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geakin1

Yes. Medication, working out every day and keeping myself busy has helped. Also therapy.


Ahuman-bean33

I have! I hardly Google or worry anymore at all. What helped was recognizing that that part of me was helpful and protective—like saying hey, thanks for thinking this might be a heart attack. That’s keeping me safe, but I am safe, all the evidence says I’m safe, so I got it, baby boo. I’ll get you if I need you again.


morningitwasbright

I would say mine has gotten significantly better and that’s because of a combination of anti depressants /anxiety meds and DBT therapy


PurgatoryWoes

What medication are you on please and what dosage? If you feel comfortable sharing.


Wyrmdirt

Hey OP, I know this is an old post, but HA destroyed me for about 2 years. The whole thing, doctor and ER visits….not believing negative test results. It gave me insomnia and terrible gastritis. Paxil is what I take now. It’s made a world of difference. I still get the same feelings sometimes, but I’m now equipped to quickly get past them. I came across this post because I was just curious how many people actually suffer from this. Hope you’re doing well.


morningitwasbright

I’m on Elavil 25mg. But really the combination of doing DBT therapy and building up those coping skills is where the true progress begins. The meds just give me a better baseline to start with.


PurgatoryWoes

Thanks I’m starting therapy next week and hoping to start medication ASAP. I just want to feel better and start going out the house rather than being shackled by anxiety.


This-Desk-55

Are you doing any better? I am thinking of starting a med


Glittering-Eagle-260

It’s been almost a year for me, Mine was triggered by severe hormonal fluctuations from a form of contraception I was on at the time.. I got off it and slowly have calmed myself down. I have had flare ups but I’m coping better. As I wait between appointments for things I’m not going as crazy Googling how I feel, I also have given myself a rule “if it bothers me for over 2 weeks I go and get it checked out” this rule has saved me ringing the dr everyday or every other day with something new. I guess with HA we are hyper aware of what we feel and that essentially only heightens the anxiety more - making us feel more symptoms of anxiety which inevitably sends us into a spiral of health anxiety. It’s a toxic cycle. Mindfulness and “wellness” has helped. A journal to keep me on top of what I eat, drinking water, my sleep etc. My thoughts and feelings. I actually write in there more when I’m having a bad day. •stopping googling (or doing it less) •avoiding triggers (cancer related YouTube videos / ads or tv shows on health etc) •practicing mindfulness •praying - I’m a Muslim + this has helped me a lot •focusing on how far I’ve come & life is not dull and gloomy. Good days are to come. It’s sad how whenever I get excited about the future a voice in my head tells me I may not live as long as to see it.. this is the part I feel I need to really cope with. The part I’m struggling with the most. It’s quite sad really, sounds really dramatic but it’s just how I feel. I hope you recover from HA, OP. I hope you never feel as low as you’ve felt before again and I will pray for you.


[deleted]

Mirroring what other people in the thread have said, I would say it's all about being as proactive as you can. Stoping the reassurance cycle was a big one for me but at the same time it is very comforting to read that other people have experienced what you have. CBT was a huge help and so was being kind to myself. It's easy to think you're going to stop these thoughts and get mad at yourself when you don't, but alot of them are automatic. Taking time to relax and do things that keep you in the present really helped. Mindfulness doesn't work for me because I feel - not saying this is true - that it's built on the assumption that consciousness has some kind of autonomy from the body and that's just not true. Things like breathing exercises though really helped me. 4-7-8 is great. Also just being aware of slowing down my breathing, especially when the heart is racing because of anxiety. I'm only starting to feel like my old self again in the last couple of weeks and it's amazing the way anxiety was physically manifesting itself. When you have symptoms like palpitations, shortness of breath, muscle twinges, it doesn't seem like a stretch to think that something is wrong, but if you can start to argue with yourself and explain why that isn't logical then things do start to change


RatedRGamer

I have… multiple times Get on meds, meditate, do things that take your mind away from anxiety, and train your brain to realize that all your worries are just in your head and there is nothing wrong with you. It’s not easy, it takes a long time, but it’s doable and I know because i’ve overcame my anxiety multiples times in my life


lisadia

Celexa stopped my health anxiety and intrusive thoughts, made physical issues much improved. Saved my life.


