How do you surrender fear about health?

Everything involving potential health problems I’ve come across this year has been very black and white. -long-lasting headaches -random pain sensations that’ll come one night then disappear -panicking over fearing taking a medication I wasn’t supposed to -using water that may have been contaminated The list goes on, I am so deathly terrified of, well, death already. I’m having such a tough time not thinking the absolute worst in ant situation I’m in regarding my health and I’m struggling sitting and accepting that it may NOT be something deadly each time. I’m trying to get past this and focus on the joy in life and surrendering that things out of my control - are out of my control and I can only worry about what I can control. But this thing with death is so hard for me to not overanalyze and think black and white about, more than I ever used to. Does anyone or any NOCD peer advisors have any advice tailored to health concern anxiety/ocd? It’s hard to balance what’s real vs what isn’t with health (although I’m sure this is the case with any ocd)

Health Concern OCD

Username: DarkCloud190DarkCloud190

Date posted: 1y ago

I too have struggled with health OCD badly since i was 14 (my friend passed away from cancer and that set my OCD off). The biggest advice I can give you is get a PCP who is knowledgeable and cares. I am truly lucky - i have a PCP who’s daughter also had also OCD - so she uniquely understands me. I have had to learn to trust my doctor. Here is the thing with health OCD - if you have any concerning symptoms you should check with your doctor. But that needs to be the end. When i am spiraling i will go to the doctor and get a clean bill. But then i will constantly think (what if they missed something) and then the compulsions spiral out of control (googling, self checking and reassurance) once that starts it gets worse and not better. The google spiral is real i feel find one thing that will question my trust in my doctor. What i can say is trust your doctor. If you find yourself questioning or worried that it is not true focus on being uncomfortable with the thoughts. Try to do some self care when you are uncomfortable. For me thats reading or video games. You are not alone - i have struggled with this a lot and it does get better!

Username: Recoverer Recoverer

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 1y ago

@DarkCloud190 Yeah I feel that, what sucks is sometimes when I have a legit concern and my doctor wants to just immediately write me off as just having anxiety, but in that, I guess since I have a history of anxiety and she’s aware of my other symptoms, if she suspected it wasn’t just anxiety then she would’ve said something right?

Username: zeynomonzeynomon

Date posted: 1y ago

Hi Recoverer! I feel this post very much! I struggle with the Health Concern OCD the most. For my other themes, I eventually figured it out to some degree and now I am way better at dealing with them, but when it comes to health concerns, I automatically go back to square 1. I will be following this post for potential answers 🙏 Thank you very much for posting this and good luck to you 🙏

Username: Recoverer Recoverer

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 1y ago

@zeynomon Same here, I started with SOOCD, then SOCD, and now health concern. I’ve isolated what my fear has been my entire life, my triggers, my traumas, and upbringings that led to all of this and it’s great, but I’m having a rough time letting go of control when it comes to my health and when to actually be concerned vs just let it pass.

Username: zeynomonzeynomon

Date posted: 1y ago

@Recoverer Exactly. We can at least know that our situation is not unique to us and others also go through the exact same thing everyday. As selfish as it may sound, it always gives me some peace because I feel not alone. You have many people here go through the same thing as you do 🙏

Username: DarkCloud190DarkCloud190

Date posted: 1y ago

Correct - any doctor isnt going to ignore legitimate symptoms. For instance i was bleeding when going to the bathroom and there was no signs of hemorrhoids so my doctor had me get a colonoscopy to be safe (nothing was wrong it was hemorrhoids she couldnt see during an exam). But i had a nother instance where i was urinating along and she was confident that was anxiety related so she didnt do further testing (and she was right cause is went away in a month or so). So yes trust your doctor, if they are concerned about something they will look more into it. I know it is so hard - you see all the fear mongering in the media and it is just telling you your doctor us wrong they miss things etc….but you have to trust them and also accept that certainty is never guaranteed and the best we can get is a doctors check up.

Username: Jesse M.Jesse M.

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 1y ago

Liking and subscribing. Health OCD was my original theme and is so hard to work on. My compulsions turn into new obsessions!

Username: Anonymous

Date posted: 3y ago

My OCD is generally around my health. It is hard for me to differentiate between what is real and what is OCD. I have a skin condition (HPV) and it’s truly not bad at all although my OCD theme is very focused on it. I’m in constant fear that it will get worse, spread or ruin my life some how. Does anybody else have health anxiety OCD? Or OCD about contamination? I feel like it’s really difficult to combat my OCD at times because there is a level of rationality behind it. I do have the skin condition already that I’m worried about so my OCD has “evidence” to make me more worried about it. Does anybody else have an OCD theme that is hard to differentiate between what’s real and what’s OCD? Sorry for the long post but I’m very interested to hear more about your experiences!

Username: Iseeinpink

Date posted: 44w ago

Death

I have a overwhelming feeling of death I have been dealing with the fear of a heart attack or a brain aneurysm even tho I’m in perfect health, it never goes away, does anyone have tips on how to deal with this?

Username: hannahgrr

Date posted: 31w ago

Chronic illnesses with OCD

Hi! (first post lol) wondering if there is anyone else here that also deals with medical/ health concern type of OCD with also having chronic and sometimes scary health issues? if so, any advice on how you might help yourself through a OCD flare up and fears over symptoms and unknowns? (But mostly it would be great just to know that I’m not alone in this <3)

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