worrier81

Scared of meningitis

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Hi y'all

So this past Monday I felt fine but later on in the day the back of my neck started to hurt and I'm not sure if it was from unknown straining of my neck when I was cleaning my house. I was ok on Tues and Wed and on Thursday and Friday I just felt tired and the back of my neck was sore again. Every  now and then I get dizzy or a slight headache.  Since Thursday which was the first time I checked my body temperature has been at fluctuating from 98.6 to 99.4 F. And I've also been obsessed with checking my temp since Thursday. 

I happened to Google neck tension, headache and low grade fever and meningitis pops up. OMG! I am literally freaking out right now. I'm also tired...but that could be because I'm not getting enough sleep or sleeping good. 

Can anyone give me insight? Please. 

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Can you see the mistake you have made here? 

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Mark is right. I used to Google but I learned from this site never Google your symptoms that will just heighten your anxiety.

You said you may have strained your neck cleaning. You have not been sleeping well. Lastly it could just be anxiety. 

 

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1 hour ago, worrier81 said:

Yes. Unfortunatel, It's a problem.

It is but the good thing is, you are aware of it.  Thats really important.  Dr Google has a lot of information and sites like WebMD contain lots of medical conditions and apparent diagnostic aids but the reality is, this information is interpreted incorrectly and at times purposefully.  Worst case scenario's are purposely high up in the search results and the reason for this is, it keeps us coming back just like you are and because we do, they monetize  the website.  This information is suggestion filled.  It's like a wonderful candy store to a sweet toothed anxiety.  Every symptom under the sun is described in full detail on these sites starting from the very worst and less likely illnesses with actual probabilities like a sore muscle buried deep within the webpage, almost non findable.  Your instinct, as was mine, was to go searching these sites for reassurance, for that one piece of information that rings true, that answers your questions, that puts you at ease.  Ask yourself this though.  If that actually happened and you got the reassurance you needed, your question was answered, how long would it be before you discarded that information as being wrong and went on the search again? Id say maybe a day, perhaps two.  Anxiety does not like answers, it likes fear and for as long as it can create doubt in your mind and fear in your mind, it will.  This is why Dr Googling symptoms is not only futile, it's beneficial to a suggestible mindset and a fear hungry, healthy anxiety.

You're aware that you're in an addiction to on-line symptom checking so the next stage is to try and ween yourself off it, to cut off some of the energy anxiety needs to continue.  Start to do this by recognizing and noticing when you feel the urge to check.  Feel that crave and instead of opening a web page, stand up and take a walk into the kitchen and get a drink.  The crave will still be there and it may be quite intense but thats ok, let it be there, you do not need to act on it.  All craves last around 5 minutes so if you can get through it then great.  Continue to do this, you're not depriving yourself, you're depriving anxiety and that can only be a positive thing.

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Thank you so much Mark G. ? do you have any thoughts about self checking? Because I have checked my temperature at least 20 times today. 

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Hi Worrier! I used to obsessively check my blood pressure. One day I realized all the time I wasted on doing this, and realized it had become an obsession that is not doing me any good. 

So by realizing that it was the first step to freedom. I just slowly let it go, not wanting to live like that, always circling in my mind about health and creating more anxiety for myself. When the urge hit I just accepted it was there but did not act on it. Overtime it completely disappeared. I promise you, you can do this as well. If I can you can! Let us know how it goes please. 

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10 hours ago, worrier81 said:

do you have any thoughts about self checking? Because I have checked my temperature at least 20 times today. 

Self checking is exactly the same as symptom checking online.  You're consciously trying to take control of your body general workings which all run unconsciously.  Your body already has the mechanisms for checking, it does this every second of every day and you are not even aware of it.  So checking is just adding fear based, irrational input into a system that doesn't really need it.  This is the overlap where anxiety sits, like a bear in the rapids hooking up salmon for dinner.  Apply the same rule for this as you do for Dr Googling, accept the crave and make more drinks :)

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