Anxiety question: why does researching symptoms make us believe that we have it? Or start feeling the symptoms.

[Ollybolly]

This has long confused me I cannot get my head around as to why people with anxiety like myself do this. Since I have had anxiety I have researched all kinds of crazy symptoms relating to my neck and jaw pain and each time I've believed I've had the following: MS, Tumor, cancer of various sorts, menangtis, migraines, diabetes, hypoglycaemia (today). I just don't understand what suddenly makes us believe we have this? This is me thinking I have this all in one day and that is beyond unreasonable.

this is what I believe to be my genuine problems as why my anxiety worsens and as to why I feel bad:

I go to bed at 3-4 I either sleep over 12 hours (way to much) or 4 hours (way too little). In that time I barely eat and suddenly get shaky, headaches genuinely feeling unwell. That's what believes me to think I have hypoglycaemia which is unreasonable. I genuinely think it's a case of sleeping correctly and going back to eating correctly in order to make myself feel well again. As lack of sleep and not eating properly is dangerous and silly.

Now the real symptoms I have are TMJ and bad neck and back muscles which give me headsches and pressure. Recently I've had s fleshy lumo show up every time I move my jaw as far left as possible doesn't hurt just feels tense when I push it. Even with doctors saying it's my jaw and neck muscles I fail to believe I don't get why I'm like this.

Guess I should probably sleep correctly, eat correctly, see a dentist about this jaw issue and TMJ and go to physio. But I'm always going to think I'm dying, when in reality there's some poor bastard out there who genuinely has these terrible things and I feel so bad..

[Hidden]

How many sufferings cost us the evils that never happened I find myself living daily with fears. I feel so many things.😪

[Beevee]

Anxiety, or “nervous illness" consists of 3 “pitfalls” that perpetuate it. These 3 pitfalls included “sensitisation" of your nerves, usually caused by stress or a series of stressors, “bewilderment,” and “fear.” Sensitisation is the general state of an anxiety sufferer, in which the sympathetic nervous system is highly active and responsive, resulting in persistent nervousness. The second pitfall, bewilderment, is a state of confusion and distress due to the general nervousness caused by sensitisation. The third pitfall, fear, is the result from the discomfort caused by the two preceding pitfalls, and eventually to be a reaction to the fear itself, forming a closed loop. In my opinion, it is a combination of these pitfalls that cause you to search for the answers as to why you feel like you do. In a sensitised state, you are susceptible to being too easily impressed by any illness you find on the internet that you can relate to your symptoms, all of which are anxiety based. As such, continuous searching and the confusion it causes simply feeds your anxiety keeping your nerves sensitised so you stay stuck in the loop. To break the loop, I would advise you to give up searching for a possible diagnosis and accept that your symptoms are all anxiety based and do something else with your time.

[Agora1 in reply to Beevee]

Beevee, you are amazing in your knowledge of anxiety. I wish the therapists I had gone to had explained it like you do. Have a good weekend!

[Beevee]

Got the t-shirt which also helps. Unless a therapist has been through it themself and knows what it takes to recover the right way and come out the other side, I'm afraid they are not really in a position to help, apart from being someone to talk to. I went to a therapist who had me on my hands and knees yelling my head off to rid myself of anxiety....💩💩💩

Sufferers who have received a clean bill of health (probably on more than one occasion) need look no further than the teachings of Dr Claire Weekes. Some may not be ready to understand her teachings and think it can't apply to them because they are still in search mode, looking for that one thing that will explain to them what illness they have and a pill to make it all go away instantly. It doesn't exist.

I advise those people to stop feeding their habit and start living their lives again. That also means getting off this website, especially those who know what to do to recover but still keep looking for reassurance. To recover, you actually have to get out there and do it, as simply reading about what to do and knowing what it means isn't enough. Don't just talk the talk, walk the walk too. That is where true recovery lies. Not here.

[Vbee in reply to Beevee]

Ha ha ha and there lies the paradox ! get off this website - it is adding fuel to the anxiety fire!! i totally believe Claire Weekes' teachings and the modern day equivalent is a fellow calle Paul David who has the FB oage AnxietyNoMoreUK and wrote a book "At Last A Life" - more than a life ring - the whole rescue boat!

[Beevee in reply to Vbee]

That is exactly what it is. A paradox. The less you do something about it, the more you recover. Having read Dr Weekes' book, Paul and his website provide a more practical explanation of what acceptance means which helped me a lot. The more I practiced, the less I needed to visit the website or refer to his first book (and Dr Claire Weekes' book) for reassurance. i found this website while trying to find out what methods are used by Linden which appear to promote instant recovery (which I find hard to believe) without having to pay for it! I also don't agree with making money out of other people's misery especially when there is lots of free advice available from many people, including those on this website. I contacted them via their FB page only to be told that Dr Weekes' approach was CBT based and wouldn't cure anyone 😂😂😂😂😂. I corrected them but think they may have deleted my posts! I trust them even less now but would be interested to hear from anyone who has paid the mone and cured themselves completely.

[Vbee in reply to Beevee]

Claire weekes is the bomb! hardest thing ever is to do nothing when we are conditioned to fight anything that feels uncomfortable. let those storm clouds roll in knowing the blue skies will appear and the storms will too!!

[Beevee]

I'm on one! Just want to reiterate a point I made a little while back when someone asked me what I did differently to recover. Sure, I thought about changing my diet such as cutting down on sugar (love drinking sweet tea but too embarrassed to say how many teaspoons I have) and learning all sorts of techniques to make myself better. I saw counsellors, therapists, hypnotists, tried mindfulness, meditation. I then remember thinking why I was doing all of that when I had no need for them before anxiety came knocking. I stopped it all because I learnt that the more you chase for an answer to rid yourself of anxiety, the further away you get from recovery. You chase your tail, that is all.

The only thing I did change was my attitude towards my anxiety. Instead of fearing it, I slowly changed my viewpoint to one of genuine acceptance of all the symptoms (mainly severe stress 24/7). I continued to go to work even though I felt very afraid day in, day out, thinking i couldn't cope. Even when I felt that I had had a reasonable day and could feel confidence returning, I would be knocked back the next day. It was demoralising but I just carried on because I started to see and feel glimpses of my old self and believed that what I was doing would start to pay real dividends. It did and this is why I urge all sufferers to keep doing normal stuff no matter how bad you feel. Doing the normal stuff despite how you feel is facing, accepting, floating past and letting time past all rolled into one. Anyone who knows the teachings of Dr Claire Weekes will know this is the right way to recover. It means you give up caring if you have anxiety or not, you lose the fear that drives it and it means that should you ever fall into setback, you know exactly what you need to do to get out of that hole because you practised it hundreds of times before on the road to recovery.