Fear of HIV Continued….

In 1987 there was a different view of HIV/AIDS. There was no proven treatments and for most people and an HIV/AIDs diagnosis was always terminal. This television advertisement in from Australia and it must reflect some of the fear that people had around HIV/AIDs.

More on the fear of HIV

In HIV prevention fear is used in order to ’scare’ people into practicing safer sex and I think this is justified for disease prevention. These scare tactics can impact people suffering from hypochondria and even those dealing with minor health anxiety.

Even after practicing safe sex it is easy to be influenced by these adds that make sex itself appear dangerous. Take this racy add from France for example. Makes me shudder every time I look at it. How can those anxious about their health navigate the world of HIV prevention ads?

1: German HIV/AIDs Prevention Ad

2. Philidelphia HIV/AIDs Prevention Ad

3. French HIV/AIDs ad

4. A really scary German ad

10 minutes of glory

In hypochondria there is a powerful moment that people experience when they have had a clean test of x-ray. I always notice in the air. It has more sensation than it did when I walked into the doctors office or the hospital. It is as if I have been repreived. i can go on to breath the air. The pain will pass before I will.

I have skipped, fist pumped and just grinned when leaving the office. After waiting two-weeks for an AIDs test when I was told I was negative I ran down Yates street wearing a wide grin.

When I had the stroke and really had the chance to walk out of the hospital the feeling was different. I felt fragile and cautious and although I was happy leaving the testing and the care scared me. What if I had another stroke? What if I couldn’t use the phone? These are fears that are easy to be flooded with after having a stroke. How can I get TPA if I have another one.

How many people suffering hypochondria are becoming addicted to the reprieve. Your calls to your god have been answered and you are Lazurus reborn. You will live your life differently this time. For me this difference lasts about a week and then I would notice another twinge.

Disease fear is everywhere

Advertisements about health are everywhere. Turn on the TV in the states you get bombarded by health ads. Do you know the symptoms of a stroke? Could you be suffering from restless leg syndrome. Now to think about bit my legs have seemed restless for awhile. One that used to strike terror was a bus stop poster that had a picture of an old guy in a hospital head. The caption read “by the time you get home 8 people will have diabetes. I lived half-a-block away and began to think diabetes was everywhere. Are we scaring ourselves onto the Internet to search with symptoms. We are still guinea pigs in the social experiment involving bombarding us with images all day and seeing how it affects us. We have images of food everywhere. Food porn; greasy burgers with just the right amount of cheeses, slowly been put into someones Mchappy mouth. This all brings up a few questions that I encourage you to respond to:

• Is hypochondria increasing?
• To what extent does negative ‘fear’ advertising influence hypochondria?
• Submit , photos, stories, videos of the most frighting advertisements you hsvr that describe scary diseases.