This might help with health anxiety

[Jaymc]

Hi guys,

I've been suffering from health anxiety for around 8 years and just recently it's been at it's worst! I had no idea there were so many of us in the same boat! It's been so bad that I feel like it is totally taking over my life. I've been doing all of the common things associated with health anxiety... googling symptoms etc, up to 20 times per day, constantly seeking reassurance from my partner and family (I'm sure it must be driving them crazy), hearing news stories about people's health problems and freaking out... the list goes on. On the weekend I read a great post that has helped a little bit and I thought I'd share what I learnt on this forum in the hope that it might help other people as well. The guy who posted the helpful tips is also a sufferer of health anxiety... he said: "stop googling, google is not going to help you, it will only make you feel worse"!!!! I can't stress this point enough! I've stopped googling completely since I read the post on the weekend and it has made a difference (resist the temptation).. secondly, he said "stop seeking constant reassurance about your health from your friends and family", i am finding this one a little harder but I've probably cut it in half. He went on to say "avoid triggers like health-related news stories, social media, etc"... I've taken Facebook off my phone (every time I saw something on Facebook about health issues I'd be diagnosing myself with it). The other things he suggested which I've taken on board are: keep busy... I've been distracting myself with work, kids, reading, walking, meditation app on my phone, started taking a yoga class, anything to keep my mind off it. Another thing that doesn't help me personally is reading everyone's stories about what they "think" is wrong with them, it makes me freak out. This is the reason I haven't mentioned on here any of the hundreds of things I've self diagnosed as I believe you are better off not reading it (trigger). It's been 4 days since I put all of these small things into practice and I'm seeing some small improvements. It's probably going to take a long time to work through the anxiety but I'm so committed to getting my life back and the thought of having to go through this for the rest of my life is horrendous. I hope these tips can help some of you too and I'd love to hear some success stories from people who have overcome this awful experience! xx

[quirkywords]

Jaymc,

Welcome to the forums. Thanks for sharing ideas that are helping you.

As we are bombarded with health stories, limiting or stopping access to Facebook and other websites will stop people reading the stories.

It is good you are keeping yourself busy doing yoga , exercise, reading, walking and meditation.

It is sensible not to write about your anxieties or read about others.

I am pleased the small steps you have tried so far are showing small improvements. I hope that encourages you to keep going.

Thanks for sharing this story with others who will encouraged by what you have done .

Quirky

[demonblaster]

Good on you Jay & hopefully this will help some people, awesome your mindset to get on top of it all too, believing & actively doing are a couple of essentials i believe.

I have every confidence in you that you'll beat this.

All best budz 👍

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Jaymc,

Welcome to the forums!

Thank you so much for sharing your story and your advice on health anxiety. You are right; it's so common here and I've seen a lot of posts about it. Hopefully your advice will inspire others. Feel free to keep posting here so we can support you and/or keep you accountable!

A few extra things for your list -

- Schedule regular appointments with your GP. Whenever I'd get alarmed or worried I'd make more and see them more than I probably needed to. Eventually I started scheduling them and this helped because I'd be having to ride my symptoms and worries out rather than going down the problem solving and fixing route.

- Distraction! You mentioned some great strategies but it also might help to have your friends/family aware of your anxiety. This way they can be aware of it, call you out on it or help with the fact-checking.

- Avoid things that might trigger you. The amount of times 'A Current Affair' (or similar!) have had dramatic stories about one random symptom escalating is ridiculous. Switch it with things that you enjoy. For me personally I don't even enjoy those shows so I'll catch up on my news through ABCNews24 or through direct websites/searches. Same thing goes for Magazines; That's Life and Take 5 are really popular for it where as National Geographic/The Collective is going to make for much better/less-stressful reading.

Also for anyone that's interested here's a self-help'y type worksheet on Health Anxiety. They're often used in therapy but you can certainly use the techniques on your own -

http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/docs/Health%20Anxiety%20Module%203.pdf