Post Covid Anxiety

[Lencoboy]

Warning: typos might flood, as well as abbreviations, I'm in the middle of a panic attack related to exactly the same thing (Covid) and it's the first time since the beginning that I get panic from it because I wasn't exposed to that reality firsthand (getting my results in next few days but have a lot of the symptoms). I came here looking for success stories and anyhow… let's get to you:

I totally understand your fear, apprehension of possible future catastrophic events. I can tell u one way I cope with that. It doesn't always work but it's better than not trying anything at all, along all the other mental coping tricks. I can tell you're looking for positive reassurance, and some good points that @NoraB brought up are very valid, for she (I'm guessing She, no offense) "I wanted to read about people who had been every bit as ill as me (or worse) and had got better" and that's always what I've searched for myself, thinking "if that person lived this (whatever issue) to equal or superior degree, then my chances are very good".

Thing is, though, some people will invariably have had the worst experience with anything (as we were searching for them) and what would THEY do in such circumstances? Also, a lot of really bad cases (whether actual disease or "simply" panic attacks) will not even go documented -- a grandma who's not familiar with forums, someone who got better and just didn't bother coming here or some place similar. I myself have often not documented every time something horrible happened. But that's not the trick I was proposing:

Like it or not, and this is the same thing I tell myself, so it's in no way intended as coming off insensitive: really bad things happen to a small percentile of the population.
1 - On the upside, good things happen (good recoveries, no long-term effects, etc) to a much larger group of people
2 - Take things that are equally dangerous but that don't get you into a panic. One of mine is getting run over dead or left paralysed by a car or truck, or (leading to serious complications or death) automobile accident while in a vehicle.

If this one you ARE having issues with, take another analogy. But if you're like me, the probability of a "future catastrophic event" such as being run over by a car does not create any anxiety in me, does not hinder me from crossing the street, or driving places, yet there are a significant percentage (although quite small) of people to whom it happens. My only logical explanation for why that is is because having a car accident (and I've had a few, even got hit on my bike in a hit and run last year, yet no fear grew in me) is that people with health anxiety won't focus on such possible events because they are not related to initial health. Yet, the outcome can (in a small percentage) be the same.

There are so many other examples of those 1 in XXXX will suffer serious complications yet we generally don't put our life, or at least our sanity, in constant struggle over them.

Back in May, to further support our wrong approach about this (I know, it is VERY HARD to put into practise, but it takes practise and patience and just "letting go" (no matter how hard), trusting positive outcomes -- I went to the ER because I was having a gallbladder attack. It was heavily infected, necrosis, etc, and you can imagine the panic that brought on, especially when I had to get an emergency surgery to get it pulled out to avoid death (literally) I had to sign a waiver that said there was 1 in 2000 chances the surgery (including every step such as general anesthesia) would end in serious complications leading to death. As you may have guessed, I'm still alive. As for your post-covid complications fear, while the fear you are living is valid, EVEN IF they had a very minimal chance of happening, you can't indulge yourself in that fear.

Again, I know what it's like, I too often do the same. Just a few hours ago, as I did quite a couple times since yesterday when the fever kicked in, coughs, difficulty breathing, etc, I had these catastrophic scenarios of calling the paramedics to go to ER because my situation would deteriorate like some stats suggest (although way less frequent than the success stories of recovery from Covid), needing to be intubated, having heart complications, etc, the whole nine yards, but then I had to repeat to myself what I mentioned above.

You probably know this but the "WHAT IF's" are the worst. They're almost never valid to begin with, and I only added the "almost" because of course if you're hiking on the edge of a cliff on a windy day, the "what if I fall off" observation is more plausible.

This is not based on years of science for this novel virus, but in your position, I'd *try* to focus on trusting that 1 - you overcame it, so the chances of complications down the road are very slim to non-existant. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but upon all the readings I've done on Covid, nothing suggested subsequent cancer or dementia. Stay strong

I often think along the lines of 'you're more likely to die in a car crash' or 'you're more likely to get run over by a bus or a big hulking truck', rather than die of Covid. Also the likelihood of being caught up in terrorist attacks or being attacked by a random stranger in the street for no reason is often trumped by road-related hazards, yet most of us don't live in constant fear of travelling in motor vehicles or being struck by them, either through poor sense of road safety or in the worst-case scenarios, careless drivers running over pedestrians due to their driving without due care and attention.

Me and my dad were actually discussing the seatbelt thing yesterday, funnily enough, and how said legislation was met with a fair amount of derision back in 1983 when it first came into force, but now whenever we get into vehicles we just belt up straight away without even giving it as much of a second thought.

I do think that many who break laws and rules in general (both Covid-related and otherwise) often do it simply because they get kicks out of rebellion and indeed trying to look 'ard!!

Same with those who partake in other risky 'daredevil' activities such as walking along unguarded high parapets, cliff tops, etc.

The 'forbidden fruit syndrome' I guess.