Thread by @vantae_mono, tw// anxietytw// suicide tw// health anxietywhy there should be more awareness for [...]

tw// anxiety
tw// suicide
tw// health anxiety

why there should be more awareness for health anxiety
a thread:

(my friend asked me to post this for her bc she was worried)

1. jokes about it need to stop

i’ve watched at least four tv shows just this year where there has been a character with health anxiety who is used for comedic effect and their health anxiety is used for comedic effect. yes i understand it can be funny to people who don’t

suffer with it like i get it, you just see these characters as dumb people who worry way too much about things and they’re easy to laugh at. now imagine you constantly think you have a variety of diseases and you think you’re dying ALL of the time.

it doesn’t seem so funny when you think about the long term effect that that could have on someone. spending every second of every day thinking about how painful the end of your life is going to be due to a disease you’re entirely certain you’ve got. that should explain why

a character with health anxiety should never be a dumb tv show joke.

and as someone with health anxiety seeing these comedic characters who ‘have it’ being laughed at puts such a big stigma on it which makes it so much harder to get help for fear of being laughed at and getting told you’re being stupid. it’s a mental illness not a joke.

2. there should be ways to toggle off potentially triggering content for someone with health anxiety

twitter is a perfect example here. the covid 19 tab that they have is such a trigger for me. i have muted the word on every single account i have but i cannot avoid that tab.

for perspective on how bad this can get, about a month ago i lay in bed and coughed twice. i ended up basically having a panic attack, having to spend a whole hour at 2am sat awake with the lights on in the company of my mom and sister and i couldn’t sleep until 5:30am.

i understand that the tab gives vital information and it helps people stay up to date with what is happening easily. yet, the fact that there is no way to toggle it off it’s extremely stressful and the effect it can have on someone like me is so huge.

there needs to be some way to hide this tab so that people with health anxiety can access the news about the virus when they feel okay enough to do so. i realise people might roll their eyes at this and think it’s dumb but honestly if i had the option to not be this way i would.

3. to end the stigma

going to the doctors with health anxiety is probably one of the hardest things i’ve ever done. whether it was because of the comical representation of the mental illness in media of whatever but i just felt as if i would be laughed at.

i already have just regular anxiety as well so i already thought that the doctor would just send me away and say i was making it up. yet, the fact that i felt as if i’d be wasting her time even though it was something that was literally ruining my life is so upsetting.

there is such a stigma around health anxiety that it makes it so hard for people with it to speak up and get help for fear of being laughed at or being told they’re being over dramatic. telling someone suffering with this that they’re being over dramatic is the worst thing ever.

4. so people who suffer can get help

like i said, going to the doctors with this is extremely nerve-wracking and even talking to family and friends is nerve-wracking. this isn’t something that just goes away after the doctor tells you you’re fine, or after a family member says +

you’re being stupid, this is constant. and it’s so hard to get help because people just write it off as a lesser illness or one that doesn’t effect people as much or one that’s just people looking for attention. i hate talking about this because i don’t wanna seem that way but

there have been times when i couldn’t even eat or drink because my body simply wouldn’t let me due to how bad the anxiety was. there were times when i didn’t sleep for more than 2 hours a night for almost four whole weeks. being in those situations whilst in school made my life +

feel like literal hell, i began failing some of my lessons because i literally couldn’t concentrate. i sat through some lessons and would just be zoned out thinking about all of the pains in my body and basically reciting articles about symptoms of bad illnesses and likening +

them to things i was feeling. there was no way for me to get out of the classroom or leave or find a way to talk to someone to get my mind off of it. i was literally stuck with the thought that i was imminently going to d*e in a school class with 30 other people.

and then trying to get referred to a counsellor and instead being referred to an online website that you had already tried which only had one article on health anxiety on the whole website. it just felt like i was never going to get better.

i remembered using the website before when i was in a very bad way and i was home alone. it took so long for me to find a live chat with a counsellor that i ended up feeling slightly better before i got through and then ending the chat before i spoke to anyone. this didn’t help

——

thank you for reading this, if others aren’t going to spread awareness i really want to do what i can so that hopefully other people never feel as bad as i did at my worst.

if anyone is reading this and is suffering from this all i can say is that it will get better. it won’t go away that’s for sure, you’ll still have to deal with it every single day and you’ll still have to avoid certain tv shows and things but you will be able to rationalise +

things better. the one thought that’s helped me the most is that everything that ever hurt i always thought, how many times have you thought you were going to d*e and have you died yet? no. so i hope that will help anyone suffering. also my dms are always open if u wanna talk !!

tw // suicide

hi sorry i don’t think the suicide trigger should be here bc i think she cut that part out !!

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