Gotta love the media..

[TwilightFlower]

Hey again, I've been trying to get over my concerns and what not and decided to make a thread about this.

My fear was/is that I for some reason have a brain tumor, although I am trying to work past this fear. The past couple days I've been really paying attention to the radio, TV, and my surroundings. I see cancer stuff EVERYWHERE. Just yesterday my Father and I were at the store and saw an Ad about Breast cancer which basically said "1 in 4 women will develop breast cancer!". We hear about "cancer" everyday and for some of us we don't want to hear about it constantly. Heck, 3 of my grandparents have/had cancer. In addition, a close friend of mine when we were children died of Leukemia, and I know of 4 people (ironically who I know in some cases quite well) over the past few years who have gotten brain cancer. On the radio they had an ad that went something like this "Keep your kids healthy (not over weight) and get them to excercize or in the future they will have heart problems and/or get cancer". lol, I am 15 pounds overweight and haven't been excercizing much in the past couple years, guess I am screwed.

They do this for all types of diseases, not just cancer. HIV/AIDS is another big one. It reminds me of the "Bird Flu scare". Everyone avoided birds out of fear, because a break out of this disease "could wipe out most of the world's population"...and now we don't hear about it anymore.

I definitely believe early detection is a good thing and saves lives, but at the same time..sometimes I really think they go overboard with it.

Reading the nomorepanic thing on Health Anxiety was very interesting and so true.

Anyone else noticing this a lot?

[monkeyness]

Hi Twilight Flower
I agree with you 100%!
I would say Ive started thinking alot and worrying alot since alot of stuff has been bought to public knowledge by the media. Its in our faces EVERY day. Everywhere you turn there is a poster giving statistics on cancer, loads of adverts on the radio, loads of adverts on the Tele inadvertantly makes you aware of your heart....eat this margarine, it will keep your heart healthy and so on.....
Its so depressing. I'd love to just be able to enjoy my life without worrying Im gonna die all the time!

[swirledpeacat]

Trouble with the media is ordinary stories don't sell, the headline 'bird flu is not realistically a risk to anyone', sounds pathetic compared to 'BIRD FLU:THE END FOR ALL OF US!?'

I have given up reading newspapers for the most part, and I don't have a TV so luckily don't get bombarded with adverts telling me I am going to have a heart attack unless I start getting plant micro-fibres, happy bacteria or whatever the latest heath craze is!

All I can say hun is don't worry, whatever happens, happens, sod it. Most scientific studies that are reported (esp the cancer ones related to food etc) have results that are so vague they are not even worth mentioning!

Take it easy
Cat xx.

[yanksforever]

It's rediculous. I also don't want many TV shows because of this like ER, Greys Anatomy, House etc. I used to watch Oprah but now I realllly have to try to avoid health related Oprah episodes when she brings in that GP dude. Also I avoid the health section of every newscast.

I'm also a bit overweight and don't exercise much. I plan on doing that...but I agree with your post.

[amu]

Ha ha, Cat, spot on with the happy bacteria.

According to Wikipedia, and I totally agree with this:

"The media and the Internet often contribute to hypochondria, as articles, TV shows and advertisements regarding serious illnesses such as cancer and multiple sclerosis (some of the common diseases hypochondriacs think they have) often portray these diseases as being random, obscure and somewhat inevitable."

[MONKEE_MAGIK]

Hi Twilight Flower,

I am the same when it comes to the media. If I hear about cancer or HIV etc I start to worry about it. It seems these days you can't do anything because of the risks of getting something terrible.

There is a risk with everything we do or don't do so the only way to look at this is that most people live long full lives. There are too many great things to experience out there other than pondering things that could happen because most of them won't.

I don't know about you but I am fed up with worrying about every possible illness I could get instead I am going to worry about what I am going to do next to make happy (at the moment I am thinking about the nice cake I have in the fridge and how much I am going to enjoy eating it ha ha).

Lets switch of the tv and radio and live a little instead. Who's with me?

[monkeyness]

"Lets switch of the tv and radio and live a little instead. Who's with me?"

Im with you there! Im going to try to have a different outlook. I already feel better from just realising that Im not alone in this. It brings great comfort to know your not the only one out there with these thoughts and feelings!

This is my first day on this website, and day 1 of trying to live my life to the full rather than being unhappy.

Its inevitable we will all die, but why wait around worrying when and how it's going to happen?

xx