how do i stop focusing on symphtomes? health anxiety

[namaste87]

IHi! I Hi! I think I have some kind of health anxiety. I am not afraid of deadly diseases but of allergy and it has become kind of OCDish. One thing that is very stressing is that I _constantly_ scan my body for allergic reactions and also have a lot of itching which I obsess with. It gets better when I am busy with for example work but it's always there. And as I am aware of this psychological fact that physical symptoms get worse when you are obsessed with them I wonder if anyone here has any tips on how to stop that?

Love From me to you all <3

[dont_worry]

Please look into the concept of ego. It is this that is responsible for your fears - in your case, your obsession with allergens etc.

The route to being free of this multi-step, but please know that it is within YOU and doesn't require medicine or therapists. Sure, some therapists can help, but they can only guide you towards an innate freedom that is inside you already, but about which you are unaware.

The first step is to ACCEPT how you are feeling. Your ego thrives on resistence and hostility. You don't like how you currently file, so you are hostile to your current state. You wish you were different, feeling a different way. Realise that it is this longing - this wanting - that will keep you from being free. Instead, no matter how counterintuitive it may seem, accept how you feel. Stop labelling it; stop contextualising it in terms of "how long as this been going on" or "how much longer will it go on?" etc.

The next is to discover self love. It is the answer to any problem you name, and caused a revolution in my life.

I am no teacher, just someone who's been through what you are going through. If you're interested in more steps that helped me, find my recent thread entitled "There is hope - here's what helped me" (I can't link to it as I don't have enough posts under my belt for that privilege just yet.)

Good luck!

[Im-Suffering]

The first step is to ACCEPT how you are feeling....

I am no teacher..



Yes, you are. Accept that.

[namaste87]

Please look into the concept of ego. It is this that is responsible for your fears - in your case, your obsession with allergens etc.

The route to being free of this multi-step, but please know that it is within YOU and doesn't require medicine or therapists. Sure, some therapists can help, but they can only guide you towards an innate freedom that is inside you already, but about which you are unaware.

The first step is to ACCEPT how you are feeling. Your ego thrives on resistence and hostility. You don't like how you currently file, so you are hostile to your current state. You wish you were different, feeling a different way. Realise that it is this longing - this wanting - that will keep you from being free. Instead, no matter how counter

intuitive it may seem, accept how you feel. Stop labelling it; stop contextualising it in terms of "how long as this been going on" or "how much Jongwill it go on?" etc.

The next is to discover self love. It is the answer to any problem you name, and caused a revolution in my life.

I am no teacher, just someone who's been through what you are going through. If you're interested in more steps that helped me, find my recent thread entitled "There is hope - here's what helped me" (I can't link to it as I don't have enough posts under my belt for that privilege just yet.)

Good luck!

thank you for your answer :-) to me it seems quite like mission impossible though, to accept how I feel. Cause then it feels like I have to accept that I feel superallergic and have I lot of itching and this will continue forever. And then I would loose a lot of things in my life. I've been like "I cannot accept that this is how I will feel, it has to go away". You see what I meen? I know that I can't feel any other way than I do right now, right now, but it feels like I would... Die out of pain and death anxiety if I accepted these physical sensations. Like if I accept it it won't ever get better. Usually I'm into acceptance but this time it feels like facing death.

[sae]

Do you by chance have eczema? I ask because I used to break out in what I thought were stress hives. Sometimes it would be so bad I would break out in full body welts. Other times whole sheets of skin would peel from my hands and feet. It has been like this all my life and I was constantly scratching and blistering as if I' had the Crack bugs.
After a trip to the dermatologist I learned I just have eczema, contact dermatitus, a sensitivity to all kinds of different things from grass to sizing chemicals used in fabrics, sadly my favorite fabric softener, most shampoos and soaps among other things. I had to give up socks (and obviously shoes that require socks), long hot showers and hats. It's was a fair trade. I still itch but it is no longer maddening.

[dont_worry]

Your fear of acceptance is quite normal in the beginning. You are finding what we all find when starting down the road of acceptance: the paradox of, "why would I accept something that is negative?"

But acceptance has power ONLY when subjected to something negative. When everything's going well, there's no need to practise acceptance, right? So our ego cons us into thinking, "oh, I'll accept things some time in the future when everything's better."

Understand that you are currently fighting yourself and resisting your current state. That is the opposite of acceptance and will ONLY lead to further pain. Your ego is responsible for your suffering, and your ego is also the centre of resistance and hostility. And so logically we see that, well, the ego isn't going to default itself, now, is it?

Acceptance of what hurts DOES take practise and time, but forget that it feels counter intuitive. There is plenty of material online and in literature about this concept - look into, say, Eckhart Tolle, Muji or Burt Harding. They all have vids on YouTube.

[namaste87]

Do you by chance have eczema? I ask because I used to break out in what I thought were stress hives. Sometimes it would be so bad I would break out in full body welts. Other times whole sheets of skin would peel from my hands and feet. It has been like this all my life and I was constantly scratching and blistering as if I' had the Crack bugs.
After a trip to the dermatologist I learned I just have eczema, contact dermatitus, a sensitivity to all kinds of different things from grass to sizing chemicals used in fabrics, sadly my favorite fabric softener, most shampoos and soaps among other things. I had to give up socks (and obviously shoes that require socks), long hot showers and hats. It's was a fair trade. I still itch but it is no longer maddening.

