The NEW HA challange- Please join and lets help each other succeed!

[briteyes1002]

After reading Floridaguys inspiring post yesterday and total agreeing with him ( please go back and read his original post) We as HA folks do not do everything in our everyday power to make ourselves better. Instead we fixate on how awful we feel or what illness we may not have or how today has been the worst day ever.
We come to this site because there are "others" out there that we can actually relate to making us not feel alone suffering with this condition. Its nice to have others to talk to. However, how healthy is it for us to come here and post and read posts of all of these life threatening symptoms we think we are having? Is this really thereaputic for us? I am guilty of posting about my heart and asking what others think- but is this getting to the core of my next condition? Certainly not, I will go right on to the next HA concern. Readying about everyones negative thoughts ( which is because we are honestly scared) is not going to help our core issues.

So here is what we provised ...I have an idea- The agraphobia section has a post called "who is up for a challange" post. This post is a challange for them to go out of there house as much as possible. They take baby steps- like walking to the mailbox- walking to the store,driving to a restaurant, sitting and talking to someone somewhere other than there "safety zone" It seems like they have has some great success stories.
Maybe we can try something like that? Maybe we can start a topic like what we did for the day to try to make our HA better. Whether it be " I am not going to google for a week", or I am going to look up a couseler to go see, or " I got a great book to help me learn new relaxation techniques. Maybe instead of all this "fear" we all have we can turn atleast one go to post into inspirations and everyday challanges. We can learn from each others success's instead of the constant "holding of hands" we do with each other to try and make ourselves feel better which I am sure more so than ever does not work...


This topic will strickly be for the positive things we are doing or have done to make our HA better and get us started on the right track of recovery. PLease tell us about your POSITIVE thoughts or challenges you have set for yourself. Share a quate with us, or maybe tell us aBOUT A NEW GYM YOU JOINED OR A MEDICATION YOU FINALLY STARTED TAKING. Lets give each other ideas of how we can help ourselves and each other take back our lives and concour anxiety.

SO who is up for the challange?

K

[briteyes1002]

I guess I should go first. I have went out an bought a new book called Cognitive Therapy of Anxiety Disorders. While this book is write by professionals- using medical terms I am not sure I understand, this book is really teaching me why we think and why our brain is working the way it does. I just started and hoping to get some therapy from it. I recommend everyone getting a copy ( its pricey).

For my second positive adventure to help my HA... I am doing an intervention on myself- with my family present. I am coming to them for help. While they all know that I suffer from HA- they all just say "well thats just how she is". I want them to fully understand how this has negatively effected my life and I need their support and understanding to help me overcome this disorder.

I will keep you posted on how they respond. It makes me feel a bit of relief that I can fiannly sit down with everyone together and maybe finally get the help I really need.

Please tell me about your positive HA challange for yourself.

K

[floridaguy65]

Yippeeee:) I'm glad you got this thing rolling, K:) The ONLY way that this thread will be successful is if us HA peeps find the strength to dig down deep and be honest in our responses. And get excited and participate:)! To me, ANY opportunity to seek out ways for solace or to better understand what I might be able to do for myself, is an opportunity that, simply, should not be passed up:) If we can't do it here among folks who probably are experiencing nearly the same type fear and negative thought processes, then we might have a much harder time getting on our healing paths, than need be. As I've said, NOTHING is easy when learning and ACCEPTING the avenues of "recovery", and looking in the mirror is the best place to start. Tell yourself, "I will not live with dominating fear, and I will truly embrace all avenues that might bring me some relief". All "embrace" means here is that you'll, simply, not discount something as a potential for relief because you feel it just won't work for you. We have to challenge ourselves, and it can be uncomfortable, most certainly. Again, combatting HA is NOT easy, by any stretch. But, there is solace to be had...it is up to each one of us to bring it home. It is NOT gonna knock on your door and say, "Hi, I'm solace, you want some of me?" I kid:) But, I'm serious, on the other hand. There is no magic pill that gets rid of HA...there is no switch to be flipped that turns HA off...there is probably, even, no "cure" for HA, period. But, I will go to my grave (in many years from now:), fully believing that we can remove most of the dominating fear from our lives...I'm not saying we can get rid of all our anxiety, just the yucky, paralyzing, crappy fear that can come along with Health Anxiety:) We can do this!:) What is the alternative?

