Health anxiety

[McCraggen]

After a bout of illness recently it has triggered my health anxiety quite badly, has anyone got any ideas how to wrangle these feelings and thoughts back under control?

Im 33 and male, have had a slew of tests done and all come back normal (apart from ross river)

Cheers!

[startingnew]

hi there and welcoome to BB

i have health anxiety as well, its quite difficult to manage isnt it?

how have you been managing up till now? do you already have anything to practice to help yourself?

i do have a few good strategies that im happy to share with you

for the moment ill list them jsut in case your already tried them

so theres

1. Mindfullness- theres plenty of ways to do this

2. thought challanging

3. journalling

4. talking to a helpline

5. distractions- there are sooo many!

[Blue_Jane]

Hi McCraggen

Sorry to hear that your recent illness has triggered your anxiety. However it is good that you are reaching out before it gets a bigger hold on you.

Is your recent illness ross river fever? The one that came back in the tests?

Anxiety is something that we will always have, it is just about managing it. I have had my anxiety under control for about 14 months now, although it wasn't under control before that.

In addition to Startingnew's suggestions, what about:

- exercise, I do a mixture of things from walking to bootcamp to swimming to yoga. When I am really wound up swimming forces me to breath in a rhythm which immediately calms me down

- eating well, ie fresh whole foods

- herbal teas such as chamomile, green tea

- reading interesting books, my mind is always churning away so distractions are good!

Would any of these be of interest to you?

Blue Jane

[McCraggen]

I had a slew of doctors tests so thats helped put my mind at ease a bit. I just have to try not to fall into the trap of worrying they arent good enough.

[blondguy]

Hi McCraggen

Thanks for posting!

Health anxiety is very common yet annoying. If you have a good GP they can provide us with some peace by clarifying how good you strength really is. GP's have better training on many facets of anxiety compared to when I had my anxiety. I am fortunate to have an excellent GP that I have a vent to if my thinking goes astray

Counseling does work wonders when we fall into the trap of overthinking about matters that usually never eventuate

be gentle to yourself

Paul

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi McCraggen,

Thanks for your post.

I'm not really sure I can add much to this as I feel like the suggestions above have been really helpful; especially the idea of mindfulness and the idea of learning to be here in this current moment.

Health anxiety can be very bothersome but learning to challenge your thoughts and sit with anxiety can help make it less intense.

When the thought or belief comes up that your Doctor isn't good enough, try to challenge it. What evidence do you have? What makes you think this? What would a 'good Doctor' be doing?

Often (but not always) people think that a good Doctor would be doing more tests, but in reality it may be that your symptoms aren't severe enough to warrant these tests; so it really is more harm than good. Things such as scans produce radiation, so often Doctors need to weigh up the potential benefit vs the risk. If you can try and put yourself in the Doctor's shoes when thinking about what symptoms that you may have and how you feel they should be approached.