Thread: Health anxiety
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Xynesthesia2
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Member Since: Mar 2019
Location: USA
Posts: 540
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Default Mar 23, 2019 at 01:38 PM
 
I have generalized anxiety and worrying about my health can be part of it. I also have a pattern of avoiding doctors and it is the worse strategy as not knowing just exacerbates the anxiety. I have not done CBT with a therapist but used some of the techniques on my own and they can indeed help. What helps me best to clear my worries though is keeping up with regular health checks. Not overdoing it and running to the doctor every time I feel something is off without obvious symptoms, but doing the recommended periodic visits and being health-conscious in my lifestyle choices (instead of avoidant). This works for me because, outside of anxiety, I am generally quite a rational person and value evidence over momentary, chaotic feelings and imagination. Something else that tends to help me is tracking the perceived symptoms in a journal format or even score for myself and make graphs - see what patterns show up. A lot of the times it becomes very clear that my periods of apparent health symptoms and highest anxiety match quite well with hormonal changes, for example. Or with periods of everyday life high stress and overwhelm.

What kind of meds were useful for the HA, if you would like to share? I have never taken psych meds yet but would consider if I found something that is not habit-forming (I have a history of addiction) and has a relatively low side-effect profile.
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