Hi friends, long time no post. That's been a big step forward for me.
I've had health anxiety for 15 years and it got really out of control when my mum died 4 years ago. But I have made major progress in the past year with thanks to some awesome people here and lots of therapy.
I'm going through a really rough patch at the moment. My dad died suddenly two weeks ago and since then just about every health anxiety fear I've ever had has returned and tried to bring me undone.
For the most part I've been able to get through these multi-daily episodes by reminding myself that I'm in a super vulnerable state and that the lump, bump, rash, ache or pain I've suddenly become fixated on is most likely anxiety. Also, I find theses fears are a lot worse at night, so I often just head for bed early when it starts to feel overwhelming.
The thing that helps the most though is telling myself that, in the unlikely event that something is wrong with me, that I will just have to make the best of it.
That was my dad's motto. In the past 20 years he was diagnosed with prostate, bowel and bladder cancer, plus had three melanomas. He beat them all. He died of something we could never have seen coming and lived his best life up until the moment that happened.
I'm more determined than ever to banish this anxiety for good now, even though it's giving me a really big whack at the moment, I'm battling on.
I hope you are too x