I can't do this

[scrumking]

Been doing well lately, downloaded the free cbt course and it's really helpful everyone needs to take advantage of it.


Rewind to last night, my wife and I had sex and just as we were finishing I got really dizzy and had a sharp pain in my chest and back and all the sudden heart death fears have come back ten fold. I had the same feelings and sensations this morning while I had a bm (shout out to fishmanpa) and now I'm really scared. What is going through my mind is sudden death via cardiac arrest. I feel really weak and lightheaded it's really really messing me up

[RoseEve]

You can do this scrum. You have been doing very well. We all have setbacks. It sounds to me like you had a very good time and it took a lot out of you :blush:

[Fishmanpa]

Thanks for the shout out Scrum.... I'll take it as a compliment that you dump some chunks and my name comes up ~lol~

I'm glad you're doing that CBT course. It really is good stuff. Refer back to that and realize that what's happening is a physiological reaction to your fear. Understand that the feelings you're having are due to the adrenalin released in response to what you and your body perceive as a threat. Then, look at the time. You're still here and it's been close to 30 minutes from your post ;)

Positive thoughts

[skippy66]

Scrumking, you're desperate for reassurance, but me telling you that I've had the same thing happen to me is not going to make you better in the long run. It might make you feel better right now for a while, maybe until you have the sensation again, but in that moment no amount of reassurance on here will work.

Having HA is stressful, and that of course makes our symptoms worse. What you have to understand is that your pains and symptoms may be very real, but they don't necessarily mean that you're going to die. In fact, the statistics are massively in your favour that you won't.

Let's put it this way to provide a bit of context. If it was your wife who'd experienced this instead, and told you about it, would you be messed up and thinking that she was about to suffer a sudden cardiac death? No, because you're more rational when it's not you.

You need to accept that the human body is not perfect and causes all kinds of weird and scary symptoms all the time. HA is the act of obsessing about them and turning them into something they are not.

Find something to distract you from this inward-looking thinking.

[mummyanxious]

Talking of Bm I had a couple of palpitations after one the other day. I thought bearing down was supposed to stop the damn things!

Anyhow, I always remember rlr on his forum saying that sex releases adrenalin which starts palpitations etc and its completely normal. My gp also says to me that fleeting pains are not something of concern to them (though it blooming is to us!).

[MyNameIsTerry]

Sex can be strenuous and can make you feel dizzy (god, I wish this was a different forum so I could unleash the smut!!!) and so can a BM to a certain extent. Sex & exercise raise the heart rate, make you sweat, push the blood around, etc so it can feel like anxiety or panic but the trick is recognising that that prevent the cycle going any further. I guess it is similar with HA but you recognise your thoughts and prevent them moving onwards to the "what if's"?

I don't have HA but I focus a lot on physical symptoms, just not from the point of view that they could be something else, I 100% know they are anxiety. However, during these activities I have felt similar symptoms to my GAD ones and then the stupid subconscious links them so you start thinking this way.

There are way to follow the Exposure Therapy route with sex, but I think you can work that one out. :whiplash:

With BM's, if you are pushing a lot you are going to use the core muscles which are often part of anxiety symptoms so if you can, try not to do too much pushing and get plenty of fibre.

You can do it SK.

Is there a secret BM club on here or something???:roflmao: