How to manage health anxiety
Do you visit the GP frequently to discuss your health? Do you find yourself googling your symptoms? Scanning your body for signs? Obsessing over symptoms? Maybe friends and family have started to label you as neurotic or a hypochondriac? Do your feelings get dismissed when what you really seek is reassurance?
Just over 2 years ago, I was woken by the whole world violently spinning. I couldn’t walk and my Husband had to carry me to the toilet like a baby. To cut a long story short, a diagnosis of acute labyrnthitis, BPPV, tinnitus and hearing loss followed, along with an awful lot of worrying on my part that perhaps I had a brain tumor or at least something very wrong neurologically. As well as all the diagnostics and investigation, I’ve had to draw on a well of strength to control the anxiety that this completely out of the blue episode evoked in me.
Health anxiety is very real and can feel very overwhelming, especially when it is alongside panic attacks. Sometimes there may be a trigger, like an illness or the death of someone close.
It’s a very unpleasant feeling to feel like, deep down, something is wrong (even if the GP has ruled out anything sinister). You may feel a sense of doom or even start to experience physical symptoms like heart palpitations, numbness or tingling. Such symptoms can have the effect of exacerbating feelings of anxiety even further (a bit of a viscous circle if you like).
Nutrition can play an important part of the solution because the following are just some of the factors that may be driving or exacerbating health anxiety:-
Unbalanced blood sugar levels, particularly hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar).
A diet high in stimulants (coffee, alcohol, sugar, caffeinated drinks etc).
A sub optimal thyroid (hyperthyroidism in particular can cause anxiety). This means your body is producing too much thyroid hormone.
Poor gut health (we have a strong gut-brain connection).
An imbalance in hormones (particularly oestrogen which impacts our stress hormone cortisol).
Low iron levels (you don’t need to be anaemic for low iron to cause heart palpitations). See my case study below on Sophie.
Apart from the above detective work, I can also arrange some functional testing to identify imbalances that could be exacerbating your symptoms and anxious feelings about your health. This kind of testing can be so valuable just in helping you ‘rule things out’ and for reassurance. It also gives us data to highlight the areas that need attention.
If there are no underlying health issues yet you still feel anxious about your health, I highly recommend working with a trained and registered Therapist to explore what is driving your anxiety (particularly if there is some kind of trauma like abuse or neglect involved). A professional can help you identify the underlying reasons and triggers and develop strategies to manage them.
The right interventions for you will depend on your unique circumstances but some general recommendations are:-
Find some exercise you enjoy and do it for 3 times a week for 30 minutes (even if it’s a brisk walk).
Try to find a way to incorporate meditation into your daily routine to bring some calm and more space between your thoughts (first thing in the morning works nicely).
Share how you feel with a professional or a few trusted and empathetic friends.
Visit the GP to rule out any underlying pathology.
Balance your blood sugar by cutting down refined simple carbohydrates such as sugary food and drinks (looking at breakfasts is a great place to start). Including a source of protein or fat in every meal will really help too. For example, if your thing is white toast and jam, swap to eggs or porridge, some milled nuts / seeds or cashew butter and a hand full of berries.
Add more fruit and vegetables into your diet which will naturally increase your fibre and micronutrient intake (improving your gut health).
Work with me to explore the common culprits above. You can book a free call with me at www.katherinehorstmann.com.
Just never dismiss that intuitive feeling that ‘something just isn’t right.’ We get too focused on ‘the diagnosis’ but it is so important to focus instead on health anxiety as ‘symptomatic’ of something bigger going on - you know where I am.
A great reference book to understand more about cognitive behavioural techniques to overcome health anxiety is ‘Overcoming Health Anxiety’ by Rob Willson and David Veale.
Read my case study about working with Sophie and her health anxiety