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How Can I Treat Severe Hypochondria Without Medication?

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Posted on Tue, 18 Mar 2014
Question: How can i treat severe hypochondria without medication?
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Answered by Dr. K. V. Anand (44 minutes later)
Brief Answer: Request more details please. Detailed Answer: Dear, I understand your concerns. Hypochondria or hypochondriasis is often called health anxiety. Anxiety about health where one has fear that he/she has some serious illness and it is critical. You know it now and you have the wise decision making ability. Like every other anxiety disorder, health anxiety also has some presumptions and obsessions. You have to overcome these first. Initially it may sound tough. As time passes these become habit and you are done. I need many other details to prescribe psychotherapy for you. Your family background, hardships faced in life, family illnesses, when this started etc etc. Please provide as many details as possible in the follow up question. I assure you relief without medication if you practice these methods tirelessly. Follow up as soon as possible. Dr K V Anand
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad
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Follow up: Dr. K. V. Anand (22 hours later)
When i was 29 years old i had a check up routine examination and i had an ecg done where it was told to me that i have a rbbb (conduction abnormality in heart) which may be benign or a serious symptom of another cardiovascular event. I went and saw almost 4 doctors when that happened and all told me that this ecg pattern may be seen in otherwise young and healthy and in my case its benign. I couldnt sleep for months without thinking of it and kept online looking for answers and researching on the internet . I would get to my office at work and do nothing work related and start studying ecg partterns to understand better my sick XXXXXXX I would ask questions online and became very afraid that i would live a very short life. 5 years passed and during those 5 years a friend of mine died in a car accident and strangely i became attached to his wife and children and we are about to get married. I was so irrelevant to my health and ecg discovery that i even took up smoking and was kind of living a good life with occasional depression but mostly i am ok. Also during those 5 years i started to exercise and travel and seemed my life was ok. Recently after stumbling upon an article of rbbb of a study coppenhagen heart city study where it says that rbbb is no longer can be considered an innocent finding even with young individuals i became so worried and started doing tests again and became crazy doing research online at least 8 hrs a day .. I feel worried all the time as if im surprised to wake up the next day.. I am very sad of my condition and its ruining my life knowing that i have a defect in my heart although all doctors i met which by this time now more than 10 all cleared me to exercise and still say that my condition is benign and might be considered a normal variant ecg pattern. I want my life back i want to exercise and be happy i feel like my life is ruined expecially that i cant believe doctors anymore and i feel they give you positive outlook on my disease when in fact the prognosis is not that good and i may live a short life. I have stopped smoking also stopped everything and i feel i am devoted to living like i am 'clinically living' not taking any risks .. Always scared and worried about myself and others. How can i start to believe doctors ? When i find researches and material that contradicts their affirmations that my case is benign??? I am very tired but at the same time i dont want to take medicine
doctor
Answered by Dr. K. V. Anand (1 hour later)
Brief Answer: You can become a new man. You can have new birth. Detailed Answer: Dear Nice to hear from you again. You know why you are behaving like this. 1. You do not trust your doctors. 2. You are worrying unnecessarily about your heart condition. As you know the reasons of your hypochondria, you should have known the way with which you can come out of the condition. A right bundle branch block (RBBB) is a defect in the heart's electrical conduction system.During a right bundle branch block, the right ventricle is not directly activated by impulses traveling through the right bundle branch. No significant change in the rhythm of heart happens and no abnormalities found. This condition could even be found in healthy individuals. So many researches were conducted about rbbb and the dangers found was almost nothing. You can live your life perfectly as every other individual does. You can exercise, eat good food etc etc. My father too had rbbb throughout his life, first noticed at the age of 32. He died at the age 82. You told me that you do not trust your doctors. You should not think in that way. As human beings, we do not know what is happening inside our body, about defects, diseases and so many things. Doctors can only help you. If you do not trust one doctor, find another whom you can trust and stick to him. He will take care of you. Running from doctor to doctor increases your doubts because everyone thinks in different way and talks different even though the underlying fact is same, and that is human nature. (for eg: take 10 people to a waterfall and ask