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Health Anxiety - anyone got any good ideas of how best to tackle it?

Kate Kestrel

Hi everyone,

I was just wondering if many people on here struggle with health anxiety. 
Both myself and my son really struggle with this. Any unusual or uncomfortable bodily sensation and we start to panic that there’s something terribly wrong with us. Most of the time we just about manage to keep it vaguely under control - we reassure ourselves and hope it will just go away - but I’m wondering if anyone has any ideas about good ways of dealing with that  panicky feeling when we start catastrophizing over some physical sensation that troubles us. I’m so tired of struggling with this, and so sorry to see my son struggling with it too. 

Parents

  • I find using Dr Google can bring up many more possible causes I hadn't thought of and are rare anyway. This can be unhelpful and increase the anxiety. If I do need to look something up online I try to stick to official sites such as NHS.

    I think with me the anxiety is largely related to a fear that I might need to visit doctors or hospitals, something which I tend to avoid.

    As part of my autism diagnosis I became aware that I experience hypersensitive interoception. That means I am much more aware of my own internal bodily sensations and can become overwhelmed by them. My new found knowledge of my increased awareness means I can reassure myself that the physical sensation is normal and it's just that I am more aware of it. 

    I wonder if it is possible that you and your son experience hypersensitive interoception too? When you are much more aware of your body you notice things that most people would not even be aware of. It does not mean that there is anything physically wrong, just that you experience those physical sensations very differently because you are autistic.

    The other thing I would say is that stress and anxiety can often find new and surprising ways to manifest in the body. 

  • in reply to Autonomistic

    That was insightful. Thank you. The role of interoception hadn't occurred to me.

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