Bill
17-02-10, 03:20
It feels I've read so many posts recently related to health worries that I thought I'd attempt to type something to cover all of them.
I think I'll have to start with the parrot in his cage! He sits there in his confined space with seemingly no hope of ever being free and this trapped feeling makes him feel very stressed with no enjoyment in living and nothing else to occupy his mind so because he feels so stressed, trapped and bored, he decides to keep his mind busy by training it on "himself" so he decides to pull a feather out. This then grows into a habit until he's left looking a bald parrot after pulling himself to bits!
In a way, this is what we do to ourselves. More often than not, when we're feeling over-stressed by our job or life at home but don't have enough to stimulate the mind, our worrying selves will look inwardly for something to train our stressed feelings on which will normally be anything related to our health.
This means that we're very vulnerable to everything we hear and see that is health related because whatever it is will give our minds the opportunity to focus on it.
This is just one reason I'm not a lover of meds. Meds cause side-effects so that when they surface combined with our already worried health-related mind, we'll very easily start worrying even more wondering why we're feeling so ill. Could it be we're ill? Could it be anxiety? We tend not to think about the obvious being the meds because I think when we see the doctor and they prescribe them, that they must be the cure to all our symptoms when of course they're not.
This leads me to another point - our symptoms. Ok, so we're already feeling very stressed and our minds are now looking for something health-related to worry about so what better things to worry about can there be than the symptoms our worry is already producing. This is when we produce our cycle of fear and start avoiding situations.
I don't think we're actually afraid of panic attacks. I think we're afraid of the symptoms. Palpitaions - we start worrying about our heart. Giddiness - we start worrying about the mind. Can't breathe - we start worrying about our lungs. Tingly feelings - we start worrying about our body. Can't swallow - we start worrying about the throat. Sweating - we worry we have the flu! All these symptoms are caused by anxiety due to too much stress which triggers us to worry more which we then train inwardly on our health.
These symptoms though often occur most in the situations where we feel trapped such as crowded places - in shops, on the bus or at work etc. It's when we feel trapped that our stress surfaces due to our daily job or at home. It can also surface if we have emotional issues that have been left untreated because these past bad experiences can also cause stress which lead to anxiety.
When this overload of stress then triggers an attack in a crowded place, it then triggers the fear cycle. Knowing that these situations will cause us to feel symptoms that will make us worry about our health, then makes us fear those situations so we either try to avoid them or if we do have to face them, we expect them to surface. When of course they do surface and trigger worries about our health, we end up feeling exhausted thinking that we can never face these situations because we always end up feeling so ill.
However, the first time the symptoms arose, it will be because we were feeling really stressed and trapped. The second time they arise though will most probably be because we "expect" them to arise. In other words, the first time produced a fear and because we then fear the symptoms coming back, our fear then causes more stress and so ends up creating the symptoms we want to cure. Therefore, in effect it's "US" who are keeping ourselves ill because our fear won't allow us to stop worrying about our health because we're feeling under too much stress at work, home or emotional which has now also been compounded by a new fear of the symptoms themselves which all then train our minds onto worrying about our health.
I think the thinking process becomes a habit without us realising it because anxiety deceives us into thinking we're really ill when we're not. All our problems are caused by stress and worry which then creates all our symptoms which in turn keeps the anxious feelings alive.
This cycle Can be broken though but I feel it takes a "leap of faith" through knowledge. If we can remain logical and say to ourselves that any symptoms that arise Must be purely anxiety, gradually the anxious feelings can subside. Also though, I feel nipping the worry in the bud can also help so together with convincing ourselves through knowledge that our anxious feelings Are just anxiety, if we can then turn the mind to think "outwardly" so that we stop ourselves dwelling inwardly, we then give our body a chance to relax! When the body relaxes the symptoms melt away which then eases stress so helps to stop us worrying which then means we can then control our anxiety and the symptoms it produces.
Hope that's of some help.:shrug:
I think I'll have to start with the parrot in his cage! He sits there in his confined space with seemingly no hope of ever being free and this trapped feeling makes him feel very stressed with no enjoyment in living and nothing else to occupy his mind so because he feels so stressed, trapped and bored, he decides to keep his mind busy by training it on "himself" so he decides to pull a feather out. This then grows into a habit until he's left looking a bald parrot after pulling himself to bits!
In a way, this is what we do to ourselves. More often than not, when we're feeling over-stressed by our job or life at home but don't have enough to stimulate the mind, our worrying selves will look inwardly for something to train our stressed feelings on which will normally be anything related to our health.
This means that we're very vulnerable to everything we hear and see that is health related because whatever it is will give our minds the opportunity to focus on it.
This is just one reason I'm not a lover of meds. Meds cause side-effects so that when they surface combined with our already worried health-related mind, we'll very easily start worrying even more wondering why we're feeling so ill. Could it be we're ill? Could it be anxiety? We tend not to think about the obvious being the meds because I think when we see the doctor and they prescribe them, that they must be the cure to all our symptoms when of course they're not.
This leads me to another point - our symptoms. Ok, so we're already feeling very stressed and our minds are now looking for something health-related to worry about so what better things to worry about can there be than the symptoms our worry is already producing. This is when we produce our cycle of fear and start avoiding situations.
I don't think we're actually afraid of panic attacks. I think we're afraid of the symptoms. Palpitaions - we start worrying about our heart. Giddiness - we start worrying about the mind. Can't breathe - we start worrying about our lungs. Tingly feelings - we start worrying about our body. Can't swallow - we start worrying about the throat. Sweating - we worry we have the flu! All these symptoms are caused by anxiety due to too much stress which triggers us to worry more which we then train inwardly on our health.
These symptoms though often occur most in the situations where we feel trapped such as crowded places - in shops, on the bus or at work etc. It's when we feel trapped that our stress surfaces due to our daily job or at home. It can also surface if we have emotional issues that have been left untreated because these past bad experiences can also cause stress which lead to anxiety.
When this overload of stress then triggers an attack in a crowded place, it then triggers the fear cycle. Knowing that these situations will cause us to feel symptoms that will make us worry about our health, then makes us fear those situations so we either try to avoid them or if we do have to face them, we expect them to surface. When of course they do surface and trigger worries about our health, we end up feeling exhausted thinking that we can never face these situations because we always end up feeling so ill.
However, the first time the symptoms arose, it will be because we were feeling really stressed and trapped. The second time they arise though will most probably be because we "expect" them to arise. In other words, the first time produced a fear and because we then fear the symptoms coming back, our fear then causes more stress and so ends up creating the symptoms we want to cure. Therefore, in effect it's "US" who are keeping ourselves ill because our fear won't allow us to stop worrying about our health because we're feeling under too much stress at work, home or emotional which has now also been compounded by a new fear of the symptoms themselves which all then train our minds onto worrying about our health.
I think the thinking process becomes a habit without us realising it because anxiety deceives us into thinking we're really ill when we're not. All our problems are caused by stress and worry which then creates all our symptoms which in turn keeps the anxious feelings alive.
This cycle Can be broken though but I feel it takes a "leap of faith" through knowledge. If we can remain logical and say to ourselves that any symptoms that arise Must be purely anxiety, gradually the anxious feelings can subside. Also though, I feel nipping the worry in the bud can also help so together with convincing ourselves through knowledge that our anxious feelings Are just anxiety, if we can then turn the mind to think "outwardly" so that we stop ourselves dwelling inwardly, we then give our body a chance to relax! When the body relaxes the symptoms melt away which then eases stress so helps to stop us worrying which then means we can then control our anxiety and the symptoms it produces.
Hope that's of some help.:shrug: