How do we handle hypochondria as a Christian? (Part 5: The Physical Life)
How to respond to physical symptoms
This is a part of a series on hypochondria. Today, we’re discussing the outer life.
I cannot do this series justice without talking about the very physical aspect of health anxiety: having actual symptoms. As the title of my favorite book on health anxiety puts it, it’s not all in your head. You can feel real things happening. And one thing I’ve learned through my research is that those who suffer from health anxiety generally have a bigger sensitivity to every sensation in their body.
So that means you can feel something that others experiencing the same thing might not be as in tune with. Because of that, I really do hope to equip us with as many practical tools as possible to minimize the noise we feel in our bodies.
1. CALMING
On that note, let’s start really simple. Start calling it noise, not pain. One thing that has really helped me through chronic pain that always leads to fears around my help is the book The Way Out and the app Curable.
In short, we are keeping our bodies in a fight-or-flight space the more we live in fear. Our bodies need to feel “safe” and not like a tiger is chasing them constantly. Our constant “what if this is serious/I’m dying” keeps us in panic mode.
Sending safe messages to your body sounds weird, but it’s basically just telling your brain to calm down and that you aren’t in danger. Add these phrases from The Way Out to your hypochondria journal:
You’re good. This is temporary. I’m going to be OK.
I’m safe, and my body is fine.
My brain thinks I’m in danger, but it’s just a false alarm.
Trust the process.
Perfectionists, listen closely to this part. Our desire to be right makes us cynics. We’d rather be right, so we predict failure because in a fallen world, it just feels like we have more chance of being right if we expect the worse. But that mindset also keeps us in flight-or-flight purgatory.
So, it shouldn’t surprise us when we have symptoms caused by stress that mimic actually dangerous symptoms.
Here are some symptoms in It’s Not All in Your Head
Upset stomach
Dizziness
Headache
Tingling or numbness
Shaking or trembling
Sweating
Insomnia
Fatigue
Stomach pain
Heart palpitations
Chest pain
And I’m just listing the ones I’ve personally experienced! There are so many others.
One of the most eye-opening parts of this journey was realizing how my stress and anxiety about my body were actually causing more symptoms. The sucky part is that doesn’t exactly reduce my stress. It makes me want to avoid it more, right? But that’s why we’re implementing not only new thoughts and habits but also lots of prayer.
One key is recognizing the types of stressors that affect us most. Not all are created equal. For this, I lean heavily on Saundra Dalton’s book Sacred Rest. In it, she shares 7 different types of rest that we need and to be honest, some chapters I skimmed through because it wasn’t my predominant struggle. Here are the types of rest
Physical
Mental
Emotional
Spiritual
Social
Sensory
Creative
But holy cow, the Sensory Rest chapter is covered in highlights. It’s where I feel the most overwhelmed. And that’s crucial for us to know because if I’m giving myself time to lay in bed but I’m still scrolling my phone while watching a show and working on emails, I will remain stressed.
Check out the book if you aren’t sure where you need the most rest.
2. ADDRESSING
As you notice new symptoms, it’s really easy to spiral, but there may be a really practical explanation for it that didn’t exactly rise to the surface when you started flailing.