Does Anxiety Recovery Mean NEVER Calling A Doctor? (Podcast Ep 240)

Hey there I’m Drew and you are listening to or watching the anxious truth. The Anxious Truth is a podcast that covers all things: anxiety, anxiety disorders, and anxiety recovery.

So if you’re struggling with things like panic, attacks, agoraphobia, OCD, or health anxiety, this is the place for you.

You know anxious.

People often get wrapped up in what’s going on in their bodies, And they spend a lot of time, interacting with doctors being checked, examined, and tested to try to be 100 sure that they’re okay and that they’re safe.

So one of the common confusing issues and common questions that comes up as part of anxiety recovery is Drew.

Are you telling me that I’m never supposed to call a doctor ever again? I’m never allowed to be checked out.

Well, I understand the confusion And that’s a good question that deserves to be answered.

So let’s do that today, Hello, everybody! Welcome back to the anxious truth.

This is episode 240 of the podcast 240.

We are recording in early January of 2023, So this is the first podcast of 2023. If you’re listening in the present Happy New Year, if you’re listening in the future, Hello future, how are the flying cars Anyway? I am Drew Linsalata creator and host of the Anxious Truth And I’m happy that you are here.

We are going to get into the very common question today, Which is: does a recovery person, never mind, never supposed to get checked out when I feel something, the answer to that is, of course, you’re allowed to get checked out, But before we get Into the details, I just want to remind you that the anxious truth is more than just this.

Podcast episode There were 239 podcast episodes before this while free there’s a ton of free social media content, And there are three books that I’ve written on anxiety and anxiety, and recovery that are helping 10s of 1000s of people around the world.

I’m super proud of that.

There is a monthly webinar.

I do under stress tolerance with my friend anxiety, specialist joined, hardest Cleveland Ohio.

All of those resources can be found on my website at the anxious truth.

Com Go check it out scroll through the site, see what’s out there avail yourself of all the resources there’s, good stuff there So take advantage of all of it.

Most of it is free.

The books cost some money, and the webinar cost some money, but it’s all good stuff. And if you are enjoying my work and I’m helping you in some way all the ways to support this work, both financially and otherwise, are on my website.

At the anxious truth, com support So go check that out, if you’re so inclined, financial support is always appreciated.

Never required, however, the way you support this work, whether we’re just listening or being part of the community like a video here and there.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate that So let’s get into today,’s topic So for people who have anxiety, that is laser-focused on their health and that takes two forms: either immediate health threat.

In the face of high anxiety or panic, your panic symptoms must be dangerous or a longer-term health threat, people who have more health-focused OCD, or health anxiety where are concerned about developing some sort of disease or problem that may or may not be a problem down.

The road, Regardless for people who are fixated on their health who are in the habit of accessing medical care and medical services, far more frequently and repetitively than the average person.

This can become a problem because it becomes very restrictive and impactful on lifestyle.

So they wind up in this crazy push-pull thing where their fear tells them to continually go to the doctor, whether it’s urgent and you wind up in an ambulance or an emergency room or whatever You might call it urgent care or an e.

In the UK you know you guys say in an e-mail or you’re just constantly calling your general practitioner and you’re constantly bringing new symptoms and you’re constantly bringing new worries. You know my ear hurt yesterday.

Does that mean that I have brain cancer? I need to be tested.

I want an MRI done So the way you access medical care may be different, depending on your particular type of health.

Anxiety focuses on whether it’s more in the moment or longer term, but it becomes repetitive, and it becomes compulsive.

It becomes a cycle that you’re struggling to stop.

It becomes impactful in a negative way on your lifestyle.

It may be impactful in a negative way in your relationships with your friends and your families, your romantic partners, So then it becomes a problem Because the push-pull is my fear is telling me that I’m supposed to do this, to keep myself safe, That Your your health anxiety, your fear, will argue that No, no.

This is completely justified Because it’s health, It’s the most important thing in the world.

I can take a risk, But on the flip side, the cycle that you get caught in starts to ruin your life to a certain degree.

So you want to defend your actions, but you have a hard time defending them. So the recovery process is the process of moving from that very extreme relationship with medical care and medical services, Where it is repetitive, it’s frantic it’s urgent, it’s compulsive it’s cyclical.

You can’t break the cycle to a more normal access and a more normal and mainstream, and we say normal.

We’re just going to use numbers As the majority of people access, medical services and medical care a certain way right?

We all live under the same health uncertainties every single day, every human being has uncertainty about their health every single day.

That is true And if you haven’t listened to podcast episodes, number 149 and 104.

You should go back and listen to those because they talked about this, But all of us live with some measure of health uncertainty and risk every single day of our lives every day, just that we take that risk and interact with our medical systems and medical care.

