Reclaim You- How to Cope with Health Anxiety
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In this conversation, Sarah and Emily discuss health anxiety and how it can manifest in individuals.
They define health anxiety as anxiety focused on physical health and discuss the similarities and differences between health anxiety and hypochondria. They also explore the impact of medical trauma and weight stigma on health anxiety.
The conversation highlights the importance of finding a trusted care team, avoiding excessive Googling and seeking validation, and developing coping strategies to manage health anxiety.
Takeaways:
Health anxiety is a real struggle and can have a significant impact on individuals' daily lives.
It is important to find a care team that is validating, thorough, and respectful.
Avoid excessive Googling and be mindful of the information consumed on social media platforms.
Develop coping strategies such as deep breathing, mindfulness, and engaging in activities that distract from health anxiety.
Work on developing a better understanding of the body's sensations and learning to differentiate between normal sensations and anxiety-driven perceptions.
Thanks for listening to Reclaim You with Reclaim Therapy!
To learn more about Reclaim Therapy and how to work with a therapist on the team, head to https://www.reclaimtherapy.org.
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[00:01] Sarah: Hi, there. Welcome to reclaim you, a podcast published by the reclaim therapy team. Join us as we share stories, tools, and insights on how to reclaim you in the wake of trauma, disordered eating, and body shame. Grab your coffee, tea, or your favorite snack and get cozy, because we're about to dive in.
[00:19] Sarah: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to reclaim you. Emily's here today, and we're talking all about health anxiety.
[00:27] Emily: Hey, how's it going? Good.
[00:30] Sarah: How are you?
[00:31] Emily: Good. Good. Excited to chat today. Yeah, yeah.
[00:37] Sarah: It's, like, really rainy and gross here.
[00:39] Emily: I know. It's so gloomy. I feel like I just, like, hibernate today.
[00:45] Sarah: I agree. For the week because it's gonna be crappy all week long.
[00:49] Emily: I have, like, my candle lit in the background and, like, some stranger, I'm trying to make it cozy in here today.
[00:57] Sarah: Oh, that's a great idea. I should light a candle.
[01:00] Emily: Yeah. It felt right. It felt right.
[01:02] Sarah: Anything to make it a little bit more like. Yeah, cozy is a good word. Cozy and easy. And so Emily had a special interest in working with folks with health anxiety, and so we thought we'd do a little episode about it around, like, what health anxiety is, how it might show up some ways to navigate health anxiety and medical anxiety. So, yeah, I'm excited to talk about this and dive into it.
[01:28] Emily: Yeah, yeah, me, too. Me, too.
[01:30] Sarah: Where you want to start?
[01:32] Emily: So let's talk about what it is. Yeah, I feel like there is a lot out there about it, and unfortunately, I feel like a lot of this stuff that I see is, like, in a very. Almost, like, joking kind of a presentation. Um, obviously, I get some of us cope with humor, so I get that. But it is. It's a real thing, and it's a real struggle. Um, so I feel like with health anxiety, probably the. The first thing that comes to mind. I feel like we've all heard the term, like, hypochondriac or hypochondria, which it shares some similarities, but I feel like there is a little bit of a stigma around that word. But essentially, it is anxiety. So it shares symptoms with the anxiety that a lot of us are familiar with, but it's typically focused on. So it is either symptoms are there, symptoms are not there. It can exist in both ways, but it's kind of a preoccupation with your health, and. Is something wrong? There's a lot of hyper vigilance, normally, of, like, feelings in your body. It might look like someone going to the doctor a lot or, like, avoiding the doctor because they're really scared. To go and get answers. A lot of times it involves researching. So I have this feeling. I don't know what it is. Let me try to look at. I feel like that preoccupation is normally the biggest sign that there's probably some health anxiety going on.