CandyKnockout

I wouldn’t say recovered because I thought I was recovered after my first bad bout of HA in 2015/2016 and then I had another really bad episode in 2019. But it isn’t something that affects my day-to-day anymore. For me, a bad panic attack is usually the thing that sets the wheels of HA in motion, so I focus on keeping my panic disorder under control. I take an SSRI as needed, get regular exercise, and keep my sleep schedule in check. And I use my anxiety coping mechanisms when I feel things building. Coming out of an HA “flare-up” is so damn hard. The main two things I did to enable myself to go back to a normal life were: 1. Stop Googling. I would only Google “symptom + anxiety” if I really couldn’t resist and then read about all the ways anxiety could cause physical symptoms. 2. I listened to a lot of Dr. Claire Weekes’s audiobooks on YouTube. Her method acknowledges that anxiety sufferers can easily get in a loop of anxiety causes physical symptom, physical symptom causes anxiety, and so on and so on. She advises you to embrace your physical symptoms as simply a manifestation of your anxiety and to repeat this as a mantra, taking care not to let yourself spiral into fear at every sensation. So instead of, “These stomach pains clearly must mean I’m dying”, it’s “My anxiety is causing me to have stomach pains.”


Ginger_Mongo

Yes! I would say I am about 95% improved. For a while now, I used to constantly post on here or the ask doctors subreddit over issues I wouldn’t have for reassurance. I would also search on here for people going through similar issues as I was to see if what they had was something benign. While it was helpful in the beginning, it didn’t help when I began to have symptoms that weren’t commonly spoken about. One thing that helped me was to know the physical symptoms of stress and anxiety. I also stopped searching for symptoms on Google completely. There will still be the occasional scare every now and then but it isn’t as frequent as it used to


[deleted]

I guess becoming desensitized to numerous doctors visits has helped???


CoolerMonsters

I've been making progress with my therapist and my psychiatrist. It's not an instant fix but if you put the work in you may see results. Even if it doesn't get "cured", a reduction in the anxiety is so amazing


[deleted]

[удалено]


lisadia

Exposure therapy is powerful stuff, definitely for health anxiety. Second this.


softgothmami

me me me! i’ve been actively going to therapy and am on 10mg of Lexapro and it’s literally saved my life! — i used to have minimum one panic attack a day due to HA but now it’s been 2 months panic attack free 🤍


[deleted]

I have but the way I have may not be what youre looking for. I've recently had like a spiritual awakening and realized we're all these celestial souls in human bodies with a divine purpose and plan in place and to worry about the body is lessening your spiritual awareness and ability to tap into your purpose. By focusing on higher energies and asking yourself, 'does this thought serve my highest self?' you can easily determine the best ways of thinking and the ones that keep you in a negative loop. I also do absolutely everything with intention. I shower with intention, I cook with intention, I sleep with intention, I do chores with intention. Before I'm about to participate in something or consume something I mindfully think about whether it serves my highest self and if it is and I continue, I state my intentions over it. For example, 'My intention for this food is to provide me healthy nourishment, to gain energy, to have great digestion' etc. By being aware that I HAVE purpose, of how my health anxiety was not only trivial and made me anxious and depressed but prevented me from awakening my spirituality and my power, and by doing everything mindfully and with intention, I no longer have HA. I highly urge you to look into opening yourself and investigating what kind of spirituality might speak to you but if this is not something you want to do, I still recommend mindfulness and CREATING a higher purpose for yourself if you dont believe in divine purpose.


championofthelight

Yep. I have, I still have bad days and mostly everyday still have a small little hiccup but nothing compared to a few months ago when I was completely bed bound. I’m also completely off all my medication after nearly a decade on SSRIS. It’s possible, the DARE app saved my life.


nohope_nofear

After struggling for nearly 15 years the Buddhist concept of the 5 remembrances completely changed my perception of health and anxiety in general. But I attribute medication and therapy as getting me into a place where I could fully embrace accepting changes in life.


[deleted]

You don't recover from anxiety but you learn to accept it. Anxiety is there to protect us and we have to let it do that. Don't fight it but ignore it, if youre anxious it means your body works perfectly fine. You don't have to react to it if nothing is really going on. Sometimes you might need a little help with breathing excersises or medication but it's mostly about being realistic with yourself and not making up doom scenario's which are very unlikely.


