Is there a treatment for health anxiety?

[Sunstart]

I've always suffered with health anxiety. I can remember worrying I had appendicitis when I was 8 after watching a TV programme where a child my age had it. It comes and goes and I can have periods where I'm not worrying about anything but recently I've found myself in a horrible state of panic, catastropising thoughts and it manifests in very physical feelings and just being frozen with worry. My current anxiety is because I've been having migraines and had an MRI which has shown no reason for them but did note a bright spot on my brain stem, it didn't take up the contrast dye so think that's good but I'm waiting to see the neurologist about the results but it's a long wait and I am filled with all sorts of panic about what it means and it is all I can think about.

Is there a treatment for this type of anxiety? How do you deal with things when there is a legitimate reason to worry but it all gets too much? If anyone has any tips or advice then I would be so grateful.

Hi. I have health anxiety, also since I was a child. It’s quite well managed now, but can flare up. I have done three rounds of CBT, and each has compounded the last. The methods and core belief structures on what feeds and starves health anxiety have really stuck, and I now feel like they are ingrained enough to not have to make so much mental effort.

This was all on NHS, but I realise waiting lists are long. Go private if you can – your wellbeing is worth the money. I have also had anti-anxiety meds during very severe periods, some of which have been brilliant, others not.

It’s a process, it takes work, but you CAN overcome it. The most valuable tools I have learnt to stop feeding the anxiety is not to seek reassurance – don’t ask people’s reassurance, don’t look things up, just completely starve the reassurance cycle. Another thing I find helpful is to ‘schedule worry’. When it really hits bad in the moment, tell yourself you have acknowledged the worry and that you will set aside a time to worry about it later that day or the next – your mind should feel eased that you aren’t forgetting it and it will be addressed, but by the time the scheduled time comes around, your brain has left the peak and it’s likely not bothering you so much any more.

I have health anxiety and the biggest thing that's helped me is DO NOT GOOGLE. ANYTHING. EVER. I have banned myself from search engines, Facebook groups, Chat GPT and avoid any info about the thing I am worried about. It has helped so much.

I am terrible for googling, I think it will make me feel better but of course then I come across all the worst case scenarios. Chatgpt can be reassuring but then I have the feeling it guesses what you want to read and shapes the answer. I really must stop searching.

Can I join in? I have health anxiety and also get panic attacks (such fun!)

I am on a low dose of sertraline and have been since 2023 which helped massively when I was having a severe flair that seemed to come out of nowhere.

I also need to stop googling, but that's so hard when all your brain wants is to help you find reasons to dismiss the irrational fear. What tips do you have @Didimum to help stop the reassurance cycle? I'd like to try some.

Current irrational worry (and probably quite common) is that I'm going to get pneumonia and have a heart attack. I know WHY I'm thinking this (lost my mum in this exact scenario 57 days ago) but I can't bloody stop.

What helped previously was acknowledging that a lot of the worry came from not actually doing anything to help/improve my health. So I went on the mounjaro and lost 8 stone 🥳

Now I'm off it, comfort eating and petrified I'm making everything worse again.

Its fucking shit op and I've rambled on but your not alone and I do believe I can get better.❤️

I wish there were a treatment that would work for me! I feel for you, OP! I have struggled with this from childhood!

@garlictwist you are so correct about Google. It always leads to the worst outcomes no matter how improbable.

My DH says it's the medical sites way of covering their liabilities in the event someone refers to their site, where every scenario hasn't been mentioned, and the site is then found liable in some way due to someone acting or not acting based on their advice.

Not sure if it's true or not but that sometimes brings me comfort to think about when I'm in the midst of a bad turn.

Wow 8 stone loss is amazing, well done! I really need to get fitter, I'm sure that would help.

My problem is that I tend to worry about things that are actually a worry but I build it all up and jump to worse case scenarios which makes the panic and anxiety all encompassing. I can't just forget about it or put it out of my mind and I hope there was a magic answer to do this. There is always something to worry about so I need a way to cope with it.

