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br350
Hello everyone - I am so happy to have found this site. Can't believe with all my obsessive internet searching (smile) over the years, that I had not already stumbled across it.
I am a long time OCD sufferer with hypochondria as my main presentation. I am 44 and this began in my early 20's. I suffered from general anxieties and fears (sometimes intense) even as a child, but it really all coalesced after the sudden, unexpected death of my mother at the age of 41 (I was 20). After that, my health anxieties blossomed greatly and there began my road with depression (sometimes severe), anxiety, OCD and hypochondria.
Unlike some hypochondriacs, I do not doctor shop and I know that my illness fears are mainly rooted in my thought processes. I have been on/off medication for a number of years (currently on) and have resisted trying ERP because I feel that it does not address my basic, root fear of death and dying. After all, how can CBT help me to stop fearing death? Isn't that an instinctual, basic fear that we all possess (or most of us) to some degree? For me, it is just overwhelming and obviously unhealthy.
I am reading Dr. David Burns' book "When Panic Attacks" and feel I am ready to really try and give his CBT techniques a shot. I realize I have nothing to lose as I have already lost so many precious years in a state of worry and panic to the OCD.
I look forward to thoughts from others who have OCD/hypochondria. Particularly I am interested in knowing if ERP and CBT in general have helped you enough to go off medication and/or to have some semblance of proper perspective of your health fears.
Thanks in advance.
I am a long time OCD sufferer with hypochondria as my main presentation. I am 44 and this began in my early 20's. I suffered from general anxieties and fears (sometimes intense) even as a child, but it really all coalesced after the sudden, unexpected death of my mother at the age of 41 (I was 20). After that, my health anxieties blossomed greatly and there began my road with depression (sometimes severe), anxiety, OCD and hypochondria.
Unlike some hypochondriacs, I do not doctor shop and I know that my illness fears are mainly rooted in my thought processes. I have been on/off medication for a number of years (currently on) and have resisted trying ERP because I feel that it does not address my basic, root fear of death and dying. After all, how can CBT help me to stop fearing death? Isn't that an instinctual, basic fear that we all possess (or most of us) to some degree? For me, it is just overwhelming and obviously unhealthy.
I am reading Dr. David Burns' book "When Panic Attacks" and feel I am ready to really try and give his CBT techniques a shot. I realize I have nothing to lose as I have already lost so many precious years in a state of worry and panic to the OCD.
I look forward to thoughts from others who have OCD/hypochondria. Particularly I am interested in knowing if ERP and CBT in general have helped you enough to go off medication and/or to have some semblance of proper perspective of your health fears.
Thanks in advance.
