What I learned by ignoring the symptoms
Have you ever had a nagging pain in your body, or something strange showing up on your skin, a lump, or anything that is out of the ordinary concerning your health, and your first reaction is to ignore it? Maybe you are a bit worried, but you think, Well, it will go away! It’s nothing serious! I believe it's a healthy way to look at the situation - initially. And usually, it probably isn’t, and all is well.
But sometimes, the problem doesn’t go away on its own, and when a few days pass, you start to worry more. And your stupidest idea is to google your symptom! And then all hell breaks loose! Because you find all the worst-case scenarios. And our minds tend to thrive on negative thinking. We love being scared and obsessing about what can go wrong. We can’t help it. Our thoughts are generated uncontrollably.
I experienced this some time ago. I started having canker sores in my mouth. They were irritating and painful, but they went away quickly. The problem was that they reappeared after a while. Every time, I thought I was done with them, and they showed up again. This had never happened before in my life on a regular basis. It was annoying and it was starting to worry me a bit. But I still chose to ignore it.
After a while, I had a new symptom. In the beginning, numbness at the front of my tongue, but as the days went by, it turned into soreness and pain. Especially when I ate, every bite was painful. And my taste wasn’t as acute as usual. I am a Taurus; food is one of my biggest pleasures in life, and this felt like a nightmare. Not being able to enjoy my food. It was frustrating, but I was also starting to get worried. What if this was a sign of something more serious? What if I had an infectious disease I caught somewhere? What if it was cancer?
My mind was making different catastrophic scenarios, but I still wasn’t ready to face my fears. I tried to convince myself it was nothing and would go away on its own. But it didn’t. By the time I decided to do something about it, it was the Christmas holidays, and I had to wait until the new year before I saw a specialist. I spent all the holidays, not enjoying food and agonising over what was wrong with me. Of course, I was tempted to google, and I did. Big mistake. It only made my anxiety more intense. But I endured, trying to get it out of my mind as often as possible. Trying to be present in what I was doing. And this helped.
Time slowly passed, and the day to go to the doctor came. As it turned out, it was nothing! It was all due to anxiety. I rubbed my tongue to my teeth and irritated it. The longer I had the problem, the more intensely and frequently I played with my tongue, making it worse. The solution was for me to consciously stop doing it. I couldn’t believe it! I was so relieved. Not even needing drugs. In three days, I was already a lot better. No more pain, just the numbness. Two more days later, even the numbness was gone. I was back to enjoying what I ate with all my senses. Loving it!
This experience taught me a big lesson:
Don’t ignore what your body is trying to tell you. If a symptom persists, assess the reason it exists.
- Is it psychological?
- Is it posture?
- Lack of exercise?
- Overindulgance?
- Is it anything else?
- Can you do something about it on your own?
If not, seek medical attention. There is no use agonising over what might be wrong or trying to self-diagnose, only scaring yourself and making the situation more stressful. The longer a problem goes untreated, the worse it may get, and the more negative thoughts will flood your head. And this isn’t good for you. See a doctor. The best case is that it is nothing or something that can be easily treated, and even if it is serious, the sooner you know and start doing something about it, the better.
I often say, “Be ok with not knowing”! This is one of the times that it is better to know.