That probably is true. Also the worst stuff is the more interesting, isn't it?
I had to have a mammogram recently and the panic I felt before was unreal even though I knew it was routine and most likely fine (which it was). I'd like a way to turn off this panic.

Thank you. I will see if I can look into cbt. Are you still taking anti anxiety medication? That is so true about the reassurance cycle, I am definitely guilty of that but it only helps for a short time when I do get the reassurance but then feel awful when I read or hear something that isn't reassuring. I know my anxiety started in childhood and I would like to explore more about what happened as it feels like something got turned on which made me jump to full panic mode at the slightest health worry.

No, I haven't been on medication for about 11yrs now.

The main thing to know about the reassurance cycle is that reassurance doesn't work. You know it doesn't work, because the anxiety always returns. You seek reassurance because you cannot stand to sit with the anxiety, and you feel like you have to do something about it.

Since you know reassurance doesn't work, though you crave it, try sitting with the anxiety instead. Sitting with anxiety for a few hours is not going to make a difference to what you fear is wrong with your body – it's simply not, and you know that. You could have the most awful disease in the world, and 4hrs passing is not going to make any difference. What is wrong in that moment is the anxiety alone, not the health concern.

In that case, it's just anxiety – so sit with it, because it's only anxiety. It feels horrible, but it cannot harm you. You also know, for a fact, that peaks of anxiety fade. So allow it to fade. If you do this often enough, you will break the loop of reassurance feeding it.

@MissCooCooMcgoo

I agree with this. It's the anxiety and the feelings that come with that which makes you feel that you have to do something to make the anxiety go away. But the relief is only short lived. So you might have headaches and think you have a brain tumour so you have an MRI and are told everything is normal and the anxiety goes but only temporarily until the next health worry.

You cannot fight anxiety you have to lose the fear of fear itself.

Or have a more balanced view by challenging your thoughts before the panic spiral starts. This is difficult to do at first but the more you do it the easier it becomes.

This makes sense. I know that reassurance is short lived but I feel desperate for it. I need someone to tell me everything is fine. What I am struggling with is how to stop the really extreme feelings of panic I get over something that is worrying. So, I know the MRI showed something up and I know it wasn't anything active as it didn't enhance with the contrast but I don't know what it is or what it means. My mind is racing and jumping to worst case scenarios and it is in my thoughts all the time but I need to be able to park the worry until the appointment because there is nothing I can do about it and I don't have all the information. But how do I stop my brain making the leaps and going into panic mode?

You (eventually) can stop your brain making leaps and jumping into panic mode by continually breaking the loop of feeding the anxiety cycle. You are stuck in a loop that automatically feeds back into itself – Thought > bodily response to thought > seek to ease bodily response to thought > relief > new thought > bodily response to thought ....

You cannot get rid of a thought, so break the loop by not seeking to relief the bodily response to the thought. The bodily response WILL subside. After enough times of doing this your new loop will be – thought > bodily response to thought > new response: 15 minute walk, knitting, do the washing up, etc > bodily response over.

The more you train your system to stop feeding the thought and sit with the bodily response, the quicker your body will return to calm and the less it will react to the thought in the first place.

It's hard work – sadly, it has to be. But the alternative is allowing it to happen and it damaging your wellbeing more.

Is this what cbt teaches? I want to be able to move past feeling the overwhelming panic at every health issue.

Yes CBT will help you as it challenges your thoughts and helps you to change your behaviours.

Might come as a shock but Google isn't a Doctor. You need to talk to a professional not ask the internet

I'm guessing you've never suffered with health anxiety? Of course I know the internet isn't a doctor but part of this condition is the need to constantly seek reassurance. I can't speak to a doctor at 5am. I could have a doctor appointment at 10am and by 12 I'm worrying again thinking they've missed something or they were downplaying it or something new has now developed. No, it is not rational and I'm well aware of that which is why I wanted to know if anyone else has found a treatment that works because I don't want this to be the way I always am.