Yeah, I've started caring less and less about the past and I focus more on the present now. I find that pretending I only have a few years left to live a bit motivating and stress relieving. Makes it so I can focus on making my life better for both the short-term as well as long-term.
Health Anxiety
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Here is an extract I just found which kind of explains:
[quote]What is it? Health anxiety is an anxiety disorder that is often housed within the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) spectrum of disorders. Those affected by health anxiety have an obsessional preoccupation with the idea or the thought that they are currently (or will be) experiencing a physical illness. The most common health anxieties tend to centre on conditions such as cancer, HIV, AIDs, etc. However,the person experiencing health anxiety or illness phobia may fixate on any type of illness. This condition is known as health anxiety, illness phobia/illness anxiety or hypochondriasis.[/quote]You can read the full [b]'What is it'[/b] here: [url]http://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/about-anxiety/anxiety-disorder-and-stress/health-anxiety[/url]
To sum it up quicky a person suffering health anxiety might worry to the point wher the illness becomes real..... Don't know if that makes any sense at all.
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[quote='Crystal' pid='540' dateline='1411781517']
Why'd you worry so much about your health??? I know we're all afraid of becoming unhealthy, but it's not a constant thought. What type of thoughts do you have when you think about it???[/quote][b]I don't know Crystal - honestly I don't.[/b]
Combine this with my 'Social Anxiety' & 'Depression' and well... what we have is a mess.
:s
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For how long have you been having this thoughts???  I read a little bit of health anxiety and it seems like it has a lot of causes. Perhaps you've been under a lot of pressure??? Any unfortunate event in your life??? It could be related to stress.  These things might be a consequence of traumatic/highly stressful events in the past.
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Thank you both for your replies.
Crystal last year was stressful to say the least, my Auntie passed away, my boss (and company owner) passed away (the fate of the company is still 'unknown' as is the fate of my job). One of my dog's passed away, and then I quit smoking. I don't think I should have!
Emotion, as I think I mentioned elseware my Dr put me on anti-depressents and this has helped a lot - I feel I have gone from a feeling of well being of 2/10 to 6/10, hey that's progress...
Will give the green tea a go for sure. -
You're welcome, Mike.
I'm really sorry to hear your last year was terrible. It seems like you've been through difficult times. Hopefully, you won't lose your job and things will improve for you. Nevertheless, it was a good thing that you've decided to quit smoking. That's not definitely a good thing for your health.
Sometimes, I smoke, but not as much as I did when I posted that.
And Emotion is right! Green tea might reduce your anxiety and it's very relaxing. The most important thing is to keep your mind as busy as possible.
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While it is possible that health anxiety might literally lead to some sort of illness, the immediate effect of being anxious can be much more intense and uncomfortable than many illnesses. In a sense anxiety is an illness because it prevents a sense of wellbeing. Diseases seem to have degrees of severity, and it is often assumed that the severity of a disease implies how severe it is for each person. In reality some people have life threatening diseases and seem hardly concerned while others may have very minor health inconveniences and can be traumatized to the point of PTSD. It is helpful to recognize that it isn't the illness that defines the intensity of disturbance, but what it means to a person.
There is always good reason for anxiety, even if we are unable to see the logic behind it. For example at some level you may believe that it is only possible to be happy if you are healthy, and to be sick would ruin your chance of enjoying life. Given this belief, you may become necessarily hyper vigilant because sickness is endowed with the power to determine whether or not life can be enjoyed. The solution is not to convince yourself that you will never be sick, because no one can guarantee this. Rather it is possible to see that sickness or health doesn't really have the power to enhance or detract from life all that much. When we realize not so much is at stake, then the anxiety no longer has any reason to remain.
It has often helped me in life to see the rationality behind how I feel rather than assuming emotions are random phenomena like the weather. In seeing that my anxieties and fear always stem from a very logical but often hidden foundation, I may become able to see what my beliefs are and question their validity. As I see that I have arbitrary associations, such as health is required to be happy, often a sense of relief occurs as I realize I that this is not necessarily true. This sense of relief is familiar to all of us at one time or another, when we realize that a grave area of concern is not really as important as we once made it out to be. Whenever I experience anxiety I seek to find the relevant thought that provides some relief, and follow the trail. In order to do this I have to legitimize the anxiety. If I assume it to be a purely medical condition it becomes nearly impossible to find the root cause because I have placed the only addressable cause out of reach, and can only hope for a medical solution which is usually somewhat inconsistent.