But, let's do this calmly:) LOL

Peace and Feel Well:)

[Cabbage]

This is great to challenge ourselves! I have an MRI in the morning as well as a blood test for ovarian cancer. The positive things I am going to do are 1) I will not google. All it does is cause me further pain. 2) I am memorizing several positive Bible passages to repeat to myself during the procedure. 3) I am going to ask all of you who are so inclined, to pray for me to be strong and to get thru it. Thanks! My name is Debbie.

[floridaguy65]

Here's what I'm gonna do first to challenge myself (there WILL be more!:)

1. I haven't read an anti-anxiety self-help book or an understanding anxiety book in a couple years. I have read several "understanding fear" or "pushing through fear" books recently, but these were not anxiety based. I will buy this book before the weekend is out and begin reading it then, as well. I will have a yellow highlighter and mark some passages / thoughts that I feel hit home with me, and make me feel good:) I can then share those with y'all:)

2. I am going to get up 10 mins earlier each morning and do some pretty simple, but taxing, stretching exercises. I have a 2 year old to feed and get ready for daycare each morning, but I WILL make the time. I do work out, but I feel I need to improve my muscle and joint flexibility. I know that a lot of our aches and pains are muscular / joint / tendon and ligament in nature...so I'm going to work on this. I already do about 3 mins, or so, of deep breathing and positive affirmations before I even get out of bed.

Peace:)

[briteyes1002]

Cabbage- not to Google is always a good challange to start with. I believe that most of us create our symptoms by things we have read. I am sure your bible passages will help you get through your tests. Stay positive, think positive. There is a book called "the secret" its a great book about positive things we can do and positive thinking. If you like reading I wouold recommend the book.

Flordia- I to started to exercise and find that my pains and worries go away when I am doing some sort of cardio activity.... funny how that works. Let us know what work book you go with and how its working for you!

K

[floridaguy65]

K, you said, "For my second positive adventure to help my HA... I am doing an intervention on myself- with my family present. I am coming to them for help. While they all know that I suffer from HA- they all just say "well thats just how she is". I want them to fully understand how this has negatively effected my life and I need their support and understanding to help me overcome this disorder."

Wonderful and inspirational:) Most often, we love our families...they love us. But, they cannot fully understand our struggles...probably never will. All we can ask is that they respect us by accepting what we are saying is the truth...it is what we feel. We are not making up the pains or mental anguish...so all I really ask is for you to believe me fully:) But, also believe that I am going to do everything in my power to get better, to find some relief:) If we include our families in all the actions and ideas we have for seeking out solace, it might foster a more open arena for understanding and support:) We, often, feel guilty for having Anxiety Disorder(s), and this just shouldn't be the case...it's counterproductive, fully, to a successful healing path, IMHO:)

[momtoaprincess]

I hope this does not get looked upon poorly, but for me, part of fighting my HA is NOT coming to this website (or others about anxiety or disease) daily.  My problem is fixating on something.  I am aware of this because I have gone from heart fears (4 years ago) to all kinds of cancer fears, back to heart fears, etc.  What I'm trying to say is I'm a symptom skipper (I go from one symptom to another based on what I'm fixated on at the time).  So therefore, to focus on anything BUT my anxiety and fears of disease makes me WELL!  I will spend more time over the next month focusing my energy on my new job, I have a field trip to go on with my daughter next week and I'm got some continuing education credits to obtain before the end of March.  So I'm going to focus on those things during the next upcoming weeks 

[drjekyll]

I hereby pledge not to Google for a week, too! And that includes not Googling the symptoms of my family members as well.

Originally it was just going to be the weekend, but what the heck? I'm no wimp!

[Canpky]

for as long as we can keep this post going I will not google a a single symptom!!!!! I wont lie it will be a task that even while typing this think will be difficult but I really really will not and I hope that everyone else will do at least one thing on the road to recovery. I will post something every day on this for the next week I pledge to do at least one thing new a day whether it be positive thinking, meditation, just relaxing, etc. I hope you all do as well. We are all ok and in some sense we all know somewhere deep down that we are ok. Thats why we are all on here talking :) this is a great idea!

