No one knows our bodies better than we do. They are a wonder if you think about it. God made us from dust, but the human body is so intricate, with all its parts moving in perfect rhythm. Our minds wake us up in the morning; our muscles and bones get us out of bed. Our heart and lungs keep us going throughout the day. Everything works like a well-oiled machine.
Until it doesn’t. All of a sudden, things hurt or just feel different. While a lot of it can be explained as “just getting older,” we know when something isn’t right. That feeling can cause a lot of anxiety, especially when Google tells you that someone with your exact symptoms died of stage IV cancer that no one caught. Rationally, you know your headache is just a headache, but irrationally, you know it’s a tumor. Coping with medical anxiety can be debilitating, but I’m here to (hopefully) help!
I’ve had my own bursts of medical anxiety and felt it for my kids and pets. For the last couple of years, I’ve been on an autoimmune journey. We still don’t know what’s wrong with me and may never have a real diagnosis, but my symptoms are better. In the beginning of the journey (calling it a journey makes it sound like more of a mythical quest than a medical mystery of uncertainty), I had a lot of trouble coping with medical anxiety.
Fast forward to now, even without an official diagnosis, I’m doing a lot better physically and mentally. But my story made me think about how people with medical anxiety aren’t okay. There are a lot of unknowns out there. Anxiety LOVES the unknown because that’s what it uses to torture us. We’re not going to let it anymore.
What is Illness Anxiety Disorder
For those coping with medical anxiety, there is hope for you. Since I’m no expert, I went back to Very Well Mind and found an article by Lisa Fritscher who wrote about this very topic. It’s way more common than we think. I’m going to go over some of her information, but please check out her article for a lot more detail than what I could possibly go into. A lot of the information was new to me.
What is it?
You’ve probably heard the term hypochondriac. Did you know that it was no longer a politically correct term? I sure didn’t! Ms. Fritscher explains that hypochondriac has such a negative connotation that now we call it Illness Anxiety Disorder or IAD. It’s a condition known for an excessive fear that something is medically or physically wrong, often even after a medical professional has ruled out the feared diagnosis. Sufferers of IAD may have mild or no physical symptoms, but the fear is so real that it can disrupt daily life.
Symptoms can include:
Obsessively searching symptoms online
Fear that physical sensations, even normal ones, are caused by something serious
Anxious awareness of minor symptoms like headaches or joint pain
Making doctor’s appointments to check on normal body functions
Significant anxiety over the possibility of getting sick
Avoiding places because of a fear of getting sick
What causes it?
While no single cause has been found, like most mental illnesses, mental health professionals have found a wide variety of contributing factors:
Having a medical condition
History of trauma, abuse, or neglect as a child
History of illness as a child
Stress
Presence of symptoms that could suggest a serious health issue.
Coping with Medical Anxiety
Ms. Fritscher writes that there are ways to make coping with medical anxiety easier. As always, it’s a good idea to speak to a therapist or other mental health professional, especially if you’re finding that IAD is affecting your quality of life. While you’re waiting to talk to your therapist, Ms. Fritscher offers three tips to make the wait easier.
Avoid unhelpful information
We’ve all Googled symptoms before and scared ourselves. Even as a nurse, I’ve fallen into this trap plenty of times. In our world of instant gratification, we live in a near-constant state of information overload. We want answers now! So, a quick Google search or put our symptoms into whatever AI app gives us those answers. The problem is that it’s probably doing more harm than good.
It’s so easy for a computer algorithm to pinpoint what could cause a symptom, but that one symptom is rarely the whole story. The Internet doesn’t know everything about your case, so interpreting a single symptom won’t give you an accurate diagnosis. Doctors run tests before coming up with an answer. God made our bodies incredibly complex. Every organ system is supposed to work together. But we’re SO hard on our bodies. We replace sleep with caffeine, work too hard, sleep too little, and we’re constantly stressed and overstimulated. Then we wonder why we don’t feel well.
Think of anything online, anything your neighbor (unless they are a health professional), or the news as unhelpful information for you. All it’s going to do is increase your anxiety, which is the exact opposite of what we’re trying to do in this post. Avoid the info that is unhelpful at best and harmful at worst.
Lower your stress
Stress is killing us. It’s hard to avoid; we stress about work, money, family, traffic, illness, and every potential problem that may (but probably won’t) happen. We all know the negative effects of stress, but it’s not an easy thing to turn off. Still, it’s worth it to find ways to try to manage said stress. Things like prayer, journaling, meditating, reading, exercising, and working on hobbies are all great ways to reduce stress
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the last of Ms. Fritscher’s recommendations. If you’re unfamiliar with mindfulness, it’s basically allowing all your thoughts to come, but then dismissing the harmful ones. The more we try to ignore those negative thoughts, the more power they have. Acknowledging them brings them out into the open so that we can swat them when they’re still in their infancy.
Reality Check
I could tell you over and over again that you’re not sick. But coping with medical anxiety, just like the aforementioned stress, is not as easy as flipping a switch. The fact remains that no amount of worrying/stress/anxiety is actually going to change anything. But what it does do is rob you of the joy and peace that God wants our lives to be filled with.
I say all that knowing full well that you already know that, too. Anxiety rarely makes sense. Most of the time, you know that anxiety is irrational. You would turn it off if you could. But there are things you can do to give anxiety less power over you. Like we talked about earlier, prayer, mindfulness, and journaling can be very helpful for anxiety in any form. See below for a few products from Amazon that could help you.
This journal from Clever Fox is all about helping you find the peace you deserve. I love Clever Fox products because they fight against all those negative emotions with guided prompts.
This set of Biblical affirmation cards is great for getting you into a mindset of gratitude and positivity. They give you a starting point to pray, your ultimate weapon against all kinds of anxiety.
These prayer cards are great for anyone who wants to strengthen their prayer muscles. One side has a Bible verse, and the other side has a corresponding prayer.
Back to Clever Fox (I can’t help it, I love them!), this journal focuses on anxiety relief. With helpful prompts and fun stickers, this journal gives you a great tool to explore your anxiety and fight back against it.
Another Clever Fox journal, this one focuses on prayer. It’s a 6-month journal that prompts you to pray and be grateful. It will help you study the Bible and find the peace God wants you to have.
Please remember that there is no shame in getting help for anxiety. I honestly think everyone would benefit from seeing a therapist. For more coping tips on anxiety, please read this post I wrote a while back about fighting back against that bully.
Why Coping with Medical Anxiety is Possible, Even for You!
Coping with medical anxiety makes it hard to live your life to the fullest. Remember to tell yourself that that headache is most likely harmless. Take care of yourself to the best of your ability. Sleep well. Eat well. Exercise. Reduce stress whenever you can. Any time anxiety, depression, or any mental illness starts to take over your life, you owe it to yourself to fight back. Remember that God never wanted us to be worried, anxious or fearful. Trust Him to take care of you like He has all your life. He loves you. You’re healed, whole and so very precious to Him.
~All my love!