I know I'm posting again but I'm worried about my eyes

[pulisa]

Why not?

[Chlobo]

Why not?

It’s the instant fear reaction. My body and mind go into fear mode before I can stop it, and then I feel like I have to speak it to try and cope

[pulisa]

Speak it to yourself. It's just self-soothing. You don't need to document every sensation you have. You are not coping yourself, just expecting others to soothe you.

[Carys]

True story (based on P's sentence above) : Last week I had a sudden pain across my chest, under the breast area. It covered most of the left side in a big band. I won't deny, there was a moment of 'oh flip, whats that, it doesn't feel right/its worrying me'. Then, a fleeting moment of 'is it the start of a heart attack ?'.

So, at that point, I said to myself (out loud) -don't be silly you are breathing just fine (which you wouldn't be) and you can't feel your heart hammering/skipping or any other assorted pains - if you are stood here questioning ' is it a heart attack?' then it most certainly isn't. Serious things like cardiac arrests are obvious, there is no question, you just know as you feel sick, sweat, have a multitude of other symptoms and you'd look pale/clammy/ill and - yep - a quick check in the mirror proved I looked a normal colour for me.

Then I thought about the MOST likely scenario - I've been very stressed the last couple of months and tending to put my hands onto my hips and press down using the arm and chest muscles, pressing my hands against my waist. I'm doing it a lot, almost without knowing I am. Yup - I said to myself - that'll be it. I then carried on about my business around the house, and 20 minutes later it was gone. I found a likely cause and effect, told nobody else about it as it wasn't relevant because I could sort it myself.

You could have done the same today about your latest 'sensation'. Instead of running in panic - you could have stuck it out and told yourself why it was nothing to worry about and all the reasons it was nothing to worry about. You could have looked for likely cause and effect. You could have told yourself that whatever you were feeling was clearly not stopping you going shopping or getting on with your day, therefore its nothing to pay too much attention to.

Speak it to yourself, trust yourself, say - I've had panics 1000 times before and this one is no different, nothing happens, it will pass. (You should be getting some of this from your Claire Weekes book, she talks about panic response in loads of detail). You are always running to others, always, it will never be sorted that way.

[pulisa]

I don't even bother to analyse pain..It just happens. I have a chronic pain condition and never feel the need to describe or talk about it. It's up to me to manage it.

[Carys]

When my anxiety is very high, and something new happens, I do analyse (interally) but I will say that once analysed for a few minutes......I move on and all is good. The story I told is unusual for me nowadays, to need to go to self-reassuring lengths, and it is symptomatic of being generally not in a great mental place. I know what you mean though, some things we are just responsible for and they are just there.......

[BlueIris]

Me too, Carys. Weird pain under the fingernails? Okay, weird but if I was really ill I'd know. Sharp chest pain? I'm breathing and my heart isn't pounding, so it's unlikely to be cardiac. Arm feeling a bit weak? Check how I've been sitting and realise it's probably an irritated tendon. Notice - acknowledge - dismiss.

[Chlobo]

I do do that sometimes, it depends on the symptom. I can handle pain better than other things. Chest pain scares me initially but I can have that thought process to an extent. It’s numbness, weakness or anything like that which really sets me off. I don’t really have an explanation for why my arm feels like this, it started after a really stressful shopping trip with my daughter and it hasn’t stopped. Even eating dinner is uncomfortable with the fork in my hand.
I pushed my daughters buggy home with that arm today as I had to push a scooter with another and it felt super weird when I got home.
Today I have done more than in this whole week so I’ve been pushing on as much as I can however difficult it seemed. I could have continued my shopping but I feel very vulnerable in public so it just isn’t a good place for me to start feeling that anxious.

[Chlobo]

Could anyone advise on what this weird arm feeling could be? I just have no idea why it feels so horrible

[NoraB]

So I went and did my food shop, had my hand holding the trolly all the way around, moved my hand to take my phone out of my bag, and it felt so odd and stiff. I felt my hand and it was freezing cold. My thumb was super stiff and I struggled to move it to type a text. Queue panic and leaving shop. I managed to get most of what I needed. I won’t ask you for reassurance but I’m still going to type out what I am experiencing right now, I can’t sit with it inside my head

So, you managed to go through the check out. You were able to put your produce on the belt and pack your goods? Yet the 'queue panic and leaving shop' implies that you had to ditch your trolley and get out of there? This is what you are putting into your brain, Chloe when in reality, you appear to have coped a lot better than you are making out?