[floridaguy65]

I hope this does not get looked upon poorly, but for me, part of fighting my HA is NOT coming to this website (or others about anxiety or disease) daily.  My problem is fixating on something.  I am aware of this because I have gone from heart fears (4 years ago) to all kinds of cancer fears, back to heart fears, etc.  What I'm trying to say is I'm a symptom skipper (I go from one symptom to another based on what I'm fixated on at the time).  So therefore, to focus on anything BUT my anxiety and fears of disease makes me WELL!  I will spend more time over the next month focusing my energy on my new job, I have a field trip to go on with my daughter next week and I'm got some continuing education credits to obtain before the end of March.  So I'm going to focus on those things during the next upcoming weeks 

Hi MTAP:) I absolutely get where you are coming from...how can something coming from the heart be looked upon poorly?:) Is a dependence on a website for lasting solace any different than seeking lasting solace in another med test or Doc visit? Is being fixated, trying to find continual assurance, on a forum good for us? I think of these things, too:) Distraction can be a great tool in finding some  solace. If we can find some peace outside of a forum or support group through WHATEVER means possible, then by all means grab it:) IMHO, coming here should be about realizing we are not alone, finding some temporary relief through someone saying "yeah, me too..I get that symptom...or I've had that happen to me", and then, most importantly, seeking ways to get better by positive reinforcements:) Focusing on other things, is great...we need to spread out, if possible, from this anxiety that's on our minds. But, we inevitably, at some point, are left with just ourselves and our thoughts and this is where we get sidetracked by the trickery of faulty logic laid upon us by HA / anxiety. This is where I feel that this website could be a godsend. This HA Challenge is all about  positive reinforcements and building momentum through embracing good habits and talking about what brings on those times of feeling pretty darn good:) I'm very glad you shared. I hope you can come back in soon, maybe only to this HA Challenge thread, to chime in a bit:) But, you must do what feels good for you and is working, at any given time:) Peace and Feel Well:)

[ashcrash85]

I'm a lot mTAP. except i don't symptom skip. Florida knows my fears, they are squarely centered on my heart. My problem is, after a decade of obsessing and fixating I think i am now so in tune with what it does that i can feel EVERYTHING. Even I get just sit still for a second I can feel it beating away. I think it is so second nature to me now, that it comes up on its own.

Not sure how to overcome that particularly, but i have begun a habit that could be bad. Googling. I will not Google for the next week ;)

[floridaguy65]

I'm a lot mTAP. except i don't symptom skip. Florida knows my fears, they are squarely centered on my heart. My problem is, after a decade of obsessing and fixating I think i am now so in tune with what it does that i can feel EVERYTHING. Even I get just sit still for a second I can feel it beating away. I think it is so second nature to me now, that it comes up on its own.

Not sure how to overcome that particularly, but i have begun a habit that could be bad. Googling. I will not Google for the next week ;)

Hi S:) This is perfect!:) Don't sell a possibility short. In fact, if we can go into a possibility (an action or a mindset) fully expecting some positive benefit, then, maybe, the old self-fulfilling prophecy stuff can come into play:) When we are in a cycle of fear, and have the hope to change this pattern....then something DOES have to change. We can't continue with existing habits that are KNOWN to increase health anxiety, for almost all HA peeps, and expect some miraculous benefit:) Good luck S:) And, your heart is going to beat well for your during your challenge!:)

Say "I am not Googling and I am feeling better, less anxious":)

Peace and Feel Well:)

[ashcrash85]

I think I heart you Florida 

[Cabbage]

Scaredcrazy let's share! I heart Floridaguy too!

[floridaguy65]

Ok, OK...thank you much. But, no love fest is needed:) There's work to be done on the anxiety frontlines:) Just kidding...I have a full life (a 27 mos. old daughter and I'm 45...ugh:) and it's not all about anxiety, I promise:) I just get excited about the opportunity to help out some with this BIT*# of an issue...anxiety can totally suck the life out us, if we don't deal with it...and we CAN deal with it!:) I've been curled up in a ball on the couch crying and feeling that there was NO hope or NO help and that NOBODY understood. That was many years ago, but I can still remember my first panic attack (and the horror) as if it was yesterday. So, I don't know how long I keep up the RAH RAH "there IS hope" stuff going, but I feel like it's what I need to being doing now...so I'm happy with that:) And more than happy that I can help, from time to time:)

Now, I do have to go fix some cow fence. I'm serious:) We live on a 15 acre "farm" and have some cows and they tend to think the grass is greener on the OTHER side of the fence! HMMM...I wonder if that's where the saying came from?:)

Peace and Feel Well:)

[shubunkin]

okay, i pledge not to google and to force myself to walk 30 minutes a day to prove to myself that the chest pains i get is not heart related(because they go away when i exercise.

[dancer67]

Okay.