[03:12] Sarah: Yeah. And when you're talking, I'm just remembering the episode that I recorded with Rachel Shifflet about, like, medical care and eating disorder recovery and how health anxiety can show up there, too. And thinking, particularly, you know, for anyone struggling with an eating disorder, but particularly for people who are living in fat bodies or larger bodies who have felt the impact of weight stability, stigma over the years in medical settings, and how much anxiety can exist from just being afraid to show up. And what will the doctor say and what will the doctor blame? And how will they blame me? Right. How will they shame me? And the avoidance of medical settings because of that, even if there might be a medical condition going on, that a lot of people feel unseen and unheard and shamed just by going to the doctor. So that just popped into my brain.
[04:03] Emily: So I thought I'd say, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And that reminds me as well. Like, medical trauma can also play a big role in this. So a lot of times if there was something that happened, whether it was, you know, something like an illness that was really severe or, like, out of the blue or, you know, being, like, gaslit by a doctor of, like, oh, you're fine. Like, nothing's wrong with you, or having something come up and having to go a long time without getting answers, those can also. Those traumatic events can also lead to health and medical anxiety down the road.
[04:44] Sarah: Yeah, definitely. And I think even anything that involves anesthesia, it'd be interesting to kind of dive into some of the research about the medical trauma and survival responses that might be inhibited by anesthesia and how that can later manifest maybe as anxiety, but maybe that's an episode for another day. But, yeah, all of the different traumatic experiences that people can have in medical settings or considering medical settings.
[05:12] Emily: Absolutely. Yeah. So there's a lot of different factors that can play a role there. And sometimes we can't put our finger on it. Sometimes it's more of a, this is just something that I'm really scared of, and it gives me a lot of anxiety. And no matter what the source is, it's all valid, and it can take a really big toll on people.
[05:38] Sarah: Yeah. Can you talk about that a little bit about the toll that this can take on someone in the everyday, not only when thinking about medical stuff, but the carryover and the ripples that this might cause for folks.
[05:54] Emily: What'S coming to mind is it's a lot of times rooted in things that we're feeling in our body that feel scary, but a lot of times are just very normal body things, and we can't get away from our body. It's with us all the time. So it's like we have these very scary, what are perceived as very scary feelings. But it's not like a stressor where it's like, okay, I can go somewhere else. I can get away from this. It's just kind of always there. So I feel like it can really permeate all aspects of your day, because you're just feeling it, and it's like.
[06:36] Sarah: The more you feel it, the more hypervigilant you get. The more hypervigilant you get, the more you probably feel it. And it just turns into a jump message.
[06:44] Emily: Yeah. And it's that stress response. So, like, our body is stressed, our body, like, perceives a threat, so we're activated. Our nervous system's in fight or flight, we're fatigued. And all of that leads to more anxiety, which is exactly what you just said. It's that cycle of, I feel something, so I'm anxious, and then I'm anxious, and that makes my body feel more pain or more on edge, and then makes me more anxious. It's a very hard cycle to get out of.
[07:14] Sarah: Yeah, for sure.
[07:15] Emily: I think a lot of folks with that, that's when we tend to turn to Google. So I feel like a big part of this that we hear about when people talk about health anxiety is someone who's online, on WebMD trying to find answers. And it makes sense that they. That you want an answer in that moment. It's overwhelming. You just want to know. But then that starts a whole other cycle of the Internet just being like, here's literally every single thing that it could be, which just fuels that fear and then fuels the sensations in your body, which fuels the anxiety. It just kind of adds to the cycle.
[07:58] Sarah: Yeah, Google is a dangerous place in lots of ways.
[08:01] Emily: Shares and TikTok. TikTok full of medical anxiety videos that I think are a lot of times, sometimes more hurtful than helpful.
[08:15] Sarah: So, yeah, you know this. I'm not on TikTok. So I would imagine that mostly.
[08:21] Emily: Mostly a lot of things on TikTok are dangerous. Yeah, unfortunately. Unfortunately, I think there's, like, with anything, there's a couple good accounts that can be used for resources and like, to really normalize things, but I think the majority is just people who have, like, a very extreme experience or, like, out of the norm experience or misinformation, making a video and spreading things that aren't helpful.