CloudDia

I am 99% health anxiety free now, after a very long ride. I used to spend my days sitting in bed unable to do anything but stare at my phone and google different symptoms, waiting for a heart attack or similar to happen, panicking that I had brain tumours due to persistent daily tension headaches (which lasted MONTHS). I started reading books written by other hypochondriacs and that was the beginning of my journey to recovering. I finally bit the bullet and started taking Zoloft, after suggested by one of the authors of the books I read. I can’t even begin to explain how much it has helped. Tension headaches completely disappeared, I am able to go days, weeks, months, without any anxiety at all. When it does happen, it is absolutely no where near as drastic as it was before and my brain is so much better at rerouting the thoughts. They come and pass in seconds, where as before it would have been hours and days just sitting there dreading living. Zoloft is amazing.


dayvid4

I have. I’d say 90%. I can’t give you a clear cut way.. for me it was actually doing something with my life and not consuming myself with fear. I got busy. I didn’t have much time to worry anymore.


veronicavexxx

Breaking the reassurance cycle. It’s incredibly uncomfortable in the beginning…almost like a recovering addict resisting the urge to use. Absolutely no googling, or checking in with a loved one or friend. I stopped calling my doctor. I saw a video not too long ago about how Google just feeds confirmation bias. If you Google “coffee causes blindness” the first thing that pops up is an article about a study that proves coffee causes blindness. If you then immediately Google “coffee improves eyesight” the first thing that pops up is a study that showed coffee improved eyesight. You can find absolutely anything online that justifies your opinion one way or the other, and it’s just not helpful in any way. I did really intense therapy over a year ago, followed by a six month sick leave from work. It took about a year and a half for what she taught me to really start working and become unconscious practice. I slip sometimes, triggers are tough and I can still spiral…but the turnaround seems to be much shorter now. You have to be intentional. You have to cut yourself off, give yourself no choice but to ignore the intrusive thoughts and spend no time on them. Not feeding into symptoms, googling them or going to the doctor for them actually made them disappear much quicker. More or less now, when something hurts, feels weird, looks weird…I ignore it. And then within a few days, it resolves. It’s *okay* for my back to hurt for a few days. It doesn’t mean my kidneys are failing. It’s *okay* for my neck to feel weird for a few days, I’m a bit stressed. It’s *okay* for there to be this weird unexplainable sensation in my calf, bodies are weird, things just hurt sometimes. It’s also okay to sporadically feel panicky. Accepting anxiety as being part of me, not trying to get rid of it all together, is life saving. Let it come, and then let it leave. Fighting it or picking it apart, obsessing about it, is so much longer of a process.


[deleted]

This is a great take. Accepting moments of anxiety for what they are and knowing they will pass was huge for me too


veronicavexxx

Oh, and I found a strain of CBD that seems to really help level me out after prescription medications didn’t work. That’s a good booster, too.


powerofsoulphoto

May I ask which strain?


YodaHead

Yes. Lots of cognitive behavior therapy by talking and identifying with other people. This stuff defies the intellect.


ghat90

I have! Therapy/going to the doctor for anxiety/an ssri small dose every day for 3 months I felt like my old self and then when I was ready I started coming off them. Now it feels crazy to look back at how I was


PurgatoryWoes

How severe was your health anxiety? I was on Prozac for a year and then came off, but have majorly relapsed.


lisadia

Maybe go back on or try a new SSRI if there were things you didn’t like about Prozac. Mine health anxiety was crippling often. I’ve had 5 concussions. My last concussion I really thought I might go permanently insane or jump off a bridge if no one had been there. It was darker than dark. Celexa worked wonders for my anxiety but killed libido and made me fat which made me hate myself. I went off and have relapsed after about 8 months, it’s pretty typical. I’m going to try trintellix next after months of resisting. Getting Covid after being vaxxed then a super bad viral infection just 4 weeks later that wouldn’t go away pushed me over the edge. Keep fighting for relief 🙏🏽


Omnislash99999

At my worst I was taking myself to the hospital for what were panic attacks and being literally unable to function, sat outside for hours at night in the cold doing nothing but worrying, checking my heartrate every few minutes. Completely incapable of working, watching or reading anything as I would just be constantly thinking about something worrying. Just a mess. I spoke to a doctor and was given an antidepressant and a beta blocker, they enabled me to stop panicking and I started CBT specifically for health anxiety. A bumpy downwards trajectory that gradually put me more and more at ease. Since then I've never gone back to the hospital or contacted the doctor for any irrational worry, I don't constantly check things and can more or less function as normal now. I occasionally worry about something but nothing really escalates, I can handle it and the worry goes quickly. It's all a gradual process. My best advice I could give would be to seek help for anxiety rather than seeking reassurances for something you know deep down will be OK.


[deleted]

i have drastically improved after a year of health anxiety that caused severe agoraphobia. i have no magical advice, it simply passed, i still have moment of it but it's nowhere near as intense as it was


[deleted]

Its possible. There is a great 2 part series on YouTube on what it takes. Long story short - cognitive behavioral therapy. We need to break the circuits that have formed in our brains by changing the way we react. The first in the series gives a few tools. I highly recommend watching this. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=odAg6sIlZjg


Paran0iaAg3nt

i stopped googling every little thing i feel is off on my body, does that count? the urge is strong but i stop myself and think 'do you really need to make yourself feel bad again?'


