Health Anxiety: Stroke, heart attack, cancer [warning if you're health anxious]

[AliasEQ]

Hey guys!


So, this fear had me going crazy for a while. I couldn't enjoy my life because I was focusing too much on this fear. Every 5 minutes I would put my hands up to see if they're weak or smile in front of the mirror to see if one side of the face is "dropping". I was consistently worrying about this for about 2 weeks. Even now, it's scary. It's not taking over my life though, like it once did.

It's not so easy to just turn your face to the other way and completly ignore this. We're being consistently reminded about how dangerous it is and how it is one of the biggest and most common disease. Like they're litterally spamming us about it, ever since we were kids. Maybe this society, we've come so far and we have so much knowledge; maybe it has gone so far that it's no longer good for us? When we're consistently reminded about it - it becomes our life.

I know that knowledge is good, of course. And yes, it's good that they inform us about the problems we have today. But when they abuse it and litterally SPAM it and you see it everywhere; it's too far. Facts like: Every 15 mins someone gets a stroke [in Sweden] - In what way does this help?

How do you counter this? Do you simply just go by the "f*ck it"-rule and don't care if you get a heart attack, stroke, cancer etc? Like they take it too far, the result will be that eventually nobody cares if they get a stroke or a heart attack or whatever.


Thanks, Elias

[petrified]

Hi elias

I really agree with you that it's pushed in our faces especially like what you said above heart attacks and strokes.
In the uk at the min there is a big campaign about oesophageal cancer and how heart burn could be a symptom. My ten year old pesters me to make a doctors appointment every time I have heart burn now. I think it's good we are better educated but think it is going slightly far now.

I'm trying to look at things how 14 said in his thread. Yes say 1 in 10 suffer something but that means 9 people don't. There is a higher percentage I will be in that 9. Great thread BTW :-)

Hannah :-)

[AliasEQ]

Hi elias

I really agree with you that it's pushed in our faces especially like what you said above heart attacks and strokes.
In the uk at the min there is a big campaign about oesophageal cancer and how heart burn could be a symptom. My ten year old pesters me to make a doctors appointment every time I have heart burn now. I think it's good we are better educated but think it is going slightly far now.

I'm trying to look at things how 14 said in his thread. Yes say 1 in 10 suffer something but that means 9 people don't. There is a higher percentage I will be in that 9. Great thread BTW :-)

Hannah :-)

Haha, it's cute that you're kid is worried, shows he/she cares about you haha. But when it goes to far - health anxiety pops up :-/

We live in a society where everything is "safe" and maybe that's the reason our health anxiety is popping up. I mean, if you ask the miners in China, that risks their life every day; do they have health anxiety? Have they even heard of it? I doubt it haha.

Yea, we always have to look at it from a positive perspective. It's hard though when we're consistently reminded about a negative thing.

Wish you the best Hannah! :)