Health anxiety

[AnxiousAnnie]

Hi all. 

Current preoccupation has jumped to my health again since noticing a couple of days ago that the tendons in one foot stick out much more than in the other, I became paranoid this meant I had muscle wasting and I had MND or something equally horrible. Ended up googling pictures of feet for hours to see if anyone else had such a thing.

Have now got tingling and twitching in my feet, arms and hands and desperately trying not to go down the rabbit hole but am itching to Google to seek reassurance. Any tips and advice welcomed. 

[PolarBear]

Hey there. 

What you need to understand is that your actions are causing your anxiety. In addition to Googling, I suspect you are regularly looking at your feet, checking them out, comparing and the ever present ruminating. All this is doing is making you more anxious.

The cure is hard but it's the only way. Stop the compulsions. It's hard. But you have to understsnd that more compulsions will not solve anything. They'll just keep you in a very uncomfortable, anxious state.

[AnxiousAnnie]

Any other tips guys. Really struggling with the urge to Google and/Or seek reassurance 

[ivybasil]

If you can't stop the compulsion straight away, try and delay it. Tell yourself you can Google in five minutes, do something different for that time and you might find the need to do it lessens. 

Even if you have to engage with the compulsion after 5 minutes, that's fine - just next time, wait 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20... And so on. You should find the longer you wait, the anxiety will reach a point where it fades

[ivybasil]

Download one of those internet blockers - an app like Cold Turkey of something you can set to not let you online for a certain amount of time. If you feel the urge to check something, set the timer for a period of time instead. Then you've got a bit of back up, too, if you find yourself giving in! This helped me with a need to check my sent emails

[Closed for repairs]

I look at pictures of cute doggies, instead.

[Closed for repairs]

Just now, Closed for repairs said:

I look at pictures of cute doggies, instead.

Err, I mean manly sports like err, rugby. 

[ivybasil]

4 hours ago, Closed for repairs said:

I look at pictures of cute doggies, instead.

4 hours ago, Closed for repairs said:

Err, I mean manly sports like err, rugby. 

I'm a great believer in the healing power of dog pictures.   No shame in dog pictures over sports! Although, it's worthwhile google image searching 'dogs playing rugby'. Very rewarding. 

Hope you're doing better today, @AnxiousAnnie?  

[AnxiousAnnie]

Not really tbh. Keep convincing myself I have mnd or ms. Tingling is driving my nuts and keep feeling muscle twiches and aches too. 

[PolarBear]

Are you still Googling, looking at your feet and ruminating about this?

Compulsions can increase your anxiety, which can cause unpleasant physical symptoms.

[AnxiousAnnie]

Have been trying to avoid doing all the above. Have succeeded in cutting down but not stopping.

[PolarBear]

Okay. That's a good step. It's hard to go cold turkey. But keep pushing yourself to do compulsions less.

One way is to delay compulsions. If you get an urge to Google, tell yourself you'll do so in an hour and then (this is really important) get involved in doing something else. Cleaning, working, exercising, reading, whatever. Often, after that delay period passes, your anxiety has dropped and you don't have the urge to do the compulsion.

[AnxiousAnnie]

Thanks. Will definately work on this tomorrow. Any tips for reducing the rumination? 

[PolarBear]

Annie, i did a YouTube video on that very subject. Search for: How to Stop Ruminating.

[AnxiousAnnie]

Oh that's great, there is a few, which one did you do?

[PolarBear]

Sorry, by Dave Preston. Try not to let my ugly mug scare you.

[AnxiousAnnie]

I may have gone down the rabbit hole a little tonight and am now convinced I have either MND or MS *sigh*

[ivybasil]

That's okay. Setbacks happen. This is just your OCD and you don't need to listen to what it says. The important thing now is to move on quickly and try not to engage with the compulsion to keep googling. 

What are your interests? Google something you like, find some new facts about something that interests you, not your OCD replace the negative compulsion with something better

[AnxiousAnnie]

Thank you. Finding it hard to ignore my symptoms tho and struggling to believe they could b caused by anxiety 

[dksea]

On 31/01/2020 at 03:01, AnxiousAnnie said:

Not really tbh. Keep convincing myself I have mnd or ms. Tingling is driving my nuts and keep feeling muscle twiches and aches too. 

 

9 hours ago, AnxiousAnnie said:

Finding it hard to ignore my symptoms tho and struggling to believe they could b caused by anxiety 

A couple things to keep in mind.
First, anxiety can cause us to become hypersensitive to physical sensations that are normal and we already experience but pay little attention to.  
Muscle aches, muscle twitches, these happen to normal, healthy people too.  Stress can cause them.  Fatigue can cause them.  Normal life can cause them.  
And once you notice something and start paying attention to it, you are more likely to notice it again and again and again.
Additionally, if you are taking medication for OCD, like an SSRI, muscle twitching is also a possible side effect some people experience.

It can be scary to imagine having a signficant/severe condition obviously, but that doesn't mean thats what is happening to you or that you need to worry about it.
A brain tumor CAN cause a headache, but that doesn't mean having a headache means you have a brain tumor.  If that were true every person on earth would have brain tumors and humanity would have died out a long time ago.  Headaches happen for lots of reasons, most of them temporary and benign.  Same with muscle twitching and muscle soreness.  OCD makes us focus on the worst case "what ifs" but that doesn't mean its logical or worth while to do so.  YOu have to make the choice (over and over) to treat intrusive thoughts as just that, and eventually they will fade away.  Its a pain in the rear for sure but you can do it and you will be better of for having done so.  

[AnxiousAnnie]

Thanks @dksea. I am on meds but been on them long term before with no side effects so don't think it's that. 

I am going to try really hard not to Google today. Not sure I'll be able to stop the ruminating tho!

[dksea]

2 hours ago, AnxiousAnnie said:

I am on meds but been on them long term before with no side effects so don't think it's that.

Maybe it is maybe it isn’t. Our bodies are not static, they change over time. For 32 years of my life I could consume dairy without a problem, then it started being a problem. For 12 years of my life I didn’t have OCD, then something changed. Our bodies change, our lives change, that’s just life. Eventually we will all probably die (I mean I COULD be immortal, I don’t know yet). Bad things will happen in our lives, so will good things. OCD can make us waste a lot of time worrying about the bad things. But worrying doesn’t actually change things for the better. It’s not easy but telling OCD to sod off is the best choice you can make. 

[AnxiousAnnie]

I totally agree with you. Finding it so hard to do tho. I may have been googling for hours this morning and comparing my feet again. Then worrying about taking the kids swimming this afternoon as my feet will be bare and I feel like I can't help but look at them when they are not covered.

[AnxiousAnnie]

Does anyone else suffer with health anxiety? 

I was due to have an appointment with my GP for a mental health check up this am during which I was going to mention my current physical symptoms, however it has been cancelled due to sickness. It is rearranged for in 2 weeks but I feel like in that time I will have gotten worse. 

(Current symptoms - foot appearing bonier than the other side, pins and needles / tingling of feet and legs, muscle twitches of feet, legs and occasionally arms and hands, feeling that my arms and hands are weak, particularly thumbs)

[PolarBear]

What are you doing to make this worse? What compulsions are you doing?