In a different way than you do So when we are in the recovery process – and you’re trying to break the cycle of that extreme repetitive, cyclical, compulsive, urgent frantic accessing of medical care, you’re just you’re not trying to eliminate ever interacting With the medical system, ever You’re just trying to get back into the way sort of people without these problems access medical care right.

So we all accept a certain amount of risk.

We’re just going to have to live with it.

We cannot bring it down to zero. There’s no amount of medical care in the world that can bring our risk to zero.

We understand that and we have to live with that risk.

You aren’t learning to get there, Whereas now you’re attempting to go to 0 risk And that’s where episode 149.

The podcast goes into this in much more detail, So it’s not that you’re never allowed to access medical care again.

So when people say am, is it wrong?

Am I doing recovery wrong? If I call the doctor, no, you’re not doing recovery wrong.

If you call the doctor, if you aren’t legitimately ill, if you are legitimately injured, you have a new thing that’s popped up.

That is causing some sort of impairment.

You don’t feel well Yeah it’s.

You’re allowed to call the doctor that that’s – okay, Nobody’s ever going to tell you that you should never call the doctor. That would be ridiculous, irresponsible advice! I am not telling you to never get checked out that would that would not be cool.

Who would tell you that, Certainly not me? I mean I can only speak for me, but I’m not telling you that what we are working on is how am I calling to get checked out? Why am I calling to get checked out? How often am I calling to get checked out And when I do get checked out, How willing Am I to be okay with the results of that checking, Or do we go back and do it again And again And again And again That’s, Where things go off the rails, So if you have a new symptom people, ask this all the time.

Well, the new symptom popped up.

Okay! Well, how do you make your decisions on what you do So, if you’re driven by your anxiety symptoms and you think that they are immediately dangerous to you, people ask Well: how am I supposed to deal with that? A new symptom, Okay? Well, you can.

This is what you can do.

You can say alright.

Well, you are allowed.

You can call the doctor, you can go to the ER, you can go to the a e you’re allowed to make that choice.

That will be impactful.

So there is some consequence for doing that, But you’re allowed to make that choice. So you have to look at your pattern.

How often have I done this before? Okay? This is a thing I’ve never felt before, But I also see a ton of other people talk about this particular symptom.

So am I, is it impairing me right now, Or am I worried that it might impair me in an hour? So can I wait 10 minutes before I call for help That’s one way to approach this Right? Can I wait 10 minutes if I’m still standing in 10 minutes? You know, then I’m less likely that I probably need to be rescued medically right now And if things change in that 10-minute time, then I can reach out for help.

So that would be one way to say: yes, you’re still allowed to access medical care, but you want to start to modify the way you do it.

How does somebody else do it And if my pattern is that I immediately go to that as my first thing right away, And I look back and say you know, I was really afraid And that’s why I called an ambulance.

I was really afraid, And that’s why I sat down and Googled this symptom.

I didn’t Google, the symptom, because I was passed out.

I wouldn’t been able to Google the symptom.

I was Googling the symptom because I was afraid that I was going to pass out, So I googled – or I called an ambulance, See the difference.

So you can look at your patterns and try to make your decisions based on those patterns as best you can. I keep doing this and it keeps turning out to be nothing Or you can say yeah, but I can’t take that chance.

I better do it again And you have a right to do that, But it puts you in a no-win situation where it’s really hard to say.

Well, I want to recover from this.

This is negatively impacting my life, my relationships, my job, my everything, But I also want to recover at the same time that I will continue to be able to argue that I must do these things.

You can’t have both.

So it’s important to recognize that Now, if you’re healthy anxiety, is a little bit longer term and focused Like I don’t know, I’m fixated that I might have cancer.

I’m fixated that I’m developing this disease or that there’s some disease.

They haven’t noticed before, or it’s hard to diagnose And you keep going back again and again and again to look for symptoms and research and call a doctor and ask again and go get another checkup and see a specialist And get a chant and you’re doing that sort of access.

Again, you can start to change that and move it a little bit more toward the center.

If you will, You’re on the end of the spectrum now, So how would my friends and my family do this? What would you guys do? Well, you know: is there a problem right now? No, but I’m really. Why can’t stop thinking about okay? Well, there’s your clue.

I can’t stop thinking about it.

Do you want to call the doctor again Based on what you’re thinking, Or do you want to call the doctor based on what’s going on in reality, And in that case you’re playing.? Can I wait three days in this discomfort in this fear in this uncertainty in this feeling of recklessness and irresponsibility I’m going na.

Let it go.

I’m going to roll the dice for three days.

Can I do that Maybe, that would be a way to move toward more mainstream access to medical care and medical services right?

So again you are allowed to call the doctor.

Just how are you doing it? Are you doing it the way you’ve? Always done it, that has put you in a bit of a bad place to the point where you’re listening to this podcast.

