undigested kidney beans.
Yes, that's how bad I was.
And I cured myself, completely, without the need for medication (too scared to take anti-depressants due to the side effects) or therapy (felt too embarrassed to do that).
My recovery took about a year. It was around 10 years ago, and my recovery was COMPLETE. It has NEVER returned.
Looking back, if I had a lockdown situation like this one for a couple of months, I would have cured myself much, much quicker.
My advice (disclaimer: not medical advice) is COUNTER-INTUITIVE to what you think will work to cure this. You may be extremely sceptical to start with...but all I ask is for you to stick with it. It works, and if you don't believe me just read the reviews of my book (link in signature).
Here's what you should do:
1) DON'T stop watching the news.
You might think 'if I hide myself away from the news my health anxiety will not be too bad'.
Wrong.
Your HA will in all probability be WORSE because you are actively avoiding information, and as I teach in my book it is EXPOSURE you need. As with all panic/anxiety disorders, what CBT practices is EXPOSURE THERAPY.
I used to avoid songs on the radio that mentioned 'heart' because I was so scared of dying from a heart attack and got (still get) daily palpitations. I used to avoid medical shows on TV, and if someone died on the news from something I thought I had, like MS or heart attack, I would have a panic attack. I was avoiding stimulus, and that only served to make me more scared of it.
Once I forced my son to go on a flume ride. He didn't want to go on, as he was scared, but as we'd queued for like an hour I simply picked him up and put him on the ride with me. He cried for the first minute, then after that he loved it and wanted to go on it again and again. He lost the fear. By actually facing it.
My advice is to watch the news, watch it for 8 hours per day. Over-watch it. Because eventually you'll get bored with it and it won't scare you any more. You'll go to put it on one day and you'll think 'this is boring, I'm gonna put Friends on' - NOT BECAUSE YOU'RE SCARED OF IT, BECAUSE YOU'VE BECOME BORED BY IT.
2) Don't stop Googling symptoms of deadly diseases.
This applies to the virus and all the pre-existing conditions you think you've got. Same as above applies - over-google. Make Dr Google your ever-present bed-fellow. That's what I did. Spent endless hours late into the night searching for what this and that symptom meant. You have to go through this process, until you one day realise that by doing this you are achieving one thing: wasting your precious life.
"Even if I DO have heart disease and I'm going to die next month", I realised, "I have 2 choices..."
1) Waste the last month of my life worrying about it
2) Enjoy my last bit of time on earth
I chose option 2. But in the depths of my HA, I didn't even stop to consider that option 2 was even available.
You need to get to the following mindset:
"Yes, the coronavirus may kill me (although remember that 80% of over 90 year-olds FULLY RECOVER), but whether it does or it doesn't, I'm not going to waste whatever time I have left."
3) Get busy improving yourself
In between watching the news and furiously googling your symptoms to boredom, you should use this period of time to improve yourself. Learn a language, learn a new skill, volunteer to help people, or work on your own fitness. Whatever you choose, it will focus your mind on self-improvement, and you will emerge from this a better person.
4) See this as a 'reset' button on life
Your old life, consumed by health anxiety and worry, is gone. This is a new dawn. Changes are happening that may alter the way life is for many of us. The economy is tanking. We are entering a recession. But many THOUSANDS of people have become mega-rich in a recession. Think outside the box. How can you use this situation to your advantage?
Throw away your old bad HA habits and start afresh - be thankful that you've been given this chance to hit the reset button.
One reason for this post is because HA is only going to deepen the crisis, by putting more strain on the health service/NHS than it needs. I talk in my book about the amount of money I cost the NHS with needless tests etc, and while I have paid a significant amount of tax to the NHS in my lifetime it's something I still feel guilty about.
We NEED, as a forum and community, to be NOT putting any more strain on our NHS at this time.
So I want to keep this thread open to people who can comment, and together we can try to help each other through this whilst avoiding doctors and hospital appointments, and generally get through this in a POSITIVE way.
It is possible.
Use this time to CURE yourself from Health Anxiety. If I can do it, you can.
I hope this has helped, and I am happy to answer any questions...
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