Why cant we just listen??

[nineteen]

we all know that hearing the words 'your alright, your just panicking' DOESNT HELP, not me anyway.

i panic over every symtom i have, thinking im gona die, for the past week its been tightness in my chest, neck and throat, and i keep saying to myself 'im gna suffocate/pass out/die etc.'

but if it was going to happen it would have happend by now?

i KNOW its anxiety as the symptoms come and go, and only get worse wen i let them e.g. panic about them and fear them.

so why cant i just listen to the doctor, hear him say the words 'your fine its just anxiety related' and compleatly believe it and let the symptoms pass with no fear?

its the only real cure isnt it? why do we let ourselves suffer over nothing that can possibly kill you, when all we have to do is accept it and move on like anyone else?

the last time i was at my doctors i said to him 'am i just being a hypercondriac? the symptoms feel so real.' he said 'they are real, they are your adrenaline and ur nervous system.' so i said 'i just get rid of this by stop thinking about it dont i? and stop worrying? thats all i have to do?'

'basically, yes.' he says.

so why do i worry over the same symptom? i feel so silly.

[gypsywomen]

its awfull this ilness nothing much we can do apart from try to dismiss bad thoughts ,,is hard as they overwelm you but we can try cant we be strong x

[JohnLuke300]

Hi nineteen,

From your post it looks to me like you are starting to question the logic of your anxious thoughts. That is a very good sign, it is important for us to realize that anxiety makes us think irrationally. You have made some very intelligent observations about your illness (i.e. 'but if it was going to happen it would have happend by now?', 'its the only real cure isnt it? why do we let ourselves suffer over nothing that can possibly kill you, when all we have to do is accept it and move on like anyone else?'). To overcome our fears we need to realize that anxiety is affecting our thoughts and we can't trust them when we are anxious. So keep up the good work nineteen, because when we stop believing them they have less power to create anxiety in us.

Take care,

John :hugs:

[Anxious_gal]

my best guess is because the symtoms feel so real its hard not to be scared

[GingGangGoolie]

It's good to get the all clear from the doctor, but I guess our anxiety says to us 'What if s/he was wrong?' 'Doctors can make mistakes.'

And then if we start worrying about a new symptom it's as though we're going back to square 1 'What if this time it is something?'

It's an endless circle and I guess the way to deal with it is to challenge your thought processes. Have you had CBT?

*Laura(GGG)*

[Amanda_27]

It's good to get the all clear from the doctor, but I guess our anxiety says to us 'What if s/he was wrong?' 'Doctors can make mistakes.'

And then if we start worrying about a new symptom it's as though we're going back to square 1 'What if this time it is something?'

It's an endless circle and I guess the way to deal with it is to challenge your thought processes. Have you had CBT?

*Laura(GGG)*

I definetely agree with this, I always think that I am instantly going to feel better when the doctor tells me it is just my anxiety but I remember one occasion (before I was able to recognise that it was just anxiety symptoms) going back to see him three times in one week because I just couldn't believe that it wasn't something serious as I felt completely horrendous! I still went away thinking that he had made a terrible mistake. On the otherhand I ignored a thyroid problem for almost 6 months because I thought the symptoms I was suffering from were anxiety related and they turned out not to be, so it has kind of made me worry about symptoms now when I get them, are they anxiety or not?

[DavidJ85]

This is the never-ending saga that gets me.

I know in my mind it's all related to anxiety and none of it can kill me but then there's this part of me that says oooh but it might or no no this is different this is worse and it sets in again.

It's funny how my mum always says "Oh you're just panicing." People that don't suffer will never understand. Mum says "Just stop thinking about it" Easier said than done when you have a real symptom!

[PanicMan]

My wife always says 'you're fine stop thinking about it' but it is hard. I was meant to go to my GP wednesday but he was sick (the irony) so I spoke to him on the phone today and told him about my new cancer HA which replaced my heart attack HA. I have been in with him twice and been to the ER twice in the last 2 months for my chest have had blood work done each time, all clear, chest x-rays, all clear, I've had my stomach pressed all over for lumps and tenderness of which there was none, this was done when my anxiety started and my stomach was in knots.