them to describe. Even though the waterfall is same, all ten will describe in 10 different ways). As We have logic, we have to trust our doctor. GOD WILL NOT COME AND TELL YOU THAT YOU ARE SAFE. Doctors takes god's position here. There are lot of people in this world, who lives with life threatening cardiac diseases. other life threatening diseases such as cancer, TB, kidney troubles, liver problems, hormonal imbalances etc. They knew it. They do not care. They live as if they do not have that problem. This has been made possible just by their way of thinking. POSITIVE THINKING. Ask them and they will say "YES, I HAVE A PROBLEM, I KNOW, SO WHAT, I MAY DIE TOMORROW, BUT I CANNOT RUIN MY LIFE TODAY THINKING ABOUT TOMORROW'S DEATH". That is it. In another way - Even though we do not have any disease, we all should die one day or other. That is imminent. We all know it. How many of us are worried about tomorrow's death and ruin today's life? If somebody is worried about his tomorrow (which is totally uncertain, no body knows what might happen, and of course, god is not going to tell you) Then he is a fool. Same thing is applicable for our body and diseases. No body knows what will happen to our body tomorrow, nothing about diseases, everything is uncertain. Even seemingly healthy individuals die suddenly due to accidents, heart failure etc. Any answers? So worrying about uncertain things about tomorrow is pure foolishness and you are behaving in that manner. FOOLISHLY. Pardon me for being too rude. But that is the reality. You should come out of that attitude. I shall prescribe some techniques. Do it sincerely and you shall be cleared of hypochondriasis within months. 1. You need to learn relaxation. Sit comfortably on ground or chair. Close your eyes. Inhale slowly. Count 3. Exhale slowly. Count 3. Do not strain your lungs or any body parts. Just relax and do it. Repeat the cycle for 20 minutes. Don't worry about thoughts. Let it go anywhere. Try to bring it back slowly to the present and watch your breathing. Do the breathing exercise 20 minutes twice daily for one month and you can do once a day then. This is called "mindfullness". 2. Immediately after the relaxation breathing, feel yourself relaxed, say yourself that you are relaxed, then say to yourself - MY BODY IS PERFECT. I DO NOT HAVE ANY PROBLEMS. I SHALL NOT MIND ABOUT DISEASES. I AM HOPEFUL. GOD SHALL HELP ME. (Remember this is not prayer. After relaxation, your body comes to a hypnosis stage. What ever you say in this stage, will be accepted by your unconscious mind. So use your language properly. You can add or delete more positive statements as you wish). 3. Exercise is the key. Do exercise every day for 45 minutes. We all know that exercise keeps us healthy. The exercises are reassurances of your health. Your mind feels satisfied. I AM DOING EXERCISES MEANS I AM HEALTHY. EXERCISES MAKE ME HEALTHY. 4. Hypochondriasis is health anxiety. Anxiety needs lots and lots of oxygen and lots of water. Breathing exercises gives you oxygen. Do deep breathing whenever you are aware of yourself and drink lots of water. 5. Stand in front of a mirror and address you as YOU. Say positive statements about your health. "You are healthy. You are perfect, You are handsome. You do not have to worry about anything. Everything shall be taken care of by the almighty because you are doing your karma." Always address the mirror image YOU, not ME. 6. Learn to imagine that you are happy, that you do not have any problem. 7. Work hard. Once you be busy in your work, naturally you will not have time to think. At night, due to exercise, relaxation and hard work you sleep well, again no time to think. Thinking is your enemy. (Thinking during relaxation exercise is an exception and that will do good for you). STOP THINKING for the time being. BE BUSY. Practice these seven techniques every day without fail. Make these a habit. Once these become a habit, the old habit of unnecessary thinking and sitting idle goes away. Then you become a new man. You have a new birth. I BELIEVE, WHEN PEOPLE STARTS TALKING TO ME, THEY TAKE A NEW BIRTH. Dr K V Anand PhD
Note: For further guidance on mental health, Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E
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Answered by
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Dr. K. V. Anand

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Practicing since :1993

Answered : 7324 Questions

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How Can I Treat Severe Hypochondria Without Medication?

Brief Answer: Request more details please. Detailed Answer: Dear, I understand your concerns. Hypochondria or hypochondriasis is often called health anxiety. Anxiety about health where one has fear that he/she has some serious illness and it is critical. You know it now and you have the wise decision making ability. Like every other anxiety disorder, health anxiety also has some presumptions and obsessions. You have to overcome these first. Initially it may sound tough. As time passes these become habit and you are done. I need many other details to prescribe psychotherapy for you. Your family background, hardships faced in life, family illnesses, when this started etc etc. Please provide as many details as possible in the follow up question. I assure you relief without medication if you practice these methods tirelessly. Follow up as soon as possible. Dr K V Anand