Or do you want to change the way you do that and make it a little bit more in line with what a nonanxious person would do, So I have to address the the elephant in the room here, which would be? Is it possible that you are taking on additional risk when you do it that way? So if you decide, I can’t stop thinking about stomach cancer.

I better call the doctor today And you decide okay, you know what I got to change this. So I’m going to wait a week.

Is there some possibility, which might be point – oh 1, that you do have stomach cancer and you will have lost a week in diagnosis, Yeah yeah that’s a possibility.

If you are certain that you’re your dizziness, you’re, anxiety, dizziness or disequilibrium, is something wrong, Even though you’ve been told 15 times by four different doctors, that nothing is wrong And it is an anxiety symptom.

Is there a risk? If you say I’m not going to go to the ER this time, I’m not going to go to the e this time.

I’m not going to call the doctor this time.

Are you increasing your risk? Yeah? Truly, you are that’s, true, You are increasing it by such a tiny amount that a nonanxious person would be okay with that roll of the dice To me that feels like an inconsequential roll of the dice I’ll take those odds For you.

It seems like that is unacceptable.

So please remember that you will feel that way.

You will feel that this is a completely irresponsible decision.

Well wait a minute if I don’t So you’re telling me I’m allowed to call the doctor Yep. You’re allowed to call the doctor, But you’re telling me that I might have to wait awhile.

That might be one way to do that.

But if I wait then I might be missing something correct.

I don’t have any more for you on that Right?

So if I’m dizzy – and I don’t call you – I don’t go to the ER.

What if they miss something that can happen, if I’m wrong this time, That is possible, But again a nonanxious person would say um.

Well, I can take that risk, Because the risk is so small.

You just think it’s.

Huge So again I keep telling you you go back to Episode 149.

Please go back and listen to that, Because what I might consider a point, oh 1, the chance of disaster because they feel dizzy on an anxious day. You think is a 60 chance of disaster, So that’s what you’re trying to do That’s.

What you have to move through that that podcast episode talks more about that, But the answer here, is the short answer: I want to wrap it up in a couple of minutes.

I don’t want to go too long today.

Is that, Yes, you are allowed to call the doctor.

People will often say very specific things like Well.

I have this new thing popped up for the last two weeks.

I have this pain in my stomach and whatever I’m, having a hard time eating or whatever Yeah by all means call the doctor that’s – okay, you’re, allowed to do that.

They worry that, like they’re breaking their recovery, they’re breaking rules.

They’re going back to square.

One knows that you’re, not it. Okay, If something new pops up go ahead and get it checked out.

If you want to do that, you are allowed to do that.

You will have every right to do that And that is not breaking any rules.

Just look at the way you used to do it And then say: well, I’m gon na go checked out, but I’m going to do it in a little bit of a different way than I used to do it.

I’m going to do it in a less frantic, less urgent, less compulsive kind of way, And when I get an answer I’m going to hear.

One way you could do this, is I’m going to make my appointment tomorrow.

I cannot make an appointment until tomorrow anyway, because it’s 10 p.m.

There’s nothing.

I can do So.

I’m going to be uncomfortable tonight until I make the appointment, Then that appointment is going to be some wait. Two days a day, two weeks, whatever it is, I’m going to be uncomfortable.

While I wait expect that to happen That’s – okay, I can.

I do not have to frantically try to eliminate my discomfort.

While I wait for my appointment Except for the discomfort that’s your practice, I’m going to go and my plan when I go to the doctor, is I’m going to ask this and this I’m, going to ask if I should see a specialist I’m going to ask about this: concern that’s concerning this concern.

I’m going to put it on the table And when the conversation is over, I’m going to decide to accept it or not accept.

If I don’t accept it, what will they do next? I will call another doctor that day, What is my plan for? Second, third, fourth, and fifth – opinions do not wing this based on your fear in The moment because that is what got you into the cycle that you’re trying to break now, So you can still access medical care responsibly.

You can do that, But have a little bit of a plan and draw your parameters.

I’m, going to be okay.

I trust this doctor.

He’s. Okay, She’s; okay, They’re, okay.

So whatever they say today, I’m going to go with that for two weeks And even though I might get really scared in those two weeks, I’m going to go with it and see what happens If anything changes on a material level.

I can always adjust, But I’m not going to change my plan just because I’m afraid That that’s, how you do it differently.

It means that you are choosing to be afraid and not do anything about it, But that’s a recovery in general if you listen to the podcast.

You know that that’s kind of what we always do So.

That is how you can make a different plan If you’re in a if your concern is more of a day to day moment to moment basis, while you’re waiting period is first of all, you’re going to see your patterns anyway, Like every time I have a panic attack, I immediately run to be saved And I never need to be saved.

