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СпутникиРНSpaceXРоскосмосNASACurious what has worked for others who have intense health anxiety that is resistant to most coping mechanisms (detailed inside).*Please note that I already take psych medications and am in therapy*
My health anxiety (which bothers me 24/7, manifesting in both mental worry and physical symptoms) doesn't respond at all to: paced breathing, visualization, listening to guided meditation or music, distraction, or doing vigorous physical activity or progressive muscle relaxation. It occasionally subsides with an extreme temp change like a scalding hot bath or dunking my head in ice, but not always - and it's also difficult to do these things in public (a splash of cold water in a bathroom or a handful of ice from a coffee shop won't cut it, I must be immersed).
While many people have health anxiety related to the symptoms of panic attacks (they believe they are having a heart attack or similar), this is not the case with mine. I worry about my cancer coming back as terminal (which is about a 50/50 chance, so not a remote possibility). I understand my anxiety as my nervous system responding to an actual threat to my life, and I think this is why most suggestions about how to manage it don't work, as they assume the threat is not real. I also believe that my anxiety exists alongside PTSD from my initial diagnosis, and obsessive/intrusive thoughts about recurrence (for this reason, I'm doing EMDR and exposure therapy, although thinking of quitting after no improvement in 6 months).
I have high insight into my feelings, and have practiced a great deal of CBT and DBT skills, but am still really struggling. I have no appetite and spend most of the time trembling like a frightened prey animal. The best word to describe it is terror.
I'd love to know how others have recovered, especially if the anxiety is related to a prior serious medical diagnosis (either in yourself or a loved one).