Health anxiety
Recently my ocd has been directly exasperating my health anxiety and it causes daily panic attacks. I’m tired of feeling like I’m dying every day when I know I’m physically healthy. Does anyone have any coping mechanisms for this?
the erp method I use is to one up it. You have to become comfortable with the idea of being uncomfortable. My health anxiety took over my life and kept me scared daily too. Erp has helped to change my life!
i'm really sorry you're going through this. it sounds incredibly tough to deal with those daily panic attacks and the constant fear of dying, especially when you know deep down you're physically okay. 💔 by the way, have you heard about this new AI-powered OCD therapy tool called "unstuck?" when i was in a similar spot, what really helped me was this free AI OCD therapy tool called "unstuck" (unstuckmyocd.com/try) that my NOCD therapist recommended to me. i think it'll be especially helpful for you because it's designed to provide personalized step-by-step support for exactly these kinds of situations, helping to manage health anxiety and the OCD cycles that amplify it, kinda like having an OCD therapist in your pocket. i hate when people promote stuff, but i really think it can help you because it's changed my life. lmk if you have Qs or just want to talk more! <3
So I struggle with health OCD, but mine pertains to the fear of contracting an STD/STI like herpes and HIV. it’s a huge debilitating factor for me and the only way that eases me is to gain reassurance from the doctor that everything is okay. I’m not sure if this is an option for you.
This isn't a healthy coping mechanism. As you said you seek reassurance. Please try looking up what reassurance seeking does to someone with ocd.
If you can try and give it all you’ve got to pay attention to just breathing - a few seconds in, a few seconds out, one step at a time - for me that’s the best way to endure those kinds of panicked emotions 💕 all the best!
How do you guys deal with health OCD? It’s been eating away at me lately and I’ve just been nervous about something bad happening to me, even after visiting the ER a couple of times about chest pressure/feeling like I’m going to have shortness of breath. And they always seem to find nothing wrong. What do you guys think ?
I’ve been struggling with OCD since middle school. Over the years I’ve had many different obsessions such as POCD, Harm OCD, and now Health Concern OCD. For the last 6 months my newest obsession has been thinking that I am having a heart attack. I constantly body check, google symptoms, ask others for reassurance. I live at my university which is a little bit far from home. This causes me to have to call my mom in the middle of the night every time I have a panic attack over this. My roommates a nursing major so she always offers to take my blood pressure which helps, but still I don’t enjoy living like this. I always feel bad bothering others, and constantly feel like a nuisance. If anyone else with these worries and obsessions can let me know new ways to cope with it that would be amazing:) I just started my switch from lexapro to prozac for my OCD and I’m hopefully starting ERP/CBT soon but any tips on how to help this would be amazing.
Man, this is killing me. I’ve had very form of ocd I think from POcD, false memory, socd, hocd, perfectionism, contamination, existential and the one that trips me up the most is health ocd. All the stress OCD gives me causes me to feel some pretty weird sensations in my head and lots of depersonalization. I constantly think I’m developing Alzheimer’s, brain cancer, or really just anything else. BUT these fears get a hold of me so well, I actually become forgetful, stutter, experience blurry vision, painful migraines……. And so I get symptoms of the diseases I fear. Any advice this is killing me?🥺
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