[08:54] Sarah: Yeah, it's kind of like Reddit, like going on a Reddit thread. Oh, my gosh.
[08:58] Emily: Yeah.
[08:59] Sarah: Yeah. It can be really scary in some ways. It can be validating in certain instances, you know, and even like education.
[09:06] Emily: Sure.
[09:06] Sarah: It can be there around something that's helpful. Who knows? But yeah, it can be like that confirmation bias, right? If you're hyper vigilant and you're looking for something, you're certainly going to find it on Google or on Reddit or on Twitter or whatever.
[09:20] Emily: Absolutely. Absolutely.
[09:22] Sarah: And that thing for, like, mental health, not just, you know, like, like medical.
[09:26] Emily: Oh, that was a huge thing on TikTok of people were diagnosing themselves with, like, personality disorders and mental health professionals were seeing this and be like, whoa. Like, this is not something that we take lightly. Like, we don't want to just throw out, like, oh, I have this symptom. Therefore this is my diagnosis. Because so many things can overlap, same with, with physical health. Like, just because you have one symptom doesn't mean this is automatically what I have. So it's important to, you know, if you have a concern, that's valid, but definitely take that to a professional.
[10:05] Sarah: So what are some ways to navigate medical anxiety?
[10:11] Emily: So I think the first step is to validate what it is. So if you find that you're kind of fixating on physical health or worries about health, if you're noticing kind of the classic anxiety symptoms, so that might be trouble sleeping, irritability, just like that, nervous feeling, like GI upset, things like that, the list goes on and on. If you're noticing those two things together, bringing up with your doctor or your therapist, just the question of, is this, what could be going on? I think the first step can be to just get an answer of like, okay, like, this is what this is. This isn't in my head. Like, this is a valid concern and it's something that I can work on. So with that being said, I think some things that can help. Going back to the Google conversation, that's, that's always my, my first question and my first recommendation. And I know that it's really, really hard, but a lot of us with health anxiety spent a lot of time on Google and it's just going to make things worse. So I think first and foremost, we have to either cut out or work on cutting down trying to look for answers ourselves because we're going to find way too much information. It's gonna just stir those fears up and it's just gonna keep the cycle going. But first and foremost, we gotta step away from, from Doctor Google. And similarly, like you were saying, like, the Reddit threads, like the TikTok accounts, the, even, like, the online support groups, like, I think that those especially can be a little bit, bit tricky because they're created in a way to be, like, helpful and have a place for people to go to relate to people in a similar situation, to get resources. And I think that it can be too easy to read someone's experience and be like, oh, like, if that was this person's experience with this, and it's going to be not, and that's not true. Everyone experiences things differently. But I think, again, it's like people, people who are maybe in, like, the worst case scenario group are posting these things and then it's like, oh, my gosh, like, that's gonna be me. When in reality, like, we don't know that.
[12:41] Sarah: And along with that, you know, I was just thinking it was when I was super pregnant with my son. And HuffPost, this will connect, I promise. HuffPost kept posting stuff about, you know, like infant loss and all of those things. Well, it's important to be informed. It was, like, way too much for my nervous system at the time.
[13:04] Emily: It was.
[13:04] Sarah: I was completely, I was a disaster. Right. And so I had to unfollow huff post. But also something to remember. This is why it connects what you're googling and what you're searching for on TikTok, the algorithm gets you.
[13:16] Emily: Yes.
[13:17] Sarah: Right. The algorithm, like all the tracking, all the cookies, it's all connected in the Internet. And so the algorithm gets you, and it's just going to feed you more content that connects to probably whatever test it is that you're looking up on Google for the keywords. Right? Like, you're just going to get spoon fed more and more content, which just increases the hyper vigilance, just like what you were saying. So that, like, avoiding Google and, like, stepping away from Google does feel so important, not in just the searching thing, but in all modes of social media.
[13:50] Emily: Absolutely. That's a really good point. Absolutely. Especially with, with TikTok. And I feel like those of us that even Instagram. Like those Instagram.
