health anxiety

[emmelyne]

hello everyone, I wondered if someone could help to make me see reality on this one.

I have really bad hypochondria, so I will fixate on one tiny health issue and convince myself that I'm seriously ill/ dying. this time it's due to me cleaning the washing machine. I did it stupidly without gloves on and then read the back where it listed the toxicities to skin, eyes, do not ingest etc. so I immediately washed my hands - must have done it a total of about 5x - before I touched anything else. but now I'm convinced that after eating food I've ingested some of the chemicals and I'm freaking out!!!

[Terrieb]

Health anxiety really is the pits. I have had HA for over 20 years and it is as bad today as it ever was. At the moment I have this thing about my liver (never worried about that organ before)! I will be ringing the doctors for an appointment tonorrow. I wish I could give you the magic remedy for this but I do not know what the answer it is. I'm tired in both body and mind of constant worry all the time. It has completely ruined my life and I truly can see no way out. These forums go some way to relieving some worry but it is only temporary. Wish I could wake up one morning and it all be gone 🤒

[JohnnyNix in reply to Terrieb]

I hear you Terrieb. I think I have found something that has worked for me and I am almost HA free. Its a process but for me I am 90% back to normal. If you want to chat about it - email me [e-mail] and then we can maybe talk on the phone. I know what you are going through.

[Leelaa in reply to Terrieb]

Terrieb What is it that your worried about tho? I ask because for you to be worring so much means you have some fear going on. And now you have to figure out what is making the fear there and how did it manifest itself for so long . Anxiety is a symptom of something deeper, it is not a diagnosis . You can not die from anxiety . I used to have health anxiety I called it body anxiety I wanted to crawl out of my skin most days , but I learned why I had it and when it started . I dealt with the issue at hand . My anxiety subsided quite a bit now , I still get it from time to time but not to much. I hope you find your answers soon ..take care hope this helps you .

[TJB1968 in reply to Leelaa]

Thank you for your reply Leelaa. I have no idea where my HA manifested from. I cannot recollect a trigger, it just seems as though I have lived with it so long it has become a part of life. I am so tired of feeling this way, relentless worry over something I cannot ever control. I get over one symptom for it only to be replaced with another and so it continues. It has had such an impact on my life it is very depressing. I have missed out on so much x

[Leelaa in reply to TJB1968]

Key words worry over something you can't control . Now you realize that part all you have to do is practise on letting go of things you can't control change the way you think train your brain to rethink positive.

[JohnnyNix]

if you caused any real harm your body would have told you by now - and i think you would have had to ingest quite a bit of those chemicals for it to do any real harm. drink lots of water - and NEVER do that again. you will be fine.

[Hidden]

I too suffer wit heath anxiety any pain I get I think it is something really bad like cancer or heart attack and to top it all I have a fear of vomiting. It tops me from going out too far too.

[kama24]

Hi, I am similar to you but my hang ups with issues are....a sharp pain in the head....brain tumor.....chest pain...heart attack.....bowel or stomach upsets....cancer....yet so far over all these yrs thank God I'm still here, but yes I understand. I think if you are still alive now, have had no bad side effects that you likely were not affected by the chemicals....you washed thoroughly....something like that I believe you would have serious, need a dr. symptoms within hrs. I hope you find some peace of mind.

[emmelyne]

hey everyone, thanks for your well wishes. I'm still alive and not worrying any more, but of course something else cropped up today that's made me a little anxious, but I'm at my mums this week so that will calm me down!

[Leelaa]

You said you washed your hands about 5x so why would you think you still have chemicals on your hands? And i see that you wrote this 8 days ago so how is everything going for you know?

[emmelyne in reply to Leelaa]

Hi Leelaa,

In my mind even though I washed my hands numerous times I was convinced that wasn't enough to get rid of the chemicals! it's just a case of overthinking I'm afraid. I'm better about it now, still have anxiety related to my health eg nausea. But I've figured out that this may have stemmed from the fact I'm homesick, I'm in my final year at uni so pretty scared about what's to come when I graduate!

[Leelaa]

That just might be the case . Well hang in there I hope things will get better for you .

[Beevee]

Hi

The cure to any anxiety disorder, is the same., no matter how entrenched you may feel. Allow all those negative thoughts and feelings to wash over you and resist the temptation to get involved with them. Instead, just let them be there, do nothing about them, other than to observe them in the same way you might eavesdrop on a conversation between two other people. It is the constant battle (with yourself) you have with those thoughts and feelings that keeps the anxiety fires burning. So, stop battling and give up the figh because it is a battle you will never win. Learn to be comfortable about being uncomfortable and accept it all as anxiety and live your life. Take the anxiety with you and let it do what it wants to do. Eventually, it will run out of oxygen and fizzle out but it does take a bit of time for fire to fizzle out. It is a process you need to go through in order to take all that fear out of the equation. Don't avoid the thoughts and feelings. The more you let yourself succumb to everything without challenge, the better you will begin to feel. This is the way to recover.

[Maggie-cassidy1988]

I also have healthy anxiety my health is fine but a just keep thinking am going to die/ eles iam scared keep taking panic attacks fell like going to hospital but will fell silly was at doctors yestarday she said a wad fine just my anxiety gave me a web site and number to phone just so scary