[THREAD] I want to take a moment to explain health anxiety (formerly known as hypochondria). It is something that continues the cycle of anxiety and it spirals to the point where we think that something is wrong with us physically almost constantly. Health anxiety is very common.
We may go to the doctor for physical exams but the tests keep coming back with nothing wrong. However, our health anxiety convinces us that something is wrong and the doctors simply haven't caught it yet. We may get a small relief when we get our tests back but it doesn't last.
Our anxiety simply tends to move to another part of our body. If we do a heart test and everything looks fine, we will think that something is wrong with our lungs. It is a never ending struggle. We often look up symptoms on google to self-diagnose. However, this is a bad idea.
This is because googling our symptoms cannot lead to any improvement. Almost any combination of symptoms will lead back results such as cancer, strokes, heart problems, etc...This is because those medical websites have to cover almost everything for legal issues.
Given that all types of anxiety manifest themselves physically, we are not solving the root cause by doing more physical tests. We underestimate how powerful anxiety is. It can give us symptoms and pains similar to those of a heart attack or a stroke.
The first thing we need to do is remove those triggers. That means no more looking up symptoms or illnesses because we will internalize them and start to feel those symptoms. After having ONE health test, we can't go back to get more unless it is recommended by the doctor.
We cannot give ammunition to our anxiety by providing more information about how symptoms happen because it will literally create those symptoms. We may feel as if we are dying or have a serious illness, but it is crucial to remember that anxiety cannot kill or create illnesses.
Finally, we need to get working on that anxiety. That means going to therapy and taking medications to end the cycle. The treatment allows for that perpetual cycle of fear and physical symptoms to slow down. The more those symptoms lessen, the less afraid we will be.
There are also certain exercises we can do at home. Deep breathing allows us to lessen our heartbeat, which means a weaker hormonal and physical response. Consequently, it will mean a smaller anxiety reaction. No matter how much we are itching to look up symptoms, we can't.
We can use distractions, coping mechanisms that work a little for us, giving our phone or laptop to a trusted person until the anxiety response goes down or anything that would keep us from doing that. Once we begin to unlearn this specific behaviour, we are on our recovery path!
Please remember to be patient with yourself. Relapses can happen and the more we put pressure on ourselves, the more time it will take for our health anxiety to go away. It is also important to remember than anxiety has at least 200 physical symptoms.
Just because we experience a new symptom today does not mean that it is something physical. Our anxiety likes to freshen things up by throwing in new symptoms to increase that fear response. It is like a parasite that feeds on our fear, its goal is to keep it up!!
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