Quote Originally Posted by helenhoo View Post
That's a good point. So I'm so used to feeling anxious, my body is on autopilot?
Pretty much, and it's ok to recognise this.

Your panic response is complete autopilot, there's nothing you can do to prevent that happening. What you can do it control the 5-10 seconds of immediate reaction that happens after a trigger, and re-learn how to not overreact. You're currently still in the stages where your automatic learned response to any perceived negative sensation is to catastrophise. Therapy, and practice will help you deal with that reaction to sensation and eventually you will either give it a mental 'so what' or even further down the line you won't even consciously acknowledge the sensation any more.