What is the root of your health anxiety?

MATD · Apr 13, 2022

You had a traumatic event at an early age you were not able to fully understand and deal with. It left you sensitized and bewildered. Research Dr Claire Weekes work on anxiety acceptance. She also has video on YouTube. Health anxiety is no different than any other form of anxiety, it all stems from the same source, lack of understanding and ability to process. Give Dr Weekes’ work a chance. It’s a game changer.

Belizz · Apr 13, 2022

Corey05 said:
What does this have to do with my health anxiety? Well I have realized today that when I start to see good things happen, my guard comes up and I wait for the next bad thing to happen. I say to myself, well anything bad that can possibly happen, would certainly happen to my family, because that's how it feels.

So for me, when things are going well, my HA pops in and says "until one of you becomes terminally ill"... Then I go to the fact I'm only 33 with a 4 year old and the reality is that just because I am still pretty young and have a young child, I am far from being immune from these diseases, and that scares the crap out of me.

Yes I can relate. Because I firmly believe that HA is a defence mechanism. Just like any other anxiety disorder and depression. I know I repeat myself a lot about that but I heard the same thing from my previous therapists and some psychiatrists I got help from.
HA is there to cope with something, or basically protect yourself from for example your own emotions, etc. I get HA more often the times when I have mood changes and feel so depressed and then also at the same time all of my negative thoughts pop up, including HA loop.
Well I realised it is the emotions in my case, I somehow don't know what to do with them. I know the cause of this, a trauma and I was overwhelmed, so I put my guards up all the time. But this is bad because then you can't get closer to other people or enjoy anything in life at all.

A good old psychotherapy treatment would make you dig deep and face your wounds and emotions once and for all. If you have a chance to then seek after that type of treatment.
Therapy is the key here, I hope you find a good therapist/psychologist who is experienced in psychotherapy.
Good luck, and we are here for you.

Jonathan123 · Apr 13, 2022

Negativity can become a habit, and the longer it goes on the worse it can get. Why is it so difficult to think positively when in HA? Because we are so convinced that something is wrong that we lose all sense of reason or logic. A specialist tells us we a fine. For a while we believe them, then the old habit clicks in. 'Did they miss something?' 'Was the machine working properly?' We can't take things at face value but have to embellish them with negative thinking. Now if we were able to think in a more positive way then there would be no anxiety. Habits can be broken, but it does take time and patience. And there is our problem. We get impatient with time, and patience is not a virtue to so many HA sufferers. If we accept that's how we are at the moment and stop speculating about the future all would be well. We can only live in the now. The past is gone and irretrievable. The future is uncertain. If we accept those two things and live day to day enjoying life as much as we can, then we may realise that all our speculations and fears are so much smoke and mirrors. We constantly lie about ourselves. Anticipation is a curse in anxiety. As the old man said, 'I have had so many troubles in my life, very few of which ever happened'. Yes, good counselling can go a long way to help, but so can basic acceptance. The vast majority of our problems lies in the fact that we add fear to fear. As soon as we feel apprehensive we begin to panic. We stoke the fires of anxiety in this way. Anxiety is always fear based! It thrives on fear. By accepting we give ourselves that little pause in the fear that, after a time, replaces the habit of fear. As time passes we fear less and less because we know how to deal with fear.

bigjetplane2 · Apr 13, 2022

I can totally relate it.
For me, my HA started from postpartum depression and went into full effect after finding out I had a thyroid nodule, that is what really triggered my HA. After that, I went downhill.

Walking Circles · Apr 13, 2022

I've always been an anxious person to some degree or another, really chaotic childhood likely at the root of that. As to health anxiety specifically it really ratcheted up after a bout of AFib.

Sweet T · Apr 13, 2022

My 9 year old son died from complications of the flu. He was healthy but just went downhill in a couple of hours. 14 years and it still doesn’t seem real. I look back and wonder what I missed. The doctors said nothing could have changed the outcome. I think I am now hypersensitive and guilt ridden.

I also had a traumatic childhood with an alcoholic parent. I’ve been diagnosed with PTSD for both situations.

I now fear any medical facility. Even going with my daughter to a dental appointment is torture. I always assume they will tell me something awful.

mollyfin · Apr 14, 2022

My mother is a hypochondriac; I've been one from a very young age, fairly sure I picked it up from her. I was pretty much born with anxiety but that particular manifestation seems pretty specific.

Lanchparty7 · Apr 15, 2022

I believe both my health worries and anxiety go far back into childhood. But I was a weird outsider and far from a normal child/teen/young adult and went undiagnosed until I was in my 20’s. A number of years later I am still a weird outsider and not normal. Plus, I live in basically a 24-7 state of worry and anxiety and that includes health concerns.

SB2017 · Apr 18, 2022

I always had a fear of death from a young age. Not quite sure what triggered it but I was always afraid of my parents dying, and just thought about mortality way too much as a child. I was fine for a loooooong time. I still thought about it, but it didn’t rule my life. In recent years it’s gotten out of control. Since I had my daughter it triggered a “what if I die and leave her motherless” fear, that has just spiraled

AnthonyMG · May 1, 2022

The root of my health anxiety is the terrible symptoms of a health problem.

I'm not anxious about my health. I'm not anxious about any serious health problem I might have. I'm anxious about the terrible symptoms of an undiagnosed health problem as the symptoms persist after 18 months now and they are so bad that the idea that it can be forever leaves me in a state of severe anxiety.

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bigjetplane2 · May 1, 2022

AnthonyMG said:
The root of my health anxiety is the terrible symptoms of a health problem.

I'm not anxious about my health. I'm not anxious about any serious health problem I might have. I'm anxious about the terrible symptoms of an undiagnosed health problem as the symptoms persist after 18 months now and they are so bad that the idea that it can be forever leaves me in a state of severe anxiety.

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Any update on your symptoms?

AnthonyMG · May 3, 2022

Hi bigjetplane2!

How are you?

Not much to update on my symptoms. It's basically still the same. Sometimes harder, sometimes softer, as it has been since the beginning. At times I want to believe that I'm getting used to it and can live with it, but it usually does not last long. A couple of days with harsher symptoms and I'm totally down again, with severe depression and bounds of anxiety.

I'll do my best to get through it even if it's forever. I may have to get crazy to be able to deal with it. So be it...

This Thursday I have an appointment with a top ENT doctor that is specialized in undiagnosed throat symptoms/problems. Expectations are not too high, but we'll see what happens. It's an online (video call) appointment. Then in 2 weeks I have an appointment at the local hospital with an ENT also, so we'll also see what comes out of it.

I hope you are doing better my friend. All the best and kind regards!

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bigjetplane23 · Jun 4, 2022

Hope all is well.

What is the root of your health anxiety?

Corey05

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