Health Anxiety

[Buckley05]

Hi there,

I heard Beyond Blue advertised on the radio today and I decided to go to their website and that has led me to joining the online community. Does anyone out there have health anxiety? I have had it for as long as I can remember and to be honest in it's early days I managed it very well and even now feel that my case is mild as I have learned to manage it as best as I can myself but I am always interested in other peoples ways of coping and maybe I might be able to help someone out there with how I have taught myself to manage this.

To be honest, in my case I don't stress over every illness or disease that there is. My main anxiety is with cancer, mainly breast cancer. I have no explanation why, it's just something that I stress over. I don't go to the doctor every 5 minutes and have set myself strict rules on checking myself and doubting myself all the time. I have done my own research and sourced some good information over the internet on management techniques and how you can overcome negative thoughts which have helped me but regulary I keep second guessing myself, like for eg. I only check my breasts one a month and then once I've checked them I doubt myself and say "maybe I've missed something". I do refrain myself from checking them again because one thing I have learned is if you repeat this checking behaviour it helps in the short term but then you doubt yourself again and so the cycle starts over. I asked my doctor to send me off the an ultrasound to make sure nothing is wrong and he knows that I struggle with the "girls" lol.

Anyway, I believe that with anxiety especially OCD related anxiety and I think health anxiety falls into that category as it's repetitive behaviour it's very important to follow the techniques to help you manage and hopefully cure the anxiety. Although I have told my husband how I get and he is understanding, I tend to keep this subject to myself and when it kicks in try and follow my manage system.

Although I don't think I will ever be rid of it totally, of late I have decided that instead of fighting it and always wanting to make these thoughts totally go away and all the time I would fail at that. Lately for me it's about management with my feelings and if you can get a good balance of that things will be ok.

I will say that one thing that has stuck in my mind with my findings about health anxiety,

"If you can accept uncertainty, your worries will go away, as soon as you fight uncertainty your worries will stay". Everybody has uncertainty in their life its the way we handle it which can make a difference.

[Wagtail84]

Hello Buckley yes I know what you mean and I can relate to your anxiety health related anxiety is so horrible, one of the many things I dislike about it is how I feel it takes up so much space in my head and my day to day and I know in my heart for no real good reason! 
I had the breast cancer issue for a little while also / then it was lung cancer and lately it’s liver concerns and stomach and I just do the things I have to to get peace of mind - whether that’s a biopsy or a blood test- I just get it done. And also I have a great therapist and even though she doesn’t fix it with a click of her fingers, I do feel better for a little while at least and that provides some relief in the cycle. 
I use a lot of the usual techniques for panic and anxiety - breathing distraction light exercise tapping so on, the best for me is ice packs or anything cold on my body or dunking face in ice water. But the health anxiety is more of a battle. The therapy is really essential for that, and learning to manage it out as opposed to wanting to just make it go away altogether although I wish it would! 
good luck with everything x