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Disordered: Anxiety Help

I Get So Anxious When I'm Sick! (Episode 91)

Disordered: Anxiety Help

Josh Fletcher and Drew Linsalata

Health & Fitness, Mental Health

4.9665 Ratings

🗓️ 20 December 2024

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"When I am ill, my anxiety goes through the roof!"


Does this sound familiar? Many people struggling with disordered anxiety will say that if they get sick or feel unwell (i.e. a cold, a sore throat, the flu, etc.) they find that they are extremely anxious. If you experience this struggle, its not just you.


This week Drew and Josh are examining the mechanics behind your over-productive threat monitoring system and why being sick or unwell can often push you into high alert mode with your anxious mind constantly scanning, measuring, evaluating, and worrying about how you feel moment to moment.


Anxious people are generally terrible at tolerating discomfort and uncertainty, and that nasty sinus infection that has you down is probably also doing a good job of triggering both of those things.


Here's a spoiler alert (but listen anyway) ... choosing to actively involve yourself in persistent worry and body scanning and evaluating your safety when sick is not keeping you any safer or making you feel any better. Get the medical support you might need of course, but once you have your plan and you've DONE all you can do ... its time to practice tolerating that feeling of discomfort, the fear, and the uncertainty.

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Disordered Roundtables are here. Think of it as "Disordered Live", a way for members of our audience to spend time with us in an intimate virtual setting (attendance is limited) to engage in real time sharing and discussion on specific anxiety disorder and recovery topics. To be notified when new Disordered Roundtable sessions are scheduled, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠visit our homepage and get on our mailing list⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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Struggling with worry and rumination that you feel you can't stop or control? Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Worry and Rumination Explained⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, a two hour pre-recorded workshop produced by Josh and Drew. The workshop takes a deep dive into the mechanics of worrying and ruminating, offering some helpful ways to approach the seemingly unsolvable problem of trying to solve seemingly unsolveable problems.


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/worryrumination⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast?

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey, Josh and Drew. My name is Kara and I'm a fan from Germany. I've been listening to your

0:06.6

podcast for quite a while now and it has helped me a lot. I even listen to your podcast when I'm doing

0:11.7

well because you two always manage to make me laugh. On my bad days, your words, give me courage

0:17.3

to keep going because currently I'm not doing so well. I've been trying to avoid

0:21.5

getting sick for the past year because the thought of catching a cold with all its symptoms

0:26.8

and sensations scares me. Yeah, guess who's currently lying in bed with a cold? That's me.

0:33.6

I just wanted to ask about your thoughts with increased anxiety while dealing with being sick.

0:38.8

Is that a thing?

0:39.8

It's really, yeah, I don't know.

0:42.0

I'm really struggling with these sensations in my body, although they're completely normal.

0:46.2

And I should be able to catch a cold sometimes.

0:49.2

I hope you know what I mean.

0:51.4

Yeah.

0:52.3

Thank you for everything.

0:53.5

Bye.

0:54.8

Welcome to Disordered. This is episode 91 of the podcast entitled, I Am Afraid to Get Sick.

1:01.0

And we really mean get ill. So let's not confuse it with the metapophobia thing.

1:05.9

I am Drew Lynn Salada. I am a therapist practicing under supervision, treating anxiety and anxiety disorders in the

1:12.2

state of New York. I have no words this morning. Clearly, I'm stumbling. I am a three-time author on the

1:17.1

topic of anxiety and anxiety recovery, social media dude, psychoeducator, advocate, former sufferer,

1:22.8

but doing better now. And yeah, one of the co-hosts of this mind podcast i'm joshua fletcher also known as

1:30.2

anxiety josh and i'm a therapist and author and podcast co-host specializing in anxiety based in

...

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