[13:59] Sarah: Yeah.
[14:00] Emily: But it's like you see one video that you interact with and then all of a sudden it's like, oh, like, I guess my feed is filled with this now. Yeah, sometimes it's a good thing. Like, if it's like, cute animal videos or like, yeah, you know, something that you're into, but if it's something that scares you, then all of a sudden it's like, I can't. Can't get away from this even more.
[14:22] Sarah: Yeah, yeah. Like, it's in my head, it's in my body, and it's on my screen.
[14:25] Emily: Yeah, yeah. So we gotta really try to avoid that as much as possible. If you're already kind of sucked into that, like, on following pages, trying to do things to, like, reset the algorithm, which I know.
[14:39] Sarah: Oh, it's hard. It's. I try to reset my algorithm all the time. All the time.
[14:46] Emily: Yeah, yeah.
[14:47] Sarah: And it doesn't work. But not to be discouraging, but.
[14:51] Emily: Oh, man. Boy, is a good. Like, if you're following accounts that are causing stress, like, giving you more things to worry about, like, is that worth it?
[15:04] Sarah: And it used to be on Instagram, it was just the explore page. Now everything randomly just shows up in your scroll. Right. Like, it's a whole different landscape. I used to say just, like, avoid the whatever page. I just named it. What is it called?
[15:19] Emily: The discovery with four you page.
[15:22] Sarah: Yeah, that one.
[15:23] Emily: Yeah.
[15:24] Sarah: I used to say, just, like, avoid that one, but now you can't. It just shows up in the scroll.
[15:28] Emily: I know.
[15:30] Sarah: Anyway, the cookies. The algorithm is following you wherever you go on the Internet. So I think we all know that by now. But important to name nonetheless.
[15:36] Emily: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. I think another thing that can be really helpful is to get a care team set up that you really trust and who validate you, who listen to you, who are thorough, and don't make you feel bad. I think, unfortunately, there are a lot of practitioners out there that don't always take, you know, they might see someone who is medically anxious and be like, eh, it's just anxiety, or make them feel shame. And that just makes everything worse because it's like, okay, now do I need a second opinion? It makes you doubt yourself. It might make you go to the doctor more to try to get an answer or avoid more because you were shut down. So I do think another thing that is very, very helpful for someone who might have medical anxiety or medical trauma, whatever it may be, to make sure that you have a care team in place that. That you really trust that can help you navigate this.
[16:40] Sarah: Yeah. And it can be really hard, I think, to find, which is unfortunate. Right. Find solid practitioners and clinicians that will really hear you and it feels important to like, interview people, if you can. Right. To ask people if they're trauma informed to really get a feel for how they treat and how they respect their patients and folks in their community, because that can be game changing. Right. Having a safe place to go to.
[17:10] Emily: Absolutely. Absolutely. And advocating for yourself, like, in that interview, let them know. Like this. Health or medical things do give me anxiety. So can you please be mindful of X, Y and Z? Sometimes that's like, can you be mindful of not overloading me with information? Sometimes that can be helpful in, like, how doctors go over test results, like, things that might spur extra anxiety. And I think that that can also be a good indicator, like, if they respond really compassionately to that, it's probably going to be a good fit compared to someone who might just kind of, like, blow that off or laugh it off or, like, whatever it may be.
[17:53] Sarah: Yeah. And that, like, human to human connection, instead of the doctor just, like, back turned to you typing away on the computer, someone was sharing yesterday, like, they didn't even look. The doctor didn't even look at them the entire appointment. And I'm like, that's not it. That's not it. No. This is your body. Yeah.
[18:11] Emily: Yeah. So someone that spends the time who gives you eye contact, who doesn't make you feel rushed or like you're asking too many questions or things like that are all going to be important things that you want in your care team.