Do I want to do it again? Do I want to do that again, Or can I wait 10 minutes Before I do that? Can I can? I do 10 minutes before I do That’s one way you could change that And then, if I do wind up going to the emergency room or calling an ambulance or calling a doctor am sit on down and Googling my symptoms again.

While I’m in a panic, what will I learn from this And when it’s over what parameters will I change for the next time? So it’s always about adjusting adjusting adjusting adjusting adjusting adjusting Like I can’t say that word enough.

Six times in a row pretty much says it like a little adjustment and then another one and another one and another one, And every time you adjust in the way you do this.

You’re going to be uncomfortable and afraid, But you’re allowed to be uncomfortable and afraid you can do that. So can I call a doctor on my lap Call a doctor Hell yeah, you’re allowed to call a doctor call a doctor when you want to call a doctor.

It’s.

Okay, Like ask other people, ask your friends and family what they do.

What would you do in this situation And when they, when you get told Well, you know what’s wrong? Well, I keep thinking keep thinking.

I wouldn’t call the doctor just because I was thinking okay, that’s, not the answer.

You’re wrong, But that might be the answer you get And you can use that to inform your actions.

So it’s about changing the way you access medical care, It’s about changing the way you interface with the medical system.

It’s about moving it away from that frantic, urgent fear driven, I think stuff and more toward Yeah.

I’m.

Really. This is a problem I’m having a problem.

My shoulder is on fire.

I know what needs to be looked at.

I’m going to go in like Okay, fair enough, So that is the answer.

Hopefully, I understand it.

Doesn’t give you 100 correctness at all times, as you go through this you don’t know sometimes.

I feel like it.

I want to call a doctor here: Okay, Sometimes you will call the doctor or whoever you’ve been calling, And you may be living this already, where the doctor won’t, take your call or won’t call you back That happens, And then that Can be part of the adjustment like nobody else is treating this like an emergency only me, So I’m going to have to change right now for the next 10 minutes or the next two days whatever it is like everybody else does not see this as An emergency I’m, the only one So I’ll have to take that cue.

That’s another good thing that you can try to do.

But if you need a doctor, go see a doctor That’s – okay, Nobody’s, telling you not to do that. Do it just try to do it the way other people do it as opposed to the way that you’ve been doing it, which is probably not working for you And that’s? Why you’re listening to me today, So I know I again.

I didn’t give you an exact black-and-white answer.

There.’s no algorithm.

Here There’s, no flowchart, You’re making it up as you go along In certain instances.

You can use these as some of the guiding principles I’ve.

Given you today, And sometimes you’re not going to get it right, You might make a choice that you discovered, oh boy.

I could have done that differently Okay.

What can I learn from that? I will do it differently next time.

Fair enough, You’re allowed to learn from mistakes and our experiences we bring them with us and we learn from them.

We don’t try to. Oh, we can’t make the perfect decision in life every time we can’t even about health And that’s reality, But in the end – and I will leave you with this before we wrap it up today – Even the decisions that we make about Health when we get paralyzed because we must always make the perfect decision zero rest total guarantee decisions about our health.

We are protecting one part of our lives with such ferocity that we are burning down the entire rest of our lives.

Think about that like I will.

I will leave that thought in your head.

All you protecting your health with such zeal that you are tearing the rest of your life to shreds, And in that case, what are you protecting Think about that Anyway. That is episode 240 of The Anxious Truth.

Wrapping up in the books, you know it’s over because there’s the music.

That is, as always at the end of every podcast episode and the beginning of most.

For the past few years That’s Afterglow by my friend Ben Drake, He wrote that song a few years ago inspired at least in part by this podcast, and he’s letting me use it ever since I appreciate that you can find more about Ben And his music at Ben Drake, music com, You know it And if you are listening to this podcast on Apple, podcast or Spotify, or some platform that lets you rate or review, the podcast leave a five-star rating.

If it’s helpful maybe take a few minutes and write a review because it helps more people find the podcast, which means more people get help.

If you’re watching on YouTube, subscribe to my channel hit the notification bell, so you know when new things get uploaded, leave a comment. I promise I will get back to your comments, even though it takes me a little longer on YouTube.

But I appreciate you all over there And that’s it.

Hopefully, this has helped you in some way shape, or form.

My computer telling me it’s time for an appointment that’s coming up, So I will wrap it up.

Thanks for listening, I appreciate it.

I do not know what I’ll be back with next week, but I will be here and remember.

As always.

This is the way where your story begins.

You got the feeling that you got when you’re doing.

Fine. Now in the city, or you know, looking back at dwelling on the past,

The 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 For A Healthy Brain Now there’s a fresh natural way for anyone to reactivate their natural brain cell protection mechanism and enjoy the life the way it’s meant to be lived. Boost your thinking levels, improve your concentration and focus, enhance mental performance, and even strengthen your immune system 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿.↯