Palpitations have returned!!

[Jo3016]

Hi

I haven't had these for a couple of years and now it is back and I hate it!! I have started working again recently after a 10 year break to have a nd bring up my children. Now that they are all at school, I have a job working with a friend of mine. It is all good and I am really enjoying it. We went out to celebrate our success a couple of weeks ago and I drank far too much. The next day, I got really nasty palpitations because I was dehydrated. I felt better by the evening but the damage had already been done and my mind was set!! Two weeks later and I have palpitations every day - I often wake with a start and my heart starts racing. Then I really focus on it and keep taking my heart rate and panicking and it is a vicious circle. It doesn't race all the time but when it does, it can go up to 110 bpm and I am only sitting down!

I know I have had this before. I recognise all the signs - the obsession with my heart rate, breathing in deeply all the time, clenching my jaw. I feel really jumpy and constantly wired!! And I am so annoyed and disappointed with myself as I am really enjoying my work and don't want this to spoil it!! What can I do?

[joebloggs]

Hi.jo. You are having a 'setback'.this can occur a week or five years after we think we have recovered and can be treated in the same way as before. How did you come out of the last one? Drinking caused the dehydration and palpitations you talk of and this brought back memories of past suffering which, in turn, started you off with anxiety. You have become 'sensitised' again and it will take a little while for you to recover, and you will. You did it before. Annoyance and disappointment will not help and will make you more anxious. You need to accept the way you feel at the moment knowing that if you allow time to pass it will get better. You are enjoying your work and that is three quarters up the road to recovery. Try not to worry about how you feel. I know, difficult, but you will, given time, look back on this as no more than a 'blip'. If it happens again you will have the key to coming out before you go in (if that makes sense!). Best wishes. joe.