I've struggled with generalized anxiety disorder for a few decades now. It takes the form of health anxiety, with definite OCD tendencies. All I do is scan my body for things that might be "off", seek reassurance from family, and look things up on Google. It's just....too damn much at this point.
I feel like I'm exhausting my wife especially, with health questions and complaints. And I'm burning out myself, to be honest. The last couple years have been a serious downturn from what was a pretty good and stable state before that for a while.
Does anyone else suffer from anxiety with OCD tendencies, or more specifically, hypochondria? Would love to talk.
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cherryhillguy
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I have a different type of OCD but what you describe sounds very similar to my episodes. One episode lasting 2-3 years. My current episode started in February and I am slowly working my way out of it. Unfortunately depression has kicked in as well but I am on medication that helps both the Anxiety and another for the depression. Health unlocked as another group specifically for OCD. There are also OCD groups on facebook. It helps knowing you are not all alone.
It sucks. There is no doubt. I just want to tell myself to stop worrying so much, because the worrying doesn't do anything. What med is helping you? Happy to DM if you don't want to share.
I forgot to mention that I take Effexor for OCD and Mirtazapine for the Depression. I have been off and on them over that past 13 years. Unfortunately when I am off them is when I get a flare up.
Let's start at the beginning. Maybe you inherited a tendency towards high anxiety. Maybe not, maybe your nerves have been over-sensitised by too much stress. Too much over work, disappointment, loss, grief, toxic relationships.
Finally, your nervous system decides it's had enough and it becomes over sensitive. In this state small worries and problems become exaggerated ten fold. This can take many forms but a common one is health anxiety. A headache must be a brain tumour. Muscular tension in the chest must mean your heart is failing. A stomach ache must be cancer. Even the reassurance of medical tests and doctors leaves us thinking "what if they've missed something?"
We've all been there but we're all still here to tell the tale. Because health anxiety cannot kill you, cannot disable you and cannot send you crazy.
Without help you can easily get into a vicious circle of symptoms causing fear causing more anxiety causing more symptoms causing more fear and so on. Anxiety feeds on fear. The second fear that we add to the flash of first fear, that is.
You can recover from anxiety disorder (formerly called hypochondria) no matter how long or how deeply you have suffered. That's right, you can recover - health anxiety doesn't have to be a life sentence.
I'm not a medical practitioner so I can't instruct you what to do. But I can tell you what helped me to recover and what has helped many others. Many years ago a doctor called Claire Weekes experienced anxiety disorder. She gradually devised a method which allowed her to recover. Doctor Weekes then wrote a book describing her method titled "Hope and help for your nerves".
She said that first of all we should stop fighting the symptoms of anxiety. Fighting involves stress and strain: the last thing sensitised nervous systems need. Instead, she advocated "accepting" all the symptoms for the time being knowing full well they are imposters and can't harm us. Accept them without adding second fear to the flash of first fear. Accept them completely by agreeing to co-exist with them for the moment.
She summed up her method as: Face. Accept. Float. Let time pass.
Over the years it is said that over the past 50 years tens of millions of people have recovered using her protocols. She was even nominated for a Nobel Prize.
Her book is still in print and available new or pre-owned from Amazon or Ebay. It's quite simply life changing.
What a wonderful and thoughtful reply. It appears Dr. Weekes system is very similar to ERP. I would love to hear more about your story. Did you have OCD or another anxiety disorder? I thought I had it well under control till I just had this lapse. It I believe is was tied to an exorbitant amount of stress my family had to go through. I am curious how people live and cope and keep the OCD monster at bay.
Yes, as Kainan says, the first book she wrote says it all: published in the u.s. as "Hope and help for your nerves" and same book published in U.k. as 'Self help fir your nerves" so get whichever is cheapest, they're identical. Plenty available on Amazon and (pre-owned on ebay). I think you'll find it a brilliant read.
Health Anxiety has been my unwelcome companion since I was 10 years old. I remember being convinced I had kidney cancer, after having some back pains. I will never forget how panicked I became, and how I began my life long cycle of "symptom; associating worst possible disease with symptom; ruminations producing more of said symptom; finally getting a medical examination/scan, etc., and basically feeling incredible relief when my "death sentence" was lifted! Of course, the rise of Dr. Google did not help one bit. Eventually I was prescribed Paxil, which although did not eliminate the health anxiety, dialed it down from 10 to 3 (for both frequency and severity). It helps shutdown the rumination cycle quite a bit. Not sure if you have tried Paxil or not. I am not sure for everyone, but it has helped. I also remember reading a book called "Hypchondria, Phamtom Illness" by Carla Cantor. It helped me realize I was not alone, and it quite common. Regardless, when you are in the depths of an episode, it is truly awful. I hope you can find some solutions that work for you.
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