What Helps Me With Hypochondria

[Worrier1960]

Like many of you, my OCD often takes the form of hypochondria. I can't tell you the number of times I thought I was dying or the number of times I went to see a doctor because of some minor symptom. I've developed some coping strategies which helped me. I thought I'd share them here.

1. No checking the internet. As hard as it is, I've stopped running to the Internet to look up symptoms. It only serves to drive me nuts. I know it's hard not to do it, but I force myself.

2. if a physician tells me that it's nothing to worry about, I've convinced myself to stop worrying. These people are experts and have seen thousands of people just like us. They know when something is going wrong.

3. Intense exercise ALWAYS make me feel better both because it's a stress release and because I find myself thinking that if I can exercise this hard, I can't really be sick.

4. I use 4 "ifs". if I can put four "if "between what I'm experiencing and something horrible happening, I've been able to convince myself to stop worrying. For example, I had a slightly elevated PSA. This is only an issue if 1) it is actually cancer, 2) the cancer is aggressive (most grow very slowly), 3) it doesn't respond to treatment and 4) removal doesn't solve the problem. I have a statistics background, so this approach has really helped me.

Folks, I feel your angst - I really do. I'd like to hear about any other coping strategies.