I do have eczema, I don't know if that's what's itching though, cause I don't feel like I get any help from the doctors. I use cortisone and also antihistamines a lot. I have some allergies which used to don't give me any trouble at all really, just sometimes when I had a cold for example, or when we had kittens in my room. I lived with a lot of animals and worked with animals before this fobia for allergens turned my world upside down. And since the doctors dont really have an understanding of my psychologial state they just tell me to stay away from animals and eat a lot of pills. Which off course made my fobia even worse. And on the other side, my friends and family only believes it's about me worrying cause I used to have no allergy problems. But I DO have physical problems, I don't belive this can be just me imagining all these problems.

So this is why I have so much anxiety about it - every time I feel itching I panic and belive that my whole life is over (cause animals used to be my life and almost all my friends, including my family, have animals, so I feel terror when I visit them). And I feel like if I try to accept how I feel I have to accept that my life in fact is over. And also it feels wrong accepting physical problems instead of trying to get rid of them.

[sae]

Acceptance of a diminished physical state really is tough. I went through that phase. The cardiologist would tell me to avoid strenuous activity to ease angina. My stupid lying brain would pipe up and say "Hey, just a couple years ago you were carrying 60lbs of tools and torches up and down ladders, creeping around 160 degree attics, a quick jog in Texas August isn't going to hurt you!" I would push and push and push and be completely miserable afterward.
After accepting I couldn't do the things I used to I became afraid to do much of anything. What finally broke for me is realizing a little discomfort shouldn't ruin my day. It's about finding the perfect balance.
It comes down to loving and respecting yourself and your quirks. They are only a small part of what make you you, not the sum of all parts. Listen to your body with your senses, not with your thoughts. The anxious mind creates more drama that a bus load of drags queens on their way to a wig sale.
You are awesome, just as you are. With itching, too, the more you scratch the more you itch.

[Goomba]

Sae, that's a very insightful post (about accepting a new physical state, and really, a lot of your posts). Thank you for sharing your experiences. I feel as though your words are going to be of a lot of use to me as I progress in life.

[sae]

Sae, that's a very insightful post (about accepting a new physical state, and really, a lot of your posts). Thank you for sharing your experiences. I feel as though your words are going to be of a lot of use to me as I progress in life.

Thank you. :) sometimes I fear I have become the dreaded over-sharer but some stories are just too crazy not to.

[Nowuccas]

Ask yourself exactly what evidence there is to support the idea that you may have such a disease, or is it just a baseless fear? What if you did have it. How would you cope? What then? Work it all out on paper.

It's important to regularly monitor, and deal with a negative internal monologue (self talk), or mental process, such as disturbing thoughts, images, impulses, or emotions, by the process of (a): recognising it, and (b): challenging it immediately. Technique For Re-Programming Negative Thoughts: When you notice something negative, such as: "I can't do this/ am never going to get over this!" or: "Why am I always so useless/such a loser?" or even an image, emotion, or a memory; recognise that it is being generated from the negative part of your mind. After identifying, and labelling it, visualise a large, red, flashing, "STOP!" sign, and/or possibly a stern faced person wagging an index finger at you in a negative manner, then say to yourself as forcefully as you can, even aloud in a big voice, if alone: "I know this tactic: GO AWAY FOR A WHILE !!!" You may want to use either: "ruse", "ploy", "game", or "trick". In the case of an image, visualise a large "STOP" sign, or your preferred version. Some people go so far as to keep a wide rubber band in their pocket, then put it around their wrist, when they catch themselves backsliding, stretch and release it, as a method of reprogramming their mind sooner, but I don't regard it as being strictly necessary. Remember to remove it, afterwards, if you use this method.

Try replacing a negative thought with a positive affirmation of your choice, such as repeating: "I'll be just fine". Realise that by the act of viewing material about various diseases, you are implanting a suggestion in your subconscious mind that you may have it, It recognises a potential threat, and initiates the (formerly, in times long past) appropriate response; a "fight, or flight" reaction. Stop viewing such material. Practice a relaxation method, daily, and when needed, such as: (free) drcoxconsulting.com/managing-stress.html or wikihow.com/Meditate or Yoga Nidra, (no flexibility required) on page L at your-mental-health.weebly.com, and see page Z for much more about hypochondria (panic attacks, and anxiety; see pages 1, h, & i). Qi Gong, Tai Chi, or regular yoga suits others better.

Give EFT a good tryout, to see if it helps you. It is free via the searchbar at mercola.com "EFT" & "EFT therapists", or tapping.com (13 free videos) or emofree.com or YouTube EFT. Professional is best. - There is a version for use in public places, (you could claim to have a headache, as you employ the acupressure massage/tapping your temples, but you would then be restricted to subvocalising: saying it to yourself in your mind: "Even though I have health anxiety (or hypochondria), I deeply and completely accept myself." These will enable you to emotionally centre yourself, when practiced regularly, and can also help you become a calmer, more self controlled person, who is less susceptible to such beliefs.

Read: Treating Health Anxiety: A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach by Steven Taylor Phd and Gordon J. G. Asmundson PhD, & The Hypochondriac's Guide to Life. And Death. by Gene Weingarten, & It's Not All in Your Head: How Worrying about Your Health Could Be Making You Sick--and What You Can Do about It by Gordon J. G. Asmundson Ph.D and Steven Taylor Ph.d, from your bookstore, or Amazon.com and there are other media, such as CD's & Kindle material, via their searchbar: "hypochondria".

Hypnosis is merely a heightened state of suggestibility, in which you are better able to communicate with your subconscious mind; view myfavoriteinterests.com/hypnosis/ about what it is, and isn't. 85% of people are suggestible to some degree; 15% - 20% highly so, and 15% - 20% aren't much at all, so you could either preferably seek professional hypnotherapy, or, if not an option, hypnosisdownloads.com has one on overcoming hypochondria.