Anxious ... as usual

Hi everyone.

This may sound silly but say if I thought I had a terrible illness because of certain symtoms... ( Leaukemia/Lymphoma) example I've been having bad headaches lately but for A few days now I've not had them and I had itchy skin which would bring out little raised bumps. Don't have that anymore either though ... what I'm trying to say would my symptoms never go away if I thought I had this illness or would they? I've had blood test late last year , several which were fine nothing abnormal found. But things can change ...

 Hi… It sounds like you have health anxiety. You have had the blood test that came out fine which is great! Headaches are very very common even in healthy people. They can be caused by stress and anxiety also. I get them from this. The itchy skin is also very common. When I was in high school I had that and I did get the raised bumps  that were very itchy. They were hives and they were caused by my anxiety. I no longer get them.

If your blood test came out fine you don't have to worry at all about leukemia or lymphoma. Please do not Google your symptoms because it will drive you crazy !!  

 your symptoms do not have to stay even if you're worried about an illness however when I worry too much I do get some symptoms of anxiety such as headache as well as others  even though I am very healthy. So what I did was I worked on my anxiety and I completely have symptoms under control.

When you worry too much and are anxious, your brain goes into fight or flight mode .  That means that it gets ready for "battle" to protect you from what you're worrying about. ( even if there's actually nothing to worry about).  

 when there's actually no danger, all this energy the brain has created has to go somewhere. So it comes out as symptoms such as fast heart rate, possible headache,   Itchiness, possible  lightheadedness etc. this is why people think they have some disease because of the symptoms but actually if a person is healthy, the symptoms are coming from the anxiety itself! 

 this is why it's important to manage your anxiety so you don't have the symptoms. 

And remember something:   Anxiety symptoms cannot hurt or kill you! They feel uncomfortable and weird but that is all. If your doctor told you you are healthy, there's nothing to worry about.

FEAR Stands for false evidence appearing real. Our negative thinking and fear is based on non-reality. We have to turn our negative thinking into positive thinking

Here are some of the things that have really helped me!

 Go to google or YouTubeand search for Detachment from overthinking meditation. I listen to this one a couple times a day. If you have earbuds or headphones use them, lie down and get comfortable and play this. It completely relaxes me and teaches me how to separate negative thoughts from my self. 

 there are other meditations and their relating to anxiety, depression, etc. 

if you're having a really hard time with anxiety I highly suggest speaking with the counselor who can really help! I keep going even when I start to feel better. This is difficult to overcome on our own and it helps to vent to someone else.  They see this on a daily basis. 

 also stay social and keep active! The worst thing you can do is sit around and think too much about all this because that brings on symptoms. Distract yourself with things you enjoy doing. Exercise also relieves my symptoms. Just don't sit around. 

 be a fighter for yourself and work on positive thinking. Don't let fear and anxiety run your life! There's a great book on mindfulness meditation  that has really helped me. 

 I hope you feel better soon. 

 

Thanks you for such a detailed reply it's was really nice to read that as it sounds like you've been through a fair share of anxiety and managed to cope with it. I'll go on YouTube later today and give it a listen. Come to think of it when I'm doing the stuff I enjoy it's anxiety escapes from me and I don't feel any symptom what so ever as it's not on my mind. Come back home later on have a sit down/lie down and bam my brain starts thinking about everything again and then then anxiety is back. Thank you again

Yes!   As soon as we are idol or minds want to go to the negative but we absolutely have the power to prevent that!   When a negative thought comes to your mind say out loud or to yourself  "NO!"  ImMediately get up and go do something else or listen to one of the meditations .  One more thing you can find on YouTube is positive affirmations. When those are repeated over and over your brain actually starts to believe them just like when we keep thinking negative things our brain believes them. I play them in my car and when I go for walks.

 if you can ever get a hold of a book called "mindfulness - finding peace in a frantic world" It's excellent and it teaches us how to keep those negative thoughts away.    You will be fine!  😀