1. I challenge myself not to worry every single minute of the day on the results of my skin biopsy. I am giving myself permission to take some time off.
2. I am going to keep play8ing Dance Masters on the Xbox Kinects to keep my mind busy, and enjoy myself.
3. I will not google Anemia for a whole week.

Okay, let's see if I can do this.

[momtoaprincess]

thanks for understanding!  this forum is often what I need in times of crisis, and it really feels good to sometimes feel like I may have helped someone else to feel a little better.  As a matter of fact, I feel so blessed that one day a few years ago I just happened upon the website.  I've never been dx with hypochondria or HA but as someone who works in the mental health field, I knew I had a problem with anxiety but it never "clicked" that it might be HA until I saw this website.  It was like a lightbulb went off in my head!  I just know for me, its not good to linger for days. 

Floridaguy (I'm in FL too) I also have a hubby who was a little older when we had our (my 1st, his last) child.  She is 6 now and he is 47.  We joke, but he's not really a very old dad at all    Enjoy those baby years, I miss them a little!

[floridaguy65]

OK, as I said I would do, I stretched for 10 mins this morning...got up a little earlier:) Felt great:) I'm not as limber as I used to be, for sure. But anywho, I was mindful of my breathing (made sure I was deep breathing) and the overall experience was very nice:) Great way to kick off a day...by being kind to your bod:)

Peace and Feel Well:)

Dancer, you can do it...there's no reason for you to "see, if I can do it":) That # 2 on your list is great (all of your list is great, though), physical activity is sooooooooo awesome for feeling well:)

Shubunkin, yes indeed, I used to have MAJOR heart concerns. Exercise is the MAIN reason I was able to alleviate those dominate fears of a heart attack:) Keep on truckin':)

And to ALL....no Google!:)

[briteyes1002]

I am so excited that you all have joined woth me and Florida in this challenge. I think HOPE is something we all need and I think by pushing ourselves to do things that we think we cant do will make us stronger in the end.

How is everyone doing that pledged that they woulds not Google? Did everyone make it through the first 24 hours?
Florida glad you got up and did your ten minnute stretch. I know how hard it can be to find time...

Everyone keep us updated or share new ideas or challnges as well as accomplishments... lets keep this thread at the top and lets all try to stay positive and get excited about feeling like we are finally doing something to help ourselves.

K

[crazygirl1]

okaaay...im willing but i dont know how ...i guess i can promise not to google but thats not much for me, as I can usually go fro a long time without googling. I too dont really symptom skip-my fear is ca...always, its my 1 & only  although it can be any kind of ca...
so today i wont google...what else?

[ashcrash85]

While out packing up our stuff in the garage I came across I bought several years ago. I want to share some points from the book because they do help and make a lot of sense.


...."the irony is that our fears actually create our symptoms and the symptoms can create our fears. It is a vicious cycle." ( Bassett, 1995)

" Your anxiety is under your control. You created the negative thoughts, therefore, you can stop them." ( Bassett, 1995)

" No matter what caused your anxiety disorder or panic attacks, the way home will be the path of acceptance, trust, and change in perception." (Bassett, 1995)

[briteyes1002]

Scared- thouse are awsome quotes. I think our problem is is getting to the point of acceptance. It sounds so easy just to turn off our anxiety- I wish it was... But we are in a cycle thats never ending... we are the only ones that can truely make it stop. Of course therapy and medications are there to help us along but we are the only ones that can tell our minds to "stop" think rationally.

K

[floridaguy65]

While out packing up our stuff in the garage I came across I bought several years ago. I want to share some points from the book because they do help and make a lot of sense.


...."the irony is that our fears actually create our symptoms and the symptoms can create our fears. It is a vicious cycle." ( Bassett, 1995)

" Your anxiety is under your control. You created the negative thoughts, therefore, you can stop them." ( Bassett, 1995)

" No matter what caused your anxiety disorder or panic attacks, the way home will be the path of acceptance, trust, and change in perception." (Bassett, 1995)

" No matter what caused your anxiety disorder or panic attacks, the way home will be the path of acceptance, trust, and change in perception." (Bassett, 1995)

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE this quote!:) Not like, but LOVE, if you can't tell:) Go to the search bar at the top of the page here and type in "acceptance" and then use the pull down bar to put in "this board". I just did it so I know a lot of posts pop up and many of mine, too. Please read as many as you feel up to:) To me, this is the MOST IMPORTANT ideal we should attempt to grasp for lasting solace...ACCEPTANCE:) Trust and perception are soooooo very important, too!

Peace and Feel Well:)