Hi all,
I have been having computer problems! Couldn't wait to get back and check on the book posts. Thanks TV girl and GabbyVeg AND others for keeping it going!
I liked the thread about what you think is the root cause. I lost my father to cancer so I live in dread of the disease ever since my thyroid removal. But now I see the seeds of this anxiety back into my early childhood. Illness was ALWAYS feared in my house.
I too have the health obsession of the day! Today it is colon cancer because of some symptoms I've been experiencing. I'm sick and tired of allowing my symptoms to control me. Getting better....but not where I want to be yet.

Let's throw this question out there: Do you INSIST that you must have good health to enjoy/participate in life?

I know I do. This is a BIG issue for me. I realize that I am acting like if I didn't have perfect health that the world would collapse....that I would be in a great depression and would then die. I don't ever even consider the possibility that if I "got" something that I could over-come it! I always think I'm dead and buried already. Anyone else???

Blessings,
Psalm91

Hello Psalm91

I too feel like I should be healthy to have a good life. I always have some new symptom..I just got off a holter monitor yesterday...so they can check my heart...now with the dizzy feeling in my head..I'm thinking it is a brain tumor...This is getting the best of me and I really can't take it.
I wish I could believe what the doctors tell me..that I am HEALTHY...and there is NOTHING wrong...but I always think they are missing something....

Hi, I too have difficulty letting go of health worries and would like to join in the discussion. What book are you reading?

I am also one who spends waaaay to much time obsessing about my health. I am constantly having my doctor check out this or that. My father had colo-rectal cancer surgery in February and because I do have IBS I am worried about that now and I am being treated for an ulcer that I'm convinced will turn into stomach cancer. Are there any books out there to help us stop focusing negatively on our health?
I sometimes think, more often than not, that I have both feet in the coffin and I'm just waiting for my doctor to close the lid. YES, I think I need to be healthy to enjoy life or at least stop thinking I'm NOT healthy and life would be more enjoyable!! But I also know it's ME that's keeping ME from that enjoyment. How do we stop thinking like this?
Thanks, Serenetysister.

Oh, thank God I found you guys! I just joined today, and it's like you guys are in my head!

I am terrible with this health stuff! And what an excellent question! Yes, I guess I do tell myself if I'm not 100% it's all over, no hope, no nothing. But that is ridiculous when you hear about people who have really bad things going on and they are LIVING! Then I feel guilty for being such a baby.

I can get myself so worked up, and I have no understanding from my husband. He has NO idea the mental hell I am in.

Why are we so insecure with our life? It's sort of like that isn't it? Like it's so fragile... How do we overcome this? Does this program help this? I just ordered it today.

I have had a lot of triggers during the past 15 or so years which result in different health fears. The present one was my baseline mammo which I had in 2003 and had to go back for an ultrasound, then 6 months later, and 6 months later again. Now they say I am fibrocystic but OK. Do you think I can tell myself that? I live in fear of my annual mammo and that is in January!

BUT I know even if I get over this, it will be something else. It always is. Bladder, colon, skin, you name it! Sometimes all at once!

I have to stop this! How do you guys cope?

Janet

I also have realized that I tell myself I have to be 100% healthy in order to have the life I want.

I work hard now at refuting this lie. When I have a concern about my health, I tell myself comforting, true statements over and over again. A helpful one I have used for the random disease-of-the-day anxieties is "Accept and hope for the best." I accept that I might get sick some day, but I will take care of myself and hope for the best.

I also tell myself the truth about body symptoms -that they are just signs of anxiety.

My counselor told me something that has really helped me. I am afraid of dying, and this has caused so much anxiety in my life. She said that I had to get to the point where I can say I'd rather die than live like this. And it's actually been true that my anxiety has been so bad that I wasn't sure if I wanted to go on living like that. So now, one of the things I tell myself when I have a heart-related body symptom is 1) it's just anxiety and 2) if it is a heart attack, it was going to happen anyway and I want to be living my life in freedom rather than fear. I hope that makes sense and is helpful.

This is the biggest anxiety issue for me. I have worked really hard on it and am making good progress.

I am soooo worried all the time about my health - not too long ago a friend of my Dad's lost his daughter who happened to my age 31 - she had an aneurism and died - so of course that was my latest worry - I asked my doctor how would I know if that was going to happen to me and he said don't worry because in three minutes you would be dead and wouldn't know the difference -- boy that really made me feel better -

Hi Psalm 91 and all of u. man i have sooo many fears similar to everyone of u. what really helps me with the sickness thing is i speak positive thoughts but i speak alot of scripture and my main ones are in PSALM 91.for instance when i get into panic and fear etc.i will speak parts of psalm 91
Bcause thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge even the most High thy habitation,there shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague (which is sickness and disease)come nigh your dwelling (your body)for He will give His angels charge over you to keep u in all your ways. they will bear you up in there hands, lest u dash your foot against a stone. i do believe in Jesus helping us as we trust in His Word and there are so many passages of protection and peace and deliverence to think on. i know without this hope in HIm i would go off the deep end. i know that we can think ourselves into sickness because this is a hard world we live in but we can overcome by helping each other, live in the moment as Lucinda says.

Hello All, Just wanted to drop join the group, because this is the cause of most of my anxiety. My mother died at 49 from breast cancer and I feel like I am waiting to get it, however for some reason I'm hoping that if I get cancer it is breast, because my mom said to us girls before she died that we needn't worry they will have a cure for us. I am worried about the cancers that have the least amount of survival rate so it doesn't matter. I cannot even listen to people who are sick because I will pick up their symptoms. I have been taking refuge in the Lord and it has helped me to keep functioning which is very important.