Worrying about Heart again

[molly15]

hi sadie the stress centre is on st james rd behind all the colleges in the city centre.they offer all sorts of therapy on a one to one .also meditation classes which i am doing now.they are great people who really care .give them a try. take car marcia

i have to do it for my kids if not for myself marciaxx

[sadie]

Thanks all for your kind replies,

Today the symptoms have been less painful than yesterday and I noticed today when I was talking to a girl in my work who has high BP and is pregnant at the moment, I felt the symptoms were more noticeable. I could ghear the inner chatter go... what if I have high BP etc etc. I also find that when I am alone, the symptoms become a lot more prominent too.... just goes to show they do get worse when we spend more time thinking about them.

Trev - you are so right about the whole giving up 'control' of everything and just accepting that sometimes things happen and thats just life. This is my biggest problem though, I find it very difficult to throw caution to the wind and just let life happen. I am trying and I will get there.

Thanks so much everyone, its good to know we are not alone.

sadie

[lin]

Hi Sadie

No matter how much we get told these heart flutters are down to anxiety you can never stop worring about it. I used to get flutters but now i get ectopic heartbeats which worries me loads i'm going to the doctors about it but i get worried about that incase he says there's something else wrong.

I do tend to get a little anxious when i get these but its hard not to think about it.

linda x

[Trev]

Hi Sadie,

you "sound" a bit better. I know exactly what you mean about the inner chatter when you hear of someone else's problems. BP was another of mine that I couldn't stop thinking about. I'd break out in masive sweats and feel dizzy and get all the pains at the slightest mention of things.

Throwing caution to the wind is very difficult to achieve when you are feeling the symptoms of health anxiety. I wish I could tell you something that would give instant help but I can't. For me, it was just a gradual acceptance that there is uncertainty in life. I'd always accepted this before but it became a concept almost impossible to bear when I was in the anxiety state. Gradually, I just made myself accept the test results and tried to not think about it all. As you say, it's worse when you are on your own and your imagination has a chance to run riot unchecked. Education on the subject and the help of others on here helped massively.

The only thing I could say is to try to become an objective observer of your own thought patterns and feelings. When you feel yourself having that initial thought and going down the negative spiral then do all you can to stop it and reverse the thoughts. Make the spiral as positive as you can manage. Tell yourself you've been through it loads of times and you are still here. You are ok. As soon as you can, try and distract yourself onto something that will absorb you.

All the best Sadie,

Cheers,
Trev

[sadie]

Trev - another fine example of the inner chatter happened today. I was out on aa client visit and suddenly I felt my head really sore at the top and around my eye. I automatically though the worse as I had banged my head against my cupboard door on Sunday ( and No I was not drunk either unfortunatley). Anyhow I found the thoughts going to blood clots etc etc... To help distract myself I decided to buy a magazine and just take my mind of the thoughts and before I knew it the thoughts were gone.

I am also reading Feel the Fear and do it anyway, which is helping a little, after all it is the fear of being unable to cope with ill health or whatever that makes you anxious that keeps the anxiety here. If you lose thia fear and feel more confident in your abilities to deal with whatever comes your way, nothing can really harm you!

Cheers and I hope your well.

sadie

[Trev]

Hi Sadie, yes we do have a tendency to go straight to the worst possible outcome. I think that it is possible to re-train your thoughts. As soon as you recognise that you've jumped straight in with a worst case outcome I think you have to get in the habit of immediately trying to replace it with a thought of what else could it be. Try to think of something funny even that it could be.

I'm doing alright at the moment thanks. Hope you continue to make progress

Cheers,
Trev