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Jena
USA
195 Posts |
 Posted - 02/03/2011 : 22:22:41
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| I am 25 years old and suffer VERY bad from hypochondria. I always ALWAYS think I have cancer, autoimmune diseases, going to go blind, deaf, heart attacks, heart disease, brain aneurysms, MS, Lupus, Sarcoidosis, Lymphoma, Sjogrens, ALS, and the list goes on. I have symptoms of some of these diseases however my tests come up negative. I cry everyday. I talk to a therapist. I obsess over cures that the government wont let out. I have OCD. I know so much about diseases now I could have been a doctor or scientist. I thought we could talk. PLease message me or email me. I feel so alone because hypochondria is one of the worst things you can have. Constantly thinking ur dieing is horrible. |
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Taoist Pilgrim
United Kingdom
25 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2011 : 01:35:00
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Being the OP who asked the original question, the simple answer is it was the hypochondria.
Fully recovered and living my life hand in hand with the aches and pains that are part of our everyday experience.
Make of that what you will... |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2011 : 05:11:42
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Jena,
The extreme hypochondria you describe is a form of OCD and should be treated as such in my opinion...usually by a combination of anti-depressants and therapy.
It's a terribly painful way to live and my heart goes out to you. But you can recover!
A. |
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Jena
USA
195 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2011 : 05:27:02
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| How do I recover? Also, how'd you recover? |
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Taoist Pilgrim
United Kingdom
25 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2011 : 06:04:55
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Jena
I cannot belittle your situation and would not underestimate it for a split second as I suffered with hypochondria/health anxiety/somatisation for well over 3 years and know full well how all encompassing and consuming it is. It was, without a doubt, the worst experience of my life(at the time).
Getting onto the subject of recovery, seeing it as an experience was a huge part of the recovery process. For 3 years I allowed myself to become a helpless victim who was being controlled by my symptoms and aches and pains…it was my choice to dwell on them and ultimately overcatastrophise them and it is only with hindsight that I realise that I did this for a reason…I cannot tell you what your reason is I’m afraid, that is the key to recovery, finding out your reason and addressing it directly and not falling for the smoke and mirrors (TMS) that hypochondria constantly fools you with.
When I look back say 6 months I do not recognise the person I was….well, that is not totally true, I recognise the person but the thoughts and behaviours seem alien to me, this is why I no longer visit forums such as these on anything like a regular basis as the mindset etc that I thought I fitted so well no longer seems to make any sense to me…in short, you are in a club and all clubs have rules and behaviours that must be adhered to, once you adopt these rules and behaviours they start to appear logical and the norm….yes, you start to belong.
I do think there comes a point where you have to take that leap of faith and trust in your bodies ability to be well at this moment in time…there are no guarantees for the future and you certainly cannot control it so you have to ALLOW yourself to put aside you being the one and only custodian and guardian of your health…your body will do quite nicely on it’s own thank you very much.
Once you start to accept and recover I guarantee you will be totally gob smacked just how tuned in to your body you have become and how you have over estimated all these aches, pains and ailments…once they lose the false importance you have placed on them they can literally melt away before your eyes, I will always remain amazed as to the effect the mind can have on our body and more importantly our perception of our health and body.
There are no easy answers I’m afraid but that is the point. For whatever reason this is where you are at this point of your life and I can say with 100% conviction that YOUR reason is where recovery is found…all the anxiety, hypochondria, aches, pains and cogitation are but the tip of the iceberg and all the while you chuck everything at this element you are missing the bigger picture.
I think it was somebody on here who quoted something along the lines of…
“Whatever your symptoms are, carry them with you as they will not lie to you”
…well, this is it in a nutshell…your symptoms are not lying to you but you are merely not listening to them properly, seriously, embrace them and allow yourself to walk with them fear free and you will be amazed at the what happens.
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Edited by - Taoist Pilgrim on 02/04/2011 06:08:04 |
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skizzik
USA
783 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2011 : 06:50:22
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I posted here on this thread last night and it got deleted, weird.
Anyways, I feel all the "let go" stuff can only happen when you feel good about life. And I'm not talkin about "positive thinking, rah, rah stuff."
And for that, I reccoment the books "the Secret" and "the Power" by Rhonda Byrne |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2011 : 09:18:06
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"I cannot tell you what your reason is I’m afraid, that is the key to recovery, finding out your reason and addressing it directly and not falling for the smoke and mirrors (TMS) that hypochondria constantly fools you with."
I'd only quibble with this notion that there's some key specific to each individual, and absent such a key recovery won't happen...
I'm of the school (and it's a pretty big school these days) that reasons are not as important as actions and behaviors (including thoughts) in the present day.
Especially in the case of OCD, we're talking generally about a neurological tic. Meds do work in concert with appropriate therapy.
JUst to be clear, this is not to say everyone needs meds, or even that everyone needs therapy, or that hypochondria is always OCD.
But OCD is called the "doubter's disease" for a reason. No matter how many times an OCD person checks the stove, or is reassured by a physician, or rattles a doorknob to be sure it's locked, doubts remain. . |
Edited by - art on 02/04/2011 09:23:15 |
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Do I need to beat the hypochondria first?
