What do you do for an acute health spiral?

[Anonymous]

I am having this right now and it’s preventing me somewhat in moving forward with dealing with my health issue and causing me extreme anxiety. Any tips for dealing? Already have a therapist and ssri and appt w psychiatrist to potentially adjust dosage. Plus exercise etc. It’s really too embarrassing to talk to IRL friends about

[Anonymous]

Op - I should clarify - acute health anxiety spiral

[Anonymous]

Let it ALL out here. You’ll feel better when you are 100% honest with whats in your head. 🫂❤️

Or distraction always works for my anxiety , real housewives of beverly hills is entertainment gold (all seasons)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let it ALL out here. You’ll feel better when you are 100% honest with whats in your head. 🫂❤️

Or distraction always works for my anxiety , real housewives of beverly hills is entertainment gold (all seasons)

Ok - I’m hesitant bc I know it sounds very lame.
I’m 45 (f). I posted before about getting some kind of gi bug in Mexico that gave me diarrhea and then afterward some left sided (moves between abdominal and flank) pain. It’s not terrible pain but it’s weird. I came back and did upper endoscopy and have done colonoscopy, did labs, doing stool samples. Had abdominal us 20 mos ago but I think that’s it since then on abdominal imaging (other than kidney and pelvic and tv ultrasound). Other obvious thing to do is Ct. I cannot make myself do the Ct. I had cancer last year (good prognosis, it is likely ok) and an additional cancer scare earlier this year (that one was ok). So that’s part of it. But I cannot bring myself to do this Ct. I am scared that it will tell me I have pancreatic cancer and I am not sure I want this information, bc if I do then there is nothing they can do.
I know how it sounds but honestly I am just floored by this scenario and miserable.

[Anonymous]

This workbook and info really helps me:

https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/Resources/Looking-After-Yourself/Health-Anxiety

Also, if you aren't meditating daily you need to be. This guy is my favorite. He also does 10 minute daily meditations on calm.com.

https://jeffwarren.org/explore/group-explorations/

Aerobic exercise every day.

You have to tell yourself you won't think about your health except during a brief specified worry session each day. You are not allowed to google or think about health except during the 30 minute worry session. Distract yourself however you can. Take up a hobby. Something that keeps your hands busy. Coloring, jigsaw puzzles, knitting, needlepoint, baking, legos, etc. Exercise, clean your office, pay bills, do a crossword, play with your kids, alphabetize your spices. No thinking about your health. I know it sounds impossible but you really can turn it off.

[Anonymous]

Cut yourself off from searching symptoms m. Install content blockers if you have to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let it ALL out here. You’ll feel better when you are 100% honest with whats in your head. 🫂❤️

Or distraction always works for my anxiety , real housewives of beverly hills is entertainment gold (all seasons)

Ok - I’m hesitant bc I know it sounds very lame.
I’m 45 (f). I posted before about getting some kind of gi bug in Mexico that gave me diarrhea and then afterward some left sided (moves between abdominal and flank) pain. It’s not terrible pain but it’s weird. I came back and did upper endoscopy and have done colonoscopy, did labs, doing stool samples. Had abdominal us 20 mos ago but I think that’s it since then on abdominal imaging (other than kidney and pelvic and tv ultrasound). Other obvious thing to do is Ct. I cannot make myself do the Ct. I had cancer last year (good prognosis, it is likely ok) and an additional cancer scare earlier this year (that one was ok). So that’s part of it. But I cannot bring myself to do this Ct. I am scared that it will tell me I have pancreatic cancer and I am not sure I want this information, bc if I do then there is nothing they can do.
I know how it sounds but honestly I am just floored by this scenario and miserable.

OP, if you don't mind my asking, what type of cancer did you have?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let it ALL out here. You’ll feel better when you are 100% honest with whats in your head. 🫂❤️

Or distraction always works for my anxiety , real housewives of beverly hills is entertainment gold (all seasons)

Ok - I’m hesitant bc I know it sounds very lame.
I’m 45 (f). I posted before about getting some kind of gi bug in Mexico that gave me diarrhea and then afterward some left sided (moves between abdominal and flank) pain. It’s not terrible pain but it’s weird. I came back and did upper endoscopy and have done colonoscopy, did labs, doing stool samples. Had abdominal us 20 mos ago but I think that’s it since then on abdominal imaging (other than kidney and pelvic and tv ultrasound). Other obvious thing to do is Ct. I cannot make myself do the Ct. I had cancer last year (good prognosis, it is likely ok) and an additional cancer scare earlier this year (that one was ok). So that’s part of it. But I cannot bring myself to do this Ct. I am scared that it will tell me I have pancreatic cancer and I am not sure I want this information, bc if I do then there is nothing they can do.
I know how it sounds but honestly I am just floored by this scenario and miserable.

