when does it stop

[cbuttle45]

Will it ever stop this week alone i thought i had lung cancer heart attack stroke every pain i feel i panic. I wake up feeling for lumps and any new pain. I hate living like this i want to feel normal again i am 55 this has been going on for years. Getting older does not help i just want to enjoy life and this is stopping me , i got to therapy that helps alittle in my mine i know this kind of thinking is crazy.does having health anxity cause more aches and pains i sleep through the night never wakeup in pain so why when i am sleeping i am fine..how can i make it better. Ang suggestions please

[gcalex]

You have to do cognitive work on a daily basis, and exercise breathing and other forms of relaxation can help as well.  Just going to therapy is not enough.

[vardnas]

I agree with gcalex that therapy's good but not quite enough. Getting rid of anxiety is a slow process that involves the entire mind and body.

Ultimately, you won't "feel better" until your stress hormones (which are sky high and causing the body to become symptomatic) are brought back down to a normal level. And getting them down to a normal level takes work.

First and foremost it takes the ability to accept that what you're feeling in your body is being caused by anxiety and not by some dreaded disease. Then it takes the cessation of negative behaviors that perpetuate anxiety. These include things like seeking reassurance by looking stuff up on the internet, running to the doctor all the time, or self-checking.

When you take these negative behaviors away, you need to replace them with productive ones. So things like exercise, relaxation, spending time with friends or family, hobbies (especially ones that use your hands like gardening or doing puzzles or knitting), meditation, yoga, healthy diet, etc.

Therapy is great for discovery what kind of underlying factors you have that contribute to an anxious world-view, so keep going, for sure.

I don't know if you've read this before, but it's a great place to start if you want to understand more about what anxiety is and the steps you need to take to get over it:  http://www.anxietyzone.com/index.php/topic,58186.0.html