I hold this topic near and dear to my heart because I have had health anxiety my entire life. I remember when I was in grade 7 feeling a little lump under my jawline and thinking “Im dying.” I even phoned up my mom concerned on what it may be. It would consume my thinking for the entire day. This is health anxiety.
Now, if you are like my old self, unable to leave the house because of this debilitating anxiety, then you know how painful it can be. I was confused, running on no sleep, and completely overcome by this feeling of hopelessness. I was unable to walk one block from my house before shaking into a panic state and then running back home scared of the sensations.
To overcome Health Anxiety was the biggest challenge for me. The symptoms I was experiencing such as; lower back pain, discomfort while urination, lower stomach pains, headaches, and blurred vision, were all caused by ANXIETY. I never had what I thought I had. The reasons I had these symptoms was because of my anxiety and the emotions I haven’t dealt with yet.
Now when I say emotions i haven’t dealt with yet, I mean our bodies store information that cause physical sensations. For example: When I think back on an embarrassing moment in my life that causes me grief, I will then feel that certain sensation somewhere on my body whether its my chest, lower back, head, and neck. Another common sensation is the lump in the throat feeling which a lot of anxiety sufferers get as well. The sensation’s make us believe something is wrong and we constantly pay attention to the sensation for days. But if it doesn’t go away, it must be something serious right?
Wrong. I kept thinking about this pain in my right side for days and days but it wouldn’t disappear. I was giving it attention, thus, keeping the sensation alive. So how do you take your mind off of it and get over health anxiety?