got to stop checking my pulse!!!

[lee20]

hi some of you might already know that im currently having cbt.... i had my 8th session today and we discussed my safety behaviours: checking my pulse, checking myself in the mirror etc. my therapist would like me to stop checking my pulse and i told her i would try my hardest as ive always put in 100% into my cbt hoping to gain a lot from it. this however is a tricky one for me as checking my pulse is kind of like a ritual that i have to do a few times a day. i sometimes dont even realise im sat here checking my pulse and counting the beats. does anybody else do this and how would i be able to stop myself from doing it??? i know that distraction would work but its still going to be on my mind constantly until ive checked my pulse..... please tell me im not alone with this because i know its completely 'not normal' to do it. but its something ive done for so long. i know this is going to test me to the max, but as always im going to give it 100%. if anyone has any advice or just some encouragement i would much appreciate it.... thanks for reading

lee xx

[Em84]

Lol...I do it all the time, I even did it on the bus today....

I've suffered with heart palps for a couple of years now and do it all the time without knowing...then my husband will ask me what I'm doing. Lol!

If it makes you feel better then it's ok in my opinion...

Xxx

[Stormsky]

Try limiting yourself to checking your pulse once a day.... i dont think telling someone to stop completely helps, not when youve been doing it so habitually...
I have checked mine on occasion just out of interest, as i was wondering if i was in the healthy range...
Nothing bad is going to happen if you dont check it more than once a day...
sometimes cutting out something completely is just too much pressure to put on yourself.

[lee20]

thanks for your replies. it good to know that im not alone. i think your right stormsky stopping completely is a whole lot of pressure, i will try to limit myself to once a day and see how i get on.

[pablo22]

i check my pulse all the time too.. i feel like... i im not aware of it.... its not beating right! sounds bizzare but its a realproblemfor me.... but.. no one is aware of their pulse the majority of the time! no one except us!

keep fighting!!

[Rach29]

me too although i dont count the beats i just like to feel the beats coz then i know im fine i check in the mirror a lot to to make sure i look healthy funny isnt it :) didnt realise they were safety things thought it was a habit

[lee20]

pablo - that doesn't sound bizzare (not to me anyway) thats why i check my pulse to see if its still their..... rach29 - it is funny that we check ourselves in the mirror to see if we look healthy, i only count the beats of my when im convinced ive got a weak pulse, just to make sure its beating at the proper rate. most of the times its just to check its still their........ its craziness only people like us ay!!! :D

[Rach29]

i know people like us haha im glad ive got a sense of humour and can laugh at it or think id go crazy :D

[kinnygirl1]

I check mine all the time too - I have even developed a descreet way of doing it so that it looks like I am just adusting a sleeve.... I have managed to give it up for a few days at a time when I feel better but right now am checking like mad!

[vinnievince]

hi some of you might already know that im currently having cbt.... i had my 8th session today and we discussed my safety behaviours: checking my pulse, checking myself in the mirror etc. my therapist would like me to stop checking my pulse and i told her i would try my hardest as ive always put in 100% into my cbt hoping to gain a lot from it. this however is a tricky one for me as checking my pulse is kind of like a ritual that i have to do a few times a day. i sometimes dont even realise im sat here checking my pulse and counting the beats. does anybody else do this and how would i be able to stop myself from doing it??? i know that distraction would work but its still going to be on my mind constantly until ive checked my pulse..... please tell me im not alone with this because i know its completely 'not normal' to do it. but its something ive done for so long. i know this is going to test me to the max, but as always im going to give it 100%. if anyone has any advice or just some encouragement i would much appreciate it.... thanks for reading

lee xx

Oh god, you are like me!!! I have that problem with the taking my pulse rate more than 100 times a day and everywhere (in the car, at home, in my bed...). I also had CBT when I start having health anxiety about my heart and after 12 sessions the Therapist said I had a somatisation disorder and that she wasn't able to treat my problem. I never was able to stop taking my pulse rate and now I can take it even without realize that I take it... I also start taking my blood pressure all the time... since I have orthostatic hypotension and tachycardia most of the time...

Sorry if I can't help you on that but you are not alone :)

CBT work for some peoples and don't work for the other ones... I'm looking now for another form of Therapy but it's hard to find...

Can I know how start your pulse rate ritual? Is it related to a bad panic attack that you had or its related to physical symptoms mainly heart related that you feel most of the time?

Well, I hope you will be able to stop that bad habit!!! Keep the fait :)

[xvolatileheart]

me too although i dont count the beats i just like to feel the beats coz then i know im fine i check in the mirror a lot to to make sure i look healthy funny isnt it :) didnt realise they were safety things thought it was a habit

I do the same! I just like to know my heart is beating evenly and that it's still going. Just had a really bad palpitation followed by racing heart and I couldn't feel my heartbeat in my wrist. I flipped out and made my husband find it. :wacko:

[lee20]

vinnievince - this all started around 5 years ago when i had my first ever panic attack (i was 15 at the time) over the last 2 years its got really bad (like an addiction i suppose) to the point i dont realise im even doing it???
xvolatileheart - ive lost count of the times ive had to get my mum to find my pulse/heartbeat because i haven't been able to find it (even in the middle of the night ive had to wake her up to do it)..... its crazy i know :wacko:

[CameronG]

In the ssame with checking pulse and lookiing in the mirror....madness eh lol....u dont count my beats just feel for "normal" rate lol

[vinnievince]

vinnievince - this all started around 5 years ago when i had my first ever panic attack (i was 15 at the time) over the last 2 years its got really bad (like an addiction i suppose) to the point i dont realise im even doing it???

I understand what you live...had a very bad reaction to a med back at the end of 2008 and start taking my blood pressure all the time at home and then when I was out of the house stoping at the drugstore to check my blood pressure...after that I start focusing on my pulse rate cause of a bad panic attack in the car as a passenger on the highway, i faint and when I entering to the emergency my pulse was at 241...they told me it was only supraventricular tachycardia from the panic attack, give some iv meds to reduce my pulse rate and was sent home...since that happen I always take my pulse rate, I do it without really thinking about it...I can watch tv and put my fingers on my wrist and dont even need to count the number of pulse and know if its too fast or too low or irregular... whats dont help me to stop is the fact that most of my anxiety symptoms are now cardiovascular...even if I had a lot of tests done by my Cardiologist we cant find oujt what is the problem...always have low blood pressure with dizziness, chest pain, pain in the left arm and of course a fast pulse rate most of the time at rest above 100 and irregular....anyway...Also had the mirror problem in the past but now forget it since my anxiety is all focused on my heart...wasnt able in the past to live the house without looking at me in the mirror for 30min and more...bad self esteem I guess...always fear to look stupid in front of the others...thats my social phobia part of my anxiety...lol

Well I wish that you will be able to stop taking your pulse...all it does is to fuel your anxietuh...and I know what im talking about...since im focused on my heart I stop living, lost my friends cause I stop driving my car, fear to stay alone at home cause I fear of having a heart attack, I cant sleep cause I just hear my heart racing in my chest...I call it cardiophobia even if that term dont really exist...

Once in a while I feel ok and dont take it but its happening 1 day by month...

Need to find a new therapist but need money for therapy and im disable from work now so I dont know what to do...