[18:27] Sarah: I'm probably asking if you have other, you know, members of a team involved in your care, whether that's a therapist or a dietitian or, you know, I don't know, chiropractor, whoever it is, if they have solid recommendations. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[18:42] Emily: Absolutely. I think that that's always very helpful to do your research, if you can, just to get someone who you might already trust, like someone that they trust or have heard good things about, and make that process a little bit easier along those lines. And I think that this is something that is helpful to work on with a therapist or with a doctor that you trust, is learning how to get more in touch with your body and kind of learn a little bit more about what it's trying to tell us, because going back to that somatic piece of this, a lot of times when we are constantly on the lookout for something that might be going on, we become more sensitive to just, like, very normal sensations that are going on in our bodies, and it's perceived as a threat. So I think that it can be really, really helpful and necessary to do some work there to be like, okay, it's not always an alarm bell. Like, let me go inward. Let me see where I'm feeling this. Let me see if I can do something myself to maybe alleviate this. Like, if it's pain or tension or something like that. So, like, the deep breathing, the mindfulness, the yoga, the stretching, like, is this something that I can help alleviate on my own? But I think that sometimes it's that fight or flight, and it's like, oh, my gosh, like, something's wrong. Like, I have to get an answer right now. And that I get that it makes a lot of sense, but I think that it can just make us more anxious. So doing that piece, to be able to go inward, to regulate so that we're not in that immediate survival mode is a really important piece of this.
[20:44] Sarah: Work, because the fight or flight, right. That survival response will just lead to more tension. And maybe it is something going on related to your physical health. You know, who knows? Being wound up in that fight or flight energy, it's going to be hard to untangle the chicken or the egg, like, where one thing ends and where another begins.
[21:04] Emily: Yeah. I think it can be so empowering, too, if it is a way that anxiety is showing up in your body, if you're able to go in and help that yourself. So if it's like, oh, I'm feeling pain, I was able to release that by stretching or, like, I'm feeling tension, I was able to release that by breathing deeply. You know, my heart was racing, and that freaked me out, but I took some deep breaths, and I felt it come down. If we're able to kind of label, like, oh, this was anxiety, and I helped this myself. That that's hugely helpful and hugely empowering.
[21:45] Sarah: Yeah. And I think something that you've talked about in the past on previous episodes is, like, diffusing from thoughts, like labeling something as a thought, as your anxiety and just getting some space from it to be able to not be completely flooded by it, because it's valid. I think that that's important. Whatever anxiety, whatever worry, whatever fear, whatever the purpose of your anxiety is, it's valid. And also, can we get to know the story in the story, you know, and by creating some distance between our thoughts and how they're landing in our bodies, I think we're better able to do that and try to figure out, like, what is the story here? You know, how is this anxiety or worry? How is this functioning? Why isn't it functioning? You know, what's it trying to tell me? And how can I start to do some work to be with that?
[22:41] Emily: Which makes me think of parts where normally it's a part showing up, but scared. And I think, you know, down the line, like, with a therapist, ideally doing some work with that part of understanding why it's scared, but then also being able to step in and be like, I got you. Like, I can take care of myself. Like, I know when something's wrong. Like, I'm not going to ignore it. We don't always have to be on the lookout for these things, be the.
[23:15] Sarah: Adult in charge in lots of ways. And oftentimes, folks who are struggling with this maybe didn't have an adult in charge to take care of these types of needs. Who knows when, whenever that was.
[23:26] Emily: But with the diffusion being said, I think the last little note I have here for something that I think can be helpful in managing medical anxiety is in those moments, also having your tools that you can use to cope. So do you need to, like, get out of the situation? So I think sometimes it can be like, this free situation of, like, oh, my gosh, I'm sitting here, I'm scared. Maybe, like, I really want to Google. Like, do you need to put your phone down and get up and, like, go to a different room or, like, go for a little walk, like, move your body, something like that, to just reset? I think that that can be really helpful. Do you need to bring in another person just to be like, hey, I'm really struggling right now. Like, can you help distract me? Can you help hold me accountable to maybe not try to find answers myself? Things like that. Like, finding those things that you can do in the moment when it feels really, really hard, is obviously also very important.
