Dealing with Health Anxiety: Best Strategies?

I'm just really confused. How does that work?

Having anxiety over your health is hard to deal with at times. I tend to go to the worst-case scenario and spiral whenever a new symptom arises. Even when a Dr tells me possible reasons for my symptoms. For example: horrible headaches. Dr. tells me possible reasons are cluster migraines, seizures, aneurysm, or tumor. My sister is an aneurysm survivor. Hers leaked instead of bursting. If it had burst, she would not have lived. So, I immediately thought, "OMG! I have an aneurysm, and I'm going to die!" I have both migraines and partial onset seizures. Both are treatable with meds. How I deal with anxiety: If I'm overly worried, I distract myself with puzzles and watching tv. Something that keeps my hands and mind busy. If I am catastrophizing: I remind myself that the worst-case scenario is not likely to happen, and I will not freak out until I know without a doubt there is something to freak out over. Then, I distract myself with something that keeps my mind busy. Learning how to talk yourself down is the key. Whatever your triggers are, find what reduces their effects. Find what distracts your thoughts the most effectively. For me, it's puzzles, especially word puzzles (like boggle, word stacks, and any word association games) and watching TV. I also use adult coloring books as a distraction technique. What is it about the medications or OTCs that is causing you to have anxiety? I have TMJ as well, and it took me forever to connect it to my anxiety. One thing that has helped me with my jaw locking is half smiling. The muscles in my face, especially around the mouth and jaw, were super tense all the time. This, along with my anxiety, led to a lot of my jaw locking on me, not to mention jaw pain. A counselor had me practice half smiling because people constantly thought I was mad when I wasn't. I was frowning all the time and didn't even realize it. Eventually, the half smile became my resting face. The muscles in my face relaxed, and the locking occurred less often. I still clenched my teeth, especially at night. What helped with that was mouth exercises to release the tension and holding my teeth slightly apart (just enough that teeth are not touching) anytime I realized I was clenching. Eventually, that became the natural way I hold my jaw/teeth, and I don't clench anymore. (Mouth exercise: open jaw as wide as you can. Then, over exaggerate a smile while closing your mouth. Do this until the tension in jaw and mouth muscles release.)