Has anyone here overcome severe, life-destroying health anxiety? Give me your suggestions!

[buzzheath]

I'm trying to find a therapist

Someone suggested hypnotherapy. Usually skeptical but thought - why not

It's just hard as I have a health condition which slightly increases my risk of a certain cancer, and ever since then I've spiralled. But the fears are almost always tied to this, and not random health concerns, if that makes sense

My anxiety wasn't health related, but it was life-destroying. Have you tried medication? For me, that was the only thing that got me to a place where therapy could actually work. I was too ill to engage with it unmedicated.

Have you mitigated all contributing factors for your condition to lessen your risk as much as possible? And, are there tests you can take routinely to catch a potential cancer early? Doing both are proactive ways to manage not only the risk, but put yourself on a schedule to get the reassurance you need that you are managing that risk well.

Yeah, that's the thing - there's literally nothing more I could be doing to stay on top of the condition/monitor it/treat it optimally. I'm doing a lot more than what the standard NHS treatment/follow-up plan offers. But the anxiety hasn't gone away.

That is difficult, and I sympathise. Therapy is probably your best course of action, but please try to find one highly recommended and vetted by someone you trust, if that is possible. They will know what types of therapy to try. Medication might also be a possibility under guidance of your physician, but remember that sometimes there is a bit of "trial and error" in trying to find the one that works best, and with any type of mental health med it is essential that you follow direction. Many require weaning before switching to another or abandoning, and can adversely affect your mental health if you quit on the spot.

What is your worse fear about cancer OP?

Is there any support group/charity for your health condition? Or is there one for the cancer you are fearful of getting due to your health condition? Maybe MacMillan or some other general cancer support might be able to put you in touch with counselling/therapy.

The type of cancer I'm more likely to get - vulvar cancer - seems pretty horrific in terms of the way its treated...so I guess the impact of the surgeries, the fact it has a very high recurrence rate, etc, and ultimately death. I've read a lot of horror stories.

Do you mind me asking what your increased risk percentage is?

I had cancer 11 years ago now and after treatment finished the thought of recurrence would send me into a panic spiral. My counsellor advised having a more balanced view, so that every time I thought what if the cancer comes back I had to balance that thought with, ok it might come back but then again it might not so what's the point in worrying about something that may or may not happen.

This wasn't easy to begin with but the more I got into the habit of balancing negative thoughts it became a lot easier until I came to a point where thinking about cancer didn't give me any anxiety at all.

Also what you won't have read is all the positive stories out there. Don't forget the media/magazines and on line articles tend to report negative stuff because it gets the most reaction.

After losing my father very suddenly over 20 years ago, I have suffered debilitating anxiety regarding sudden death - not being able to say goodbye etc -which got worse when I had kids and was put on Sertraline, which definitely helped.

One day at work we were asked to go to a half day "Stress" management class run by a psychologist that the company brought in as an employee perk. As I sat and listened, I was in awe at how she described how powerful our own thoughts can be, and she basically said to tell that voice in your head to "shut up".

That's it, so simple but so powerful to me.

Obviously there was more to that half day session that resonated with me, but it was the concept that we can rewire our brains to tell a good story to us and not always plague us with a horror story. We can say to ourselves, "Enough of the catastrophising, what is the BEST thing that could happen here". Anyway, I was off the Sertraline 6 months later and now occasionally take homeopathic remedies if I'm having down days but it was inadvertently the best thing that could have happened that day.

Obviously with an increased risk of cancer that affects your thoughts differently as opposed to just general anxiety - and I say this with kindness and only from my own experiences in how I control my own issues - you need to think "is this condition going to kill me today?" and the answer is "today, it is not" (it all sounds very Arya our of Game of Thrones)...so today we'll park that thought and LIVE.

I would look at therapies to help you with that approach, you need to break the cycle of catastrophising and that can only be done by you teaching yourself to think differently.

Thank you for your response. I'm really sorry to hear you had cancer, but it's great you have been ok for 11 years.

My risk of vulvar cancer from the condition I have is small - anything from 3-6%. But it's a little complicated, as my condition was untreated for quite a while, so I'm inclined to think it's more at 6%. I know this is a small risk and I do feel silly for dwelling on it, but I think the reason I do tend to dwell is that the consequences of this type of cancer really are awful - we're talking mutilating surgeries, a 50% recurrence risk, endless operations, sexual life gone, the psychological impact of having your genitalia removed - so the stakes feel very high, and I guess those are the things that have me terrified.

I do like your strategy of balancing thoughts. I will definitely try to incorporate more of this into my thinking.

I have lived with health anxiety for 20 years. It came from getting a very rare form of ovarian cancer when I was just 19 and living with the fear it could return someday. The anxiety comes and goes over the years, and sometimes is not even related to health at all. Therapy and medication helped me out of it and I learned through therapy why it happens and how to manage it. I can recognise the early signs of it now and therapy taught me the tools to manage it when I feel it coming on. Its a natural fight or flight response. Mine was particularly bad when I had children and then also in lockdown.

Seeing a professional is the best thing you can do to help yourself. I don't think it ever leaves you but once you know how to manage it, it makes a huge difference.

I’m currently in the midst of extreme health anxiety too OP. It’s not only draining me but also my husband as he doesn’t know how to help me. I’m on the waiting list for high intensity therapy. I can’t take medication yet because my health anxiety is so severe I’m convinced I’ll be allergic or have bad reactions to medication; and also I feel like if I take SSRI’s and my symptoms get worse before they get better; then I’m genuinely concerned that I won’t live to see the better days. It’s truly horrific. I’m trying to take it day by day. I’ve suffered since I was in my early teens.

I don’t have much advice, but just know you’re not alone and if I can do it.. so can you!

My health anxiety started after my mum died in an accident and peri menopause kicked in. For me it was the thought of dying and leaving my dc with the same pain I was in with losing mum.

I have had lots of counselling and therapy since then but hypnotherapy was the one thing that really helped with the health anxiety. It has given me relief from the overwhelming thoughts and the running commentary in my head.

This sounds so hard, Op. I haven’t had health anxiety, but I did have severe Generalised Anxiety disorder and it was torture. I couldn’t stop the thoughts, they were coming over and over and it made life hell. Hypnotherapy was brilliant for me, absolutely life-changing. It really seemed to get in my brain and change it, when CBT hadn’t made a difference. You should give it a go.

Hey, thanks so much. So glad hypnotherapy worked for you! It's something I'm looking into (alongside CBT and meditation and all the other good stuff - I feel I need to tackle this from multiple angles).

Do you mind if I ask - how do you get the most out of hypnotherapy? Do you have to speak to the hypnotherapist about all your issues, and then they sort of create a personalised hypnosis for you? I'm a little hesitant to do this as mine is about quite personal/intimate health issues, so I'm just curious! But obviously if that's what makes it more effective, that's what I'll have to do

Another response about hypnotherapy! Good to hear, I'll definitely try this. How does it work, exactly?