Why is it we still worry

[Typer]

No matter how much reassurance from doctors, each other, friends, out rational part...why is it we still get scared.

I keep thinking I have this beaten, then the heart does its thuds, skips and flutters and I am back to square 1 as though any reassurance never happened.

[looking4answers]

I think its one of lifes great mysteries:-) Wish we all knew then we could stop..Michael

[andrea thompson]

hi hon

its awful isnt it... sometimes i feel really strong and then bang it all comes back... get a little head ache and think its something really serios and feel like pooh til i start worrying about something else.... i wish i knew why we like this.... i have been through all this before and practically beat it... then had a personal trauma and its all come back... i gonna beat it again though.. i am sure it will pass with time.. like before.... i hope ours does too...

taake care

andrea x x

[Corinne]

I wish I knew why we do this. I had an EMG and was assured I didn't have ALS. I was overjoyed -- for about a week. Then I thought maybe it was too soon to show up. Other times, I will get over one HA only to proceed on to the next.

If I knew why I do this, I could stop it. I have no answer.:weep:

[Desprate Dan]

I also wish i had the answers, its awful you think you have it beaten but it only takes one small thing to set it all off again, running things through your mind again and again making ourselves sick with worrie, and to top it all we then are hard on ourselves for letting ourselves slip back into this way off thinking.....

Sometimes i get angry with myself because i feel as if i have let myself and the doctor down. but surely if you have a concern about your health you should seek help and reasurance from the doctor, so why do i feel anxious about my health and also about going to see the doctor because i see that as defeat i have let it win, but were do you draw the line between what needs doctors attention and what does not....

I wish i had the answers...

Dan

[gypsywomen]

i totaly agree with all above why why why

[gary_2.0]

Yes why indeed, but what helps me to deal with things is to always expect the bad times to return. That's not being pessimistic, just pragmatic.

It prevents me from adding that additional confounding layer of 'why?' This in turn leaves me more energy to work through it. Over time it's worked well. I fully accept that sometimes I'm not going to be able to function as well as I might, and it does get easier. Having a realistic outlook about myself has helped me enormously.

Using quotations may seem glib, but the following paraphrased example does fit this occasion, and proffers a lot of sense.

"Allow me to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference."
- Saint Francis of Assisi. (Who obviously knew a thing or two when it came to wisdom.)

[Typer]

Thanks for the replies. I guess we each try to find our own ways of dealing with things. Not forgetting that even people with health anxiety can get ill.

A headache is a headache, right? Not that I get headaches very often, or worry about them when I do.

What I mean is....most of the anxiety here is not imagined, most are real headaches, sore throats, stomach upsets and for me and some others, palpitations ect.

The problem for me is always: chicken or egg? That is, was I anxious before the palps and just did not know it? If so did that anxiety cause the palps?

Or

Did the palps just appear due to say...menopause...this made me anxious, causing the palps to worsen. So although they may be benign, it does not mean I can switch on some kind of acceptance...who is going to accept feeling dizzy all the time?

Gary, nice quotes and I have PC doctor too, its great. Will check out your pictures on flickr.

here's a quote from me


Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. ~Leo Buscaglia


and

I am reminded of the advice of my neighbor. "Never worry about your heart till it stops beating." ~E.B. White