Health anxiety

[T92]

Hi, how has everyone overcome health anxiety? I used to be fine and lived rather care free, but now I will constantly self diagnose, convince myself I have some sort of disease, and when I eventually go to the dr about it things will come back all clear and fine. Now my most recent is worrying that something will happen to me while at home and no one will know, my partner is fifo & I stay home with our 3yo. I have recently been thinking about going to a dr about it but I dont even know where to begin & struggling to even book an appointment to talk about it. It's only started about a year or so ago

[Casper121]

Hey my name is Alex I'm having the same thing I'm scared something will happen to me and right now for me its being able to stay at home by myself I'm scared I have a bad desease and I've been to hospital 36 times in a ambulance but they have done heaps of test and they come back clear but I still think I have something bad, by the way do you have any physical symptoms at all?

[Claydo]

Hey guys I’ve been down this road too. I was convinced I had a neurological disease as I was experiencing all these physical symptoms and I had no idea it was just anxiety. I get this constant buzzing sensation in my leg still and it drives me nuts. It takes a lot of effort not to get dragged down the path I have MS or something similar.

I now worry that I have this severe mental illness because of the way my anxiety and depression makes me feel and I’ll never get better. I don’t feel like this all the time but when my anxiety kicks off it’s hard to think straight and you get caught in the thought loop. The most important thing is to realise you’re doing it and then contain the thoughts.

I would go see your GP and speak them about your health anxiety. They will put you in the direction of the right help. It took my wife catching me on dr google for the 100th time before I accepted I had a problem and she made me do something about it. I’m in better shape for it 6 months on.

[HarlowWynter]

Hi t92, I'm so sorry you are experiencing health anxiety it really is awful. I am currently at home with a 10 week old and also have an 8 and 6 year old. Being at home by myself is the worst I constantly have fears that something will happen to me and then what will happen to the kids etc. I do feel my physical symptoms have been worse since being at home with my baby. A few things I have been trying;

*i try and go for a walk every day, no matter how long for sometimes just around the block other times longer. When I get home I feel like my mindset is always better and whatever I was worrying about seems not so big anymore.

*i have been watching YouTube videos by the anxiety guy. He suffered from health anxiety and one thing that really resonated with me when panicking is to say to myself 'I worry because I care about....' for me it's usually because I am worried about what will happen to the kids if I collapse etc. I can already see the change with that kind of self talk it makes me feel in control of my thoughts but also that it is a genuine thing I am feeling rather than the thoughts spiralling out of control.

*i haven't been sleeping very well so I have been turning off all screen 1 hour to half an hour before bed and reading some days this is hard because I'm tired but I have been having more restful sleeps which is making me feel some what better.

*i go to yoga once a week and have a massage once a month. This may not be doable for you as your husband is fifo but if you can I find just having something to look forward to does wonders for me too.

*i am also going back to see my psychologist as everything is so heightened at the moment for me. I found somewhere I can take my baby with me which is great however I know if you speak to your GP there are Skype and phone psychologist options I believe one is called gidget.

I hope this helps a little bit. It is a long road but just remember if you have an anxious moment or an anxious day it doesn't mean that will continue on, you are strong enough to change your thought pattern and try not to feel defeated.

If you need to chat happy to help you out, I will keep checking here to see if you respond.

[T92]

Thankyou for your reply, that's sounds so much like what I experience. I do often find going out when i am feeling it makes me feel a bit better & keeps me distracted. I did use to walk daily (before I started experiencing this though I lost a lot of weight due to that & breast feeding so I stopped walking to try gain the weight back. I might look into things I can do for me that i can possibly take my daughter with me. I do think I need to go speak with someone about it and am currently researching places that have experience with this and come reccomended.

[T92]

How do you find the strength to go speak to someone with out feeling silly. 
Or are there any copying mechanisms you have found that have worked. 
I've recently been struggling with mainly health related anxiety and I'm 
Not sure where to even begin, or what seeing someone would actually do. 
I'm not sure where it has all stemmed from but I feel it's getting worse 

At the moment I have good and bad days I find if I can keeo myself occupied 
I tend to not get it as bad however I can't always go out or be around people. 
My main fear is collapsing or passing out and no one knowing, it's usually just me and my 
3yo home, every 3rd week hubby is home for 7 days (fifo) i think that's where it all started 
As I only started feeling this way a few months after he began fly in fly out. 
I'm just not sure what to do, I want to get back to not worrying about it but I really don't know where 
To begin.