Hypochondria...help!

I can relate to this very much. It's really horrible at night for me personally when I"m trying to relax and I just focus on everything my body is doing. If my heart is beating to fast, something is wrong with it, same if I feel it's beating to slow. A headache turns into a tumor. Yes I could go on and on. What ever you do don't google your symptoms! Something that has helped me a little, is really think about what your feeling and pick it apart. For instance... If you feel your heart racing and you feel out of breath, think back to your thoughts, and you will probably realize that it's just your anxiety trying to trick you. Relax take deep breaths. I also try to tell myself if I was sick I would know. I've been around sick people and they don't act or look like I do.
Good Luck! If I find anything else that helps, you'll be the first to know!

HannahBanana said:

So no one has any actual advice for me? (Well, other than KTKat, that is...thanks again, by the way! ) Some support forum this is...

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I wish I had something for you, dear. I think it is all anxiety-based, you know? When I'm anxious about one thing, I turn my focus to to things like you are saying.

Here is a verse to meditate on:

2 Timothy 1:7 (New King James Version)

7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

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Anyone will tell ya, stay away from Google. But that is easier said than done.

HannahBanana said:

So no one has any actual advice for me? (Well, other than KTKat, that is...thanks again, by the way! ) Some support forum this is...

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Hannah

Here's something that helped me when I was dealing with intrusive thoughts. I got a journal. I told myself that for 45 minutes everyday I would write in my journal about these thoughts. Then I would put my journal away and not think about them for the rest of the day.

At first it was hard. But after a while when those thoughts popped into my head I would say, "Tomorrow. I'll write about that tomorrow." Then I would go on with my day. This helped me so much, because I was learning to control the thoughts--to put them away for later, to choose to focus on other things instead.

I kept my journal for almost a year, and then I didn't need it so much anymore. Gradually my journal writing fell off.

2 Corinthians 10:5 talks about taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. That's what I was doing. It helped so much.

HannahBanana said:

Thanks, Ariel. (BTW, I love your name! It's been a favorite of mine ever since I saw "The Little Mermaid" as a child.)

I'll try that, but the thing with me is that my mind tends to wander a lot, even when I'm trying my hardest to focus. But I will at least give the whole journaling thing a try, since it definitely could work.

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LOL, you and me both. My mind wanders too

But keeping a journal really helped. I didn't just write, either. I drew--sometimes awful pictures--but everything helped. I was letting myself express my thoughts, feelings and emotions--it really helped. And because I had this set time to express myself everyday I was more able to tuck those intrusive thoughts away at other times and say, "Tomorrow--I'll write about it tomorrow."

Another thing I learned: if you can control the thoughts you can control the emotions. My intrusive, overriding thoughts had overwhelmed me, but as I learned that I could control my thoughts, I also was able to control my emotions. Yes, take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ! He hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind! 2 Tim. 1:7.

We are overcomers, and we are going on with Christ!

HannahBanana said:

I have hypochondria (I've had it all my life, actually), and lately, I'm finding it really hard to cope with it. I keep worrying that I'm going to end up dying from whatever illness it is that I think I have, and that, after I die, I'll go to Hell (yes, even though I'm a Christian, I still worry that I'll go to Hell).

I also worry that nothing is actually wrong with me and that I'm just imagining all of the "symptoms" that I've been feeling. This makes me not want to see a doctor, since I hate having to take time out of my doctor's already-busy schedule just for her to tell me that I'm healthy. This just adds to my fear of death, since I feel like I wouldn't be able to know when to actually see a doctor, since I've gotten to the point where I can't even trust myself in terms of whether or not I'm actually sick.

I really need advice on what I could possibly do to make myself less crazy in this way. Anyone have any?

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Something that helped me is exercise. It helped relieve my anxiety by a great deal. Part of this is just the fact that I know that since my body has been strengthened I am less likely to have, say, a heart attack (my particular great fear).

Right now I exercise 5 times a day for about 8 minutes at a time. I jog in the morning and at night and I use the exercise bike during the day (1 mile each session). This keeps my stress levels lower throughout the day and I never dread an upcoming session (since they are so short).

I don't know if that kind of schedule would work for you - as a student it suits me fine. Two important things to remember are 1) build up to a point where you are exercising for an extended period each day - don't do too much too soon. You could burn yourself out/injure yourself. And 2) Whatever you do to relieve stress, stick to it. That is the only way to find out if it really can help.

Edited to add: In case anyone actually takes my advice, I find it helpful to set a schedule for your exercise sessions. I exercise every three hours starting at 9:00 AM. So at 9:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 3:00 PM, 6:00 Pm, and again at 9:00PM.

Ariel said:

... I learned that I could control my thoughts...

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Very true.

KTKat said:

...What ever you do don't google your symptoms!...

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I wish I'd known this a few years ago when I started having panic attacks. I believed I had everything at one point; diabetes, heart attacks, heart disease, liver disease, jaundice, crohn's disease, you name it. The slightest symptom and I would think it was some serious disease. I finally went to the doctor (I was afraid of going) about 6 months ago after having some shoulder and neck pain for a few days (thinking I was having a heart attack) and was told it, after an exam, that it was unspecified (phantom) pain. I still get the thoughts, when I have an ache or a pain, that it's something serious but I just try and think about something else now.

The mind really is the battleground when it comes to panic attacks, anxiety and hypochondria. I'm learning now to "renew my mind" and it does work.

Well hypochondria is I suppose fear, so it seems fear is anxiety, and so it is a symptom of anxiety, sensatisation, your nerves are sensatised and becouse you are on edge so to speak your mind looks to justify the danger (even if there isnt one)
this is the trap of anxiety I think, worry prduces fear chemicals and those induce a feeling of fear and so on. The way I think to recovery is to reverse the process by exeptance i.e not fighting it, this then leads to some small rest that sends a signal out that the danger is fading away, and so on.

KTKat said:

What ever you do don't google your symptoms!

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Especially since some of the symptoms you might experience are listen under some serious deceases! Sometimes, if I hear or read something about some illness, its symptoms, after a while I begin to think that it could happen to me. Right now, it's blood clots. At one point it was a heart attack. I was checking my heartbeat constantly. The best way I've found to deal with it is to trying to get my mind busy with something else.