After getting over my heart attack HA with the aid of medication I was fine for a week before I found what I thought was a lump in my stomach, which Im 99.9% sure now was an abdominal muscle and went straight to cancer without a second thought and once its in your head its stuck and every ache and pain (ive had a sore side for the last 2 weeks) is a different form of cancer.

When I spoke to my GP today I told him my about my new fear, the lump, the pain in the side and he brushed it off and said that I need to have my anti depressant upped to the next level as Im on the lowest dosage to balance me out.

I do trust my doctor but but the thing is, if he has all my bloodwork and examined my stomach for lumps 2 months ago as did the ER doc (and I have no other telltale symptoms, not that he asked) shouldn't the fact he just brushed my new syptoms aside re-assure me that its all in my head or should I be thinking that he isnt taking me seriously and look for more tests to be done?

Who do I listen to, my doctor or the little doubting thomas in my head?

[nutteetart]

Scrolling through these messages, the logical side of my brain is yelling 'if you could hear yourselves!'

We are all victims of this and yet we all know its irrational. We are not mad or thick we all get it but it feels like its its own entity. Sometimes i think, yes i've got you now, i get it!, and then it goes and changes the goal posts and i am faced with another one of Panicman's cancers. Then i look at people on the tv for instance, and they are deciding something on their future and i think what the point in that? I have no future as i see it and all becasue anxiety is the biggest bully I will ever face. I envy their energy and motivation. There's a word 'MOTIVATION'. Wouldnt that be nice?

Dr Claire Weekes wrote about symptoms. She said, when your heart is racing; watch it for a minute. Is it really that bad? When your legs are wobbling; watch them for a minute. Is it really that bad? When you do stop and watch and study it, they dont seem so bad and it can take your anxiety down. Once you take the fear out of it you will find that your brain cant focus on it because its boring. Its the overwhelming feeling that we cant cope that makes it all so terrifying yet we probably all cope better than most. We must be strong people. Having said all this, i am still a loon but these are things that have helped me get my head around stuff. Maybe they will help you.

If anyone finds my life, can i have it back please?

[pd]

---""Scrolling through these messages, the logical side of my brain is yelling 'if you could hear yourselves!'""---

Looking through my own old posts, the logical side of my brain yells ''What were you thinking?!?" at me. I'm a very logical person with the exception of anxiety. I KNOW there's nothing physically wrong. I know it, but that knowledge doesn't help the next time the panic comes along. It's utterly uncontrollable.

You can be the most logical, rational person in the world but if you also happen to suffer from anxiety then you can go from logical to a panicky mess in the space of about ten seconds.

I had a huge panic yesterday over pain in my chest/shoulder (or acid reflux and a shoulder injury I've had for a couple of weeks looking at it logically). Looking back at the way I reacted and the extent to which I panicked yesterday, I just can't make sense of it at all. I struggle to explain what happened to the friend I had to call to come rescue me. The best I can come up with is that when it's happening, it FEELS so real and so frightening that logic, reason and our capacity for rational thinking fly out of the window. Almost like fight or flight, if, for example, we're faced with real danger then spending time trying to rationalise it could prove fatal, so we don't, we react almost on instinct. Things have got confused somewhere so that my body thinks it's in danger when it isn't. And there's my attempt at rationalising the irrational. When I'm not panicking, panic seems so illogical.

""Dr Claire Weekes wrote about symptoms. She said, when your heart is racing; watch it for a minute. Is it really that bad? When your legs are wobbling; watch them for a minute. Is it really that bad? When you do stop and watch and study it, they dont seem so bad and it can take your anxiety down."" I have tried this, and I've found that the more I examine something the worse it seems to be. But hey, different things work for different people, so if this works for you, brilliant. :)

It's always difficult to listen to someone else who says there's nothing wrong, even when that someone else has spent 5+ years at medical school.

Maybe ask your doctor if you can see a cognitive behavioural therapist? (I'm going to next time I visit the docs) I had a course of CBT years ago for something else, and it really does work... I just think I need more of it!

Anyways, I've rambled a bit, apologies for the essay!

Hope everyone can have a relaxing evening and weekend!