Obsessive Thoughts!

I also suffer from hypochondria, it is horrible to go day to day and have no answers to why you feel a certain way. Especially when those around you may feel you're jut being dramatic.

My doctor has many a time offered to fully hook me up to a heart and brain monitor so I can see my vitals and brain activity myself, and she explains everything that happens to me and how it happens to other people. If this is something your doctor is willing to do this it can be incredibly helpful to have someone show you with definite proof that you are okay.

As for advice, counseling is very helpful with this type of thing. Anxiety is very hard to deal with and hypochondria is a type of anxiety.

This is all coming from someone with a family history of massive heart failure before the age of 40 along with early onset arthritis, and a father with two sub-types of schizophrenia and being at the age that schizophrenia starts to show symptoms. I truly hope it gets better for you <3

 

It's probably not hypochondria but I do tend to have obsessive episodes when I get really wound up. I won't be able to stop thinking about whatever it is for days and I have trouble sleeping because I fixate on stuff.

Not fun. Condolences, buddy. What helps me is distracting myself. Do something repetitive that keeps your hands and mind busy.

 

I share my life with obsessive thoughts. I'm gaining more custody of the peaceful side of my mind, but they come back and haunt me at 3am. It's believed that it is from PTSD, though I don't have a diagnosis.

Unfortunately, I don't have much advice. Maybe try to find a therapist. Take care of yourself. Do whatever comforts you as much as possible. If that's watching kids movies, praying or cuddling - take control of what you can and comfort yourself. That's what has helped me I guess. *hugs

 

Lately, I've been thinking about death a lot.

Not to the point it consumes me, but more than I usually do. While I don't shy away from the topic, it is usually a more backseat focus. However, I have been pondering about my life, where I am going, what I have done, and the type of memories I'll leave behind. My birthday was last Tuesday, and every year, for the past several years, I always spend a few hours reflecting on my life. I suspect this may have unleashed the flood gate of thoughts, which pertain to death.

As for advice on how to deal with obsessive thoughts. You can try and take your mind off of them, but if they truly are obsessive, they'll just lay dormant for a while, and resurface later. You can try and discuss them with a trusted individual, but unless this individual can relate or help, this will have limited remedy. A third option is to just face the thoughts, as in, look into them, study them, pretty much, indulge in them so much that, eventually, you get sick of it. But this requires a pretty strong will, because the process can be maddening.

I tend to meditate, which helps control and organize my thoughts. Meditation also allows me to, when necessary, face various emotions and situations. I draw from within myself, basically, and allow myself to sooth and, if need be, conceal any thoughts or feelings. If possible, I try and push them out, usually into something productive, like writing or art. Pushing them out in general, is being inconsiderate of others, since I am a firm believer in karma. Sure, it sounds silly, but I think it's nice to, well, want to be nice and considerate of others.

 

I think a lot about sex, romance.

some weeks i obsess about my desire to be female.

 

OP: Hypochondria is not amusing and people who live with it are often dismissed and ridiculed, which doesn't help at all. I'm sorry to hear that you are struggling with the anxiety and stress that comes with hypochondria.

One of the most positive things I took from your posting is the acknowledgement/acceptance that hypochondria is in fact a mental illness. If you have any chance whatsoever of overcoming the often irrational and obsessive thoughts, it begins with accepting that important point. Well done (and I don't mean that in a patronising way).

Have you discussed your thoughts and feelings with a qualified health professional at all? I'm wondering if there has been some past event that has caused you to become unduly anxious about your health now? If you could, with support, identify some causative factor it may help a great deal.

Developing a relationship with a trusted and sympathetic health professional who can offer support and allay fears and concerns has got to be the starting point in helping you overcome this condition and that's why I asked if you have already been down this route. CBT, may be beneficial, especially as you are accepting this as a mental health condition, but you would need to speak to a Doctor first. I'd say that's your first step.

Hope you can find a way forward with this.

 

Had them awhile back. My thoughts were horrible, but I went on medication and went to therapy (which I am sill in). I learned to try and distract myself and not feed into the thoughts meaning give it fuel. The more attention you give them, the more intense they will become. I once told he doctor I had kind of like a devil and an angel on my shoulder. One telling me to do harm and the other one saying don't.

 

Most of the LGBT people ive met are like OP describes.. Its the most familiar personality type to me. I have alot of it, not hypochondria, but i have to do something over and over, usually it is when im feeling disordered, like something has not gone my way.

When im doing good though, i usually just shrug such things off and find something to do and after that i quickly forget about it and its gone for good until it happens again.

 

I have obsessive thoughts like that, in regards to what I eat. I feel like if I eat the wrong thing, I'll get a stroke or heart attack prematurely :/.