what helps me with my HA

[justbananas]

friends, romans, countrymen ..

i'm nowhere near 'great' or over my HA .. but a couple things lately have been helping, and because all of you help me so so much, i wanted to make some tidy little bullet points and share them with you.

- working out. i've said it in a million posts and i hate to be that person who posts the same thing over and over again on forums (because i really in actuality get distressed by and don't like those people that much) BUT i tell you.. if you have a gym.. if you have a sidewalk.. if you have a yard, garden, bathroom .. anywhere you can .. get a dvd.. join a rock climbing group..walk dogs.. run fast in circles.. whatever u can. it is so trite but i swear it's the only thing that takes my mind off my symptoms. getting physical activity, the more the better, wears me out and keeps me from focussing on the bad stuff. dunno about GAD or depression which it's claimed it helps with .. but HA for sure where you're doing constant self checks .. the working out keeps me from being able to do it and also creates natural pain and soreness that can be attributed to my mean mean mean jiu jitsu instructor rather than my non-existent MS or perfectly healthy heart [attack].

-massage. again with the mainstream trite advice you're always hearing. BUT .. if you find someone you can ask to do a head and neck massage.. even once for an hour.. just focussing on the head and neck. i have had massive one-sided headaches for 2 years on and off (mostly during my panic flare-ups when i imagine it's something sinister) and i confided in this masseuse at my gym about it. she ended up feeling my head and showing me where all these fibers and blood vessels meet up and how those nerve endings are linked to my shoulders, linked to my stress.. causing my tingling.. my headaches.. my pain. she deeply and carefully worked through everything in my neck for a full hour.. my scalp.. she kept finding knots of fibers and tissue bunched up and she'd push and press and twist to release some of the buildup .. which kinda hurt but in a good way .. and my headache slowly dissipated and has (knock wood) not returned since.(someone pls remind me of this next time i post about my headaches) it really IS just this basic stuff on our bodies that gets beyond thrown out of whack. anxiety is strong. almost as strong as me dammit.

-hobby. big hobby that is so time-consuming it is almost a pain in the ass. you can pick anything but i chose fish. i have always kept fish but never with great success and always in tiny tanks as i live in new york, etc.. BUT (don't think i'm bananas) i went on some fish forums.. spent days in the library researching.. and figured out how to start a pretty decently sized tropical tank. it's a butt load of work and i have all these testing tubes lined up around my bedroom to do water pH tests, etc. and am slowly adding various types of fish to the tank. this takes hours. HOURs for me to do, and is so inconvenient.. but having to care for the damn things and give up free time to get this tank going AND understanding this underground fish community on the internet which i'd been unaware of has really distracted me. i look forward to dealing with them and it gives me very little time to google symptoms because i have to instead google how to lessen the ammonia levels in my freaking tank!!

wow this was a looooong post and i'm nowhere near where i want to be on an anxiety level, but the past few months have been b-a-d and for the first time these past couple weeks i feel the fog lifting. i have a lot of work ahead of me but these simple steps are helping and i am confident i can move forward and move forward healthy and happy if i just press on. feel free to share what helps you if you'd like and thanks for taking this into consideration. not to mention this board has helped me perhaps more than anything. BIG thanks to all of you. xx krista

[viremarthius]

Fish???? I love it!!! Good for you. I've always wanted a tank, but it's seems a bit expensive. Distractions for me are the key to controlling my HA.

[justbananas]

it's not expensive actually! not to be an aquarium peddler but you can get a great tank for around 10-15 bucks for a nicely sized 10 or 15 gallon .. and fish are cheap .. the filter will be another few dollars.. food is nothing .. now time.. time it will cost u. time, patience, sanity. when ur balancing on the edge of a chair, leaning into the tank to get a water sample and your zebra danios are attacking your fist and the phone is ringing and the delivery guy is at the door and you step into the water change bucket .. u will scream. and want to give up. but that's about the priciest element of it.

[Shelly80]

Thank you for posting this! Its great to share on this forum about our symptoms and how much they scare us, but its also wonderful to hear suggestions and advice on how to live with our HA. Its not going to magically go away, but I know there are keys to managing it. I need to start working out again! The doctor says it will help my heart palpitations and skipped beats.

Thanks again!

[justbananas]

yes! my palps have all but disappeared since starting cardio workouts. the strength training helps a lot with the body symptoms and the cardio just keeps me distracted and exhausted, but then it energizes me. but yes the palps really peaced out since i hit the gym.