OP, if you don't mind my asking, what type of cancer did you have?

I just had thyroid cancer. But it had spread to lymph nodes and I did need quite extensive surgery and then follow up treatment.
It really drove home that these things aren’t just something that happen to other people. But I’m only just learning to what extent it left me with some psychological repercussions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let it ALL out here. You’ll feel better when you are 100% honest with whats in your head. 🫂❤️

Or distraction always works for my anxiety , real housewives of beverly hills is entertainment gold (all seasons)

Ok - I’m hesitant bc I know it sounds very lame.
I’m 45 (f). I posted before about getting some kind of gi bug in Mexico that gave me diarrhea and then afterward some left sided (moves between abdominal and flank) pain. It’s not terrible pain but it’s weird. I came back and did upper endoscopy and have done colonoscopy, did labs, doing stool samples. Had abdominal us 20 mos ago but I think that’s it since then on abdominal imaging (other than kidney and pelvic and tv ultrasound). Other obvious thing to do is Ct. I cannot make myself do the Ct. I had cancer last year (good prognosis, it is likely ok) and an additional cancer scare earlier this year (that one was ok). So that’s part of it. But I cannot bring myself to do this Ct. I am scared that it will tell me I have pancreatic cancer and I am not sure I want this information, bc if I do then there is nothing they can do.
I know how it sounds but honestly I am just floored by this scenario and miserable.

OP, if you don't mind my asking, what type of cancer did you have?

I just had thyroid cancer. But it had spread to lymph nodes and I did need quite extensive surgery and then follow up treatment.
It really drove home that these things aren’t just something that happen to other people. But I’m only just learning to what extent it left me with some psychological repercussions

People with health anxiety overestimate the possibility that something is wrong with them and underestimate their ability to deal with it.

Given your history, it's understandable that you would feel like something else could happen. But your history has also shown you how resilient you are. You can get thru something difficult and painful. Try to keep reminding yourself how strong you are.

[Anonymous]

Are you on medication OP?

[Anonymous]

Hi OP: Cognitive Behavior (CBT) helped me.

[Anonymous]

If you do not get the scan and the pain persists are you going to worry it’s cancer anyway? If that’s the case it’s probably better to get it so you aren’t dealing with what ifs. And odds are overwhelmingly in your favor that it’s not pancreatic cancer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you do not get the scan and the pain persists are you going to worry it’s cancer anyway? If that’s the case it’s probably better to get it so you aren’t dealing with what ifs. And odds are overwhelmingly in your favor that it’s not pancreatic cancer.

OP, I agree with the above. Look, you are going to worry no matter what about the unexplained pain. So at least know what you are dealing with, or hopefully rule it out. Do you have a friend or family member you can enlist in helping you to get the CT scan done?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you do not get the scan and the pain persists are you going to worry it’s cancer anyway? If that’s the case it’s probably better to get it so you aren’t dealing with what ifs. And odds are overwhelmingly in your favor that it’s not pancreatic cancer.

OP, I agree with the above. Look, you are going to worry no matter what about the unexplained pain. So at least know what you are dealing with, or hopefully rule it out. Do you have a friend or family member you can enlist in helping you to get the CT scan done?

This is exactly the WRONG thing to do for someone with health anxiety who almost certainly does not have pancreatic cancer. A negative scan will reassure her for about 10 minutes. Then she will remember that she read that one article about someone whose PC was missed on a CT scan, and she will be right back where she started. Ask me how I know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you do not get the scan and the pain persists are you going to worry it’s cancer anyway? If that’s the case it’s probably better to get it so you aren’t dealing with what ifs. And odds are overwhelmingly in your favor that it’s not pancreatic cancer.

OP, I agree with the above. Look, you are going to worry no matter what about the unexplained pain. So at least know what you are dealing with, or hopefully rule it out. Do you have a friend or family member you can enlist in helping you to get the CT scan done?

This is exactly the WRONG thing to do for someone with health anxiety who almost certainly does not have pancreatic cancer. A negative scan will reassure her for about 10 minutes. Then she will remember that she read that one article about someone whose PC was missed on a CT scan, and she will be right back where she started. Ask me how I know.

Op - I’m not sure that’s true. I don’t ever question the scan results I’ve had.
My fear is of being told I have something untreatable. It’s like where cancer is concerned, my brain no longer has an ‘it’s unlikely’ setting.
To another poster’s point I think there is a great deal of doubt in my mind about my ability to handle a worst case scenario. I did not handle a pretty highly treatable cancer all that well (I muddled through and the kids were fine but I was certainly no beacon of fortitude), so I can’t believe I would deal remotely well with a terminal diagnosis. Clearly I’m not dealing well with even the idea of one!