[24:28] Sarah: Yeah. And when you said that, I just thought of that attunement and that co regulation piece, that when a survival response is kind of, like, activated. So if you're feeling, whether it's frozen or, like, you have to, like, there's maybe some flight energy or something, like, there's something churning. To have someone who feels super safe and grounded and able to just be with you in that, whether that's validating it, holding it, offering just this calm presence, and like I said, validation, really, that can go such a long way to just bring some exhale and some slowness to your system. And, you know, maybe it is also someone reminding you that Google isn't going to be able to diagnose you. Right? It will tell you lots of things, but, yeah, that. That external having someone to be with you through it, to companion you through it. Yeah. That can be really, really game changing, whether that's a therapist or a friend or family member or, like, your dog. Right? Any of those things.
[25:28] Emily: Yeah, absolutely. And other distractions, too. Like, in those moments, whether it's by yourself with someone else, do you want to listen to some music? Do you want to, like, watch your favorite show? Do you want to, like, color, like, anything to get your mind out of that very frozen, like, hyper focused place in those moments, I think is helpful. So it's just finding what works for you.
[25:53] Sarah: Anything else you want to add?
[25:56] Emily: I feel like those were the big ones.
[26:00] Sarah: Yeah. Some quick tips, you know, and of course we can. We could always talk more about these and expand, and maybe we will. Yeah. Just important to even normalize this, that physical health stuff. Mental health stuff. Right. It can be anxiety producing.
[26:18] Emily: And I think it's gotten more prevalent in COVID times. We all had a very large health threat, and we had the media kind of telling us very, very scary, like, big, major things. So I feel like a lot of us, even if you didn't have that before, like, a lot of people are coming out of kind of the worst of the pandemic. Like, maybe a little bit more. More mindful of their body, their health, kind of what's going on. And that is valid. And again, there's. We can work through it. It's not something that you. You're stuck with or that you have.
[26:56] Sarah: To just put up with that feels so important. You know, I think that COVID was such a blur for me just in the, like, season of life that I was in, that you're right. That hyper vigilance around health and safety. Oh, my gosh. And now the ripples of that are really real. That's such a good point.
[27:15] Emily: I mean, it was like, it was a literal global trauma that we all lived through. And I think that sometimes people don't give that enough credit. Like, whether it is health anxiety or just regular anxiety or social anxiety or depression, people are experiencing, I think, more mental health concerns since COVID And it makes a lot of sense.
[27:40] Sarah: Yeah. The isolation and just the fear. Right. That under rumble of fear is really real. Yeah. The trauma responses and even connecting maybe to felt experiences that you didn't even know were there as a result of being alone and isolated and afraid and connections to complex trauma. There's so much there. We should do an episode all about that, actually.
[28:03] Emily: We could.
[28:04] Sarah: Yeah. Well, thank you so much for this. Yeah. And, yeah, we'll chat more about it on future episodes. I appreciate it. Any parting thoughts? I think so, yeah. And everyone, we're taking a week off next week, but the following week, we'll be back. Casey is picking up where we left off. A couple of questions we got about Shane that we're going to answer in two weeks, so stay tuned. But yeah, until then, take good care.
[28:32] Sarah: Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Reclaim. You be sure to, like, comment and subscribe and check us out on YouTube. Eclaim U. If you're looking to start therapy for trauma, disordered eating or body image concerns, head over to our website at www.reclaimtherapy.org to learn more about us and our work. We'll be back next week with another episode. Until then, take good care of yourself.
Reclaim Therapy is a group of trauma therapists who specialize in treating Eating Disorders and Trauma in Horsham, PA.
We specialize in treating body image, eating disorders, PTSD, CPTSD, and Emily specializes in working with folks experiencing anxiety and health/medical anxiety.
We’re passionate about helping people reclaim their lives from diet culture, body shame and the impact of trauma.
We would love to support you as you Reclaim YOU and the life that you undeniably deserve.