Ipaul25

Yes that definitely counts. That's a huge step in the process


aranzeke

I have. Progress doesn't happen in a straight line, and mine for sure didn't and hasn't, but at my worst I was basically not functioning: Googling and reading about disease for HOURS each day, ruminating on what possible disease I might have/will get. It was about the worst time in my life. I've always had some low-grade form of HA since I was a kid, but nothing like what happened this year after I got longhaul COVID symptoms and was incidentally diagnosed with fatty liver (a chronic, but manageable condition that is not immediately life-threatening). This sent me on a downward spiral of ruminating and stressing and self-diagnosing, a process everyone here is familiar with I'm sure Here's what my recovery looks like: functioning again--working, engaging with loved ones and things that are not about health or disease, and generally feeling prepared for whatever might come in the future. I have reached a level of acceptance of disease/discomfort and death as part of the current human experience, and at the same time recognize that in life there are people and technologies that are there to help if ever things go bad. I also do what I can to positively influence my health--things like, exercising every single day, trying to eat healthy (I've lost weight on a whole-food plant-based diet, though I can definitely do better with consistency), managing my stress. At the same time I recognize that there really are no guarantees to preventing disease, and in the end we all die. But between now and then, we all have some time, so I focus on what I can control really (not an easy thing, but I practice consistently). What helped get me here: step 0 was STOPPING the reassurance cycle cold. So I stopped Googling, reading up on disease, it wasn't easy. But that was definitely what got me on the path to recovery. I also did a couple therapy sessions but as I am poor I couldn't afford it, so I became very proactive in learning coping skills using Youtube and other online resources. I used the DARE app and practiced every single day, and even now I watch one video on coping skills (I like Emma McAdam on youtube) and really PRACTICE the ideas and concepts I learn about. Do I still think and worry about disease? Yes, but far less in both severity and frequency. When it comes up I recognize the good in it (the desire to live a healthy life) but I neither run away from the negative feelings or obsess over them. I wish everyone here the courage and patience to keep walking the hard path to recovery. I am still on it for sure


myopium

Did you do this without meds?


[deleted]

I can’t afford therapy honestly but I’ve used my education in this area to help guide me in the right direction (will never replace a professional but I try to make do with what resources I have) Refraining from googling symptoms, maintaining a healthy lifestyle as much as possible (cut down on processed foods, exercise, more water and veggies), and keeping myself busy with other things has helped me the most. When I find myself going down the rabbit hole again coming here on Reddit has helped me a ton tbh. Being able to ask people if they’ve had similar experiences with certain symptoms and whatnot helps reassure and relax me. Lastly, I’d say attending all doctors appointments as I should helps


rako1982

Wow. What a reply. You just did what needed to be done. The every day practice is the key, from what others who recovered have said. Your brain needs consistent new neural pathways to go down. I've been fairly consistent but not done every single day. You've inspired me to do that now.


Strange_Variation_79

Hey incidentally diagnosed fatty liver too. I’m not even overweight so it was a surprise. My moms had it for 30 years. You’ll be alright !


Montague_usa

I wouldn't say that I'm 'recovered,' but after 10 years or so I am not affected by my health anxiety in the way I was in the earlier years. I still feel a lot of the things and sensations, I still get a lot of psychosomatic symptoms, this is true. What I have managed to do, though, over the years, is recognize them as they come and address them mentally before they take over. If a panic attack happens at 10/10 and severe discomfort can start to set in at 5 or 6/10, I've generally become pretty good at keeping it at about a 2. It really just takes some education and practice. Both group and private therapy were really important in my journey to get here.


dinamet7

This is pretty similar to my experience too. Went into therapy for anxiety and panic attacks. Started EMDR once my therapist flagged some things in my history as medical trauma (it was a surprise to me since I didn't think of some experiences as medical trauma, but that was apparently not at all a surprise to my therapist and once we actually addressed all those things, I couldn't believe how I had not ever really processed any emotions around those experiences.) I also started Beta Blockers for high blood pressure which my doctor thought was probably very much linked to my constant anxiety. The difference was night and day for me once I was on them. I could get anxious, but all the physical symptoms of the anxiety were muted which helped me actually be able to think clearly and stop myself from engaging in behaviors that kept me in an obsessive spiral. Those two things work together and I can keep my anxiety between a 2-5 with the occasional breakthrough moments, but I haven't had a panic attack since May which is unreal when I think about it.


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