5 Ways to Stop the Health Anxiety Cycle

I feel so safe and heard in this comment section. Makes me feel less crazy. We aren’t alone.

It’s so hard to ignore it because it feels like this time it’s a real threat. “What if I ignore it and it’s real this time?”

I constantly worry. I’ve been to the doctor back to back. I constantly expect hearing the worst. Please you guys. Don’t torture yourself with this. Your okay. Please calm your soul. Rest your thoughts. Trust God. We expect the worst but most times what we are worrying about don’t even be the case. Anxiety is like walking around with a umbrella everyday expecting it to rain. You’ll be okay keep your head up. Coming from a person who suffers from this terribly . I get it .

This comment section makes me feel so validated. I wish I knew you guys in person. Nobody in my real life understands

I’ve convinced myself I have cancer this week. Last week it was MS, the week before it was a lung cyst. It’s completely exhausting. Sometimes I feel like I’m losing my mind! Edit: hey guys! Can’t believe the amount of likes and comments this has. I just want to let you all know that I no longer feel this way. I’ve been doing SO much work to heal myself and I truly don’t feel anywhere near as anxious as before. Some days it creeps up on me trying to drag me back! But not often :)

The Googling part is what destroyed me

I served 21 years as a military combat medic. I’ve taken care of thousands of patients and the whole time I was and still am afraid of going to the doctor for fear of being told the worst. I absolutely avoid going to the doctor at all cost. I’m closing in on 50 years old and know I must soon face my fears and go get a checkup and physical. Keep me in prayer as I pray for all of you so we can live our best happy, and healthy lives.

I worry about constantly being sick, thinking every minor ache and pain is cancer or something life threatening. Anxiety is genuinely the worst sickness I have had up until this point because it just doesnt feel like its going to go away. Even when I feel like it gets better, I have another setback

I have been diagnosed with blood cancer, skin cancer, enlarged prostate, erectile dysfunction, parkinson, testicular cancer, falling teeth, blindness, arthrithis.. and several other severe illnesses, all in my imagination. God be with me, i'm so tired of being scared 24/7.

This comment section makes me feel not alone. Health anxiety comes and goes in my life but it can be so debilitating. Especially when I don’t tell anyone because I’m basically suffering in silence. I feel as those being labeled a hypochondriac is such a negative thing and that’s why I tend to reframe from it. Thank you for your videos.

I literally cried through the last half of this. I’m ready to take control. I can’t live like this anymore. Thank you so much for the information. It’s exactly what I needed to get started in the right direction. Health anxiety is killing me more than anything I could actually be diagnosed with.

Literally crying for the 6th time today and this makes me feel better. It's torture. It's incredibly frustrating and it makes me feel crazy. I'm only 17 and health anxiety has been making me miss out on things I could be enjoying. It's worrying that I might die at any moment everyday all the time. Done an EKG and a blood test recently, nothing wrong with them. Saw two doctors (primary care and psychiatrist), primary care doctor examined me and checked my blood test, pressure, oxygenation, bpm, and told me I should see a therapist because I have severe anxiety, and she even told me my chances of dying from a heart attack or having cancer are almost impossible because of my age and lifestyle (I exercise constantly, my family doesn't have a history of those and we actually have a genetic construction that makes our immunity very high, and eat a very healthy diet; I don't drink soda for example). Psychiatrist and psychologist diagnosed me with severe anxiety, illness anxiety and OCD. Just typing this comment and seeing the hundreds of people who feel the exact same things as me is so comforting, so thanks everybody who left a comment, and thanks for the video.

5 things you might do in the health anxiety circle: 1. Meaning making: When having feelings, symptoms do not ask yourself: Why am I feeling this? What does that mean? - Instead say: It is just a sensation / this is anxiety speaking / just because I think stuff does not mean it's real 2. Catastrophizing: if something is uncomfortable or worrisome you take it to the extreme. - What to do instead: Label it as catastrophizing. 3. Googling - Googling can worsen your anxiety. Set a limit on reassurance seeking / consult a doctor once 4. Getting unnecessary tests 5. Seeking certainty - Accept that uncertainty is part of life Thank you Emma for these great videos

The comments really do not lie. I have always been anxious since I was a child. My friends and family would call me 'dramatic' followed by an eye roll. You could pin it down on being exposed to death and stressful situations whilst being really young, but since covid I haven't been the same. Covid rlly pushed me back from years of progress. Being isolated from my social life and the outside world led me into being chronically online on TikTok. The algorithm showed me people who had been diagnosed with my worst fears, telling you to 'listen to your gut'. I can't even leave the house on my own anymore. I just want to feel present and safe within my body. This video and the comments feel like a big warm hug rn.

This is so me.. After 1 symptom there's always another one, and everytime there's a new one I always think "what if this one is real??' Anybody feels the same? The anxiety and worries are controlling my life! All the tips in this video help a lot, by the way, thanks.. I think i need to watch this regularly..

And there are some of us who actually DO have an illness to DEAL WITH! But when you're on this side of the spectrum you learn one thing - YOUR MIND MAKES IT WORSE THAN IT ACTUALLY IS. People have thrived DESPITE OF THEIR ILLNESS. An illness can be the biggest eye opener to the beauty of the world! So take it from someone who is actually going through it.....not just imagining it.....and see that your worries can be used to completely transform your life and become a braver and wiser version of you! It's never the worst thing that's ever happening to you if you decide that it's not.

I’ve had a brain hemorrhage, cancer, liver failure, an infection, and multiple strokes all week. 😊

I just went to the doctor for severe palpitations and heart racing (for hours at a time). He gave me an ekg and said i have severe anxiety 😥 (ekg was normal). I spent hours researching thinking it was Atrial Fibrillation or Heart inflammation or blah blah.... health anxiety is horrible. Thank you for this video. It's helpful 💙💙

I have diagnosed myself with many different types of cancer over the years. I have spent countless nights crying believing I’m dying. I have thought I have tumors, and poke myself around trying to see if I feel the tumors… I have thought I rather just die now instead of living like this. I cannot be there for my children the way I should from the depression and worry I’m dying. So they’d be better off without me. Not that I have thought about ending my life but I have thought I wish I didn’t wake up daily. Just forever sleep. I think loneliness has gotten the worse out of me. If I don’t worry about me I worry about my children thinking they’re the ones who for sure have a terminal illness. Living like this is worse than actually dying.

I watched another video on Health Anxiety here on YT about 4 people who had severe health anxiety in the UK. One young lady was convinced she had or was going to get cancer because her father died of cancer. She did all 5 of the things Emma mentions in this video.... She was a complete nervous wreck who constantly wanted 100% re-assurance that she was OK. The therapist she was working with told her "You fear cancer taking away your life...There IS SOMETHING taking away your life (health anxiety), but it's not cancer". Wow! so true!!