jonathan123

Hi. wingo. YUP, been there. I wore out many ECG machines years ago because I didn't believe what they came up with. When I look back it is rather laughable, although not so at the time!! Palpitations were my main concern. Still get them now and then especially when up tight about something, but just shrug them off because I know what they are and what causes them. We are tricked, bluffed and fooled by that great magician, anxiety. His box of tricks are endless. As soon as we call his bluff the quicker he will depart.

HI. Nick. (my phyciasian told me that the pain is caused from scoliosis and poor posture, i doubt it), Now why would you doubt it? Do you know more about illness than your doctor? Have you been to medical school? This is a major problem in health anxiety because we doubt so much. The doubt so often stems from the fear that 'they' may have missed something. Now this is extremely unlikely these days because if they get it wrong their livelihood is at stake. When we lie down at night we can concentrate on our heart, and what seems to be pounding is no more than this. Some sufferers can't sleep on their left side because it accentuates the feeling. You have had almost every test possible, so begin to tackle the anxiety and not your supposed heart problem. ACCEPT that for the time being this will happen, but it's really no big deal, although it may seem so to you. We are bluffed and fooled by Mr. Anxiety and his box of tricks. Anxiety can mimic any known disease if it's in your mind. If you didn't already know about it you wouldn't worry!! Calm ACCEPTANCE is still the answer, although difficult it does produce results.

Yeah!!! Googling should be a big NO NO. They rely on adverts for their revenue. If they can sell you something they will. People with anxiety are very vulnerable and wide open to suggestion. On TV in the UK we get adverts from the Health Ministry about heart attacks, strokes etc. Anyone with health anxiety will be triggered by all this and a lot of harm can be done. We need keep away from any reports about illness or any programmes related to illness. Now this is difficult these days. We are having talk of disease and sickness thrust under our noses daily. These are not good times for HA sufferers. Suggestion plays a very big part in HA, far bigger than we may realise. One of the things that used to trigger me was when I met someone who said 'you don't look at all well'. For a start it's a stupid thing to say to anyone who may be suffering. But then most non sufferers are insensitive. You have to have been there to know!! To me anyway the doctor is the person to answer questions. We are often loath to go to the doctor for fear of them finding something wrong. But surely it is better to do that than leave a problem until it gets worse. But common sense and logic are almost non existent with HA sufferers. Invariably they will find nothing wrong and put it all down to 'nerves'. But at least we can get reassurance, that's if we believe them! Five years at medical school, three years internship and maybe many years of practise does give them some authority to diagnose!! Believe them, because what is the alternative? Googling?

Hi. PS. Human psychology is very complex and can very confusing. In all my years in counselling I found it difficult to get to the root of the problem with so many patients. But there is always a cause because cause and effect are a basic law in physics and apply just as much in anxiety. Most of our problems can go back to childhood. Physical and sexual abuse are two of the main factors. But there are also hidden ones that 'come out of the blue' for no obvious reason. Good counselling can help so much because in finding causes we can eliminate the effects. I may repeat myself here, but bear with me. There is a difference between suppression and repression. In suppression we consciously push memories into the background if we wish to forget, but can always recall them if we wish. In repression the memories are in the unconscious and can't be recalled at will. But the emotions surrounding those memories can and do emerge, given the right circumstances. If a child hears it's parents fighting, or being physical it can be too much for a child's mind to bear, so the memory is repressed into the unconscious. Nature has made it this way to protect our minds. The child 'forgets' and will appear normal after the event. This can happen to adults who may witness an awful event, like an accident. They remember what lead up to the event but the rest is lost. It is never actually lost but repressed. 'He/she is too young to understand, so no worries'. That is the biggest mistake a parent can make. Now nothing may ever happen to bring back the emotions surrounding the memory, but later, in adult life, the person may hear two people having a fight. The emotions from childhood will emerge BUT NOT THE CAUSE. So the person becomes confused and anxious. Finding no reason for the intense emotions anxiety then begins. It is obvious that when life events occur such as a bereavement, a job loss, a divorce etc, then the reasons are clear. But so often the causes are not clear. It's then that anxiety can begin, especially health anxiety. The mind has been 'triggered' into the fear/anxiety/ fear cycle. We also need to look at our lives and the way we behave. So much anxiety lies in our behaviour to our fellow humans and our reactions to upsetting events. Are we tolerant? Kind and compassionate? Do we have empathy for another's suffering? Not sympathy, that's different. Do we really have love for those nearest to us? So many questions need answers. But we get caught up in the symptoms of anxiety that we so often can't see the wood for the trees. Anxiety then becomes dominant and takes over our lives. We need to break the chain of anxiety/ fear/symptoms/anxiety. Ask ourselves what is anxiety telling us, what is it saying about our lives. Turn it to good use and let it teach us something. Before I went into counselling I was a wreck. It was not until I met the most amazing man who gave me counselling and trained me in the subject, that I became aware how much the pain of anxiety had changed me. And for the better. It was indeed 'the dark cloud that breaks with blessings on your head'. Being afraid of 'IT' and fighting and struggling with 'IT' will help not one bit. Delve into it; try and find reasons for it to be happening. They are always there but need digging out. Now none of this is easy, far from it. It needs a counsellor, a good trusted friend or someone you trust to talk things through with. I appreciate good counselling can be expensive, but is worth every penny. You may well emerge a more kind and understanding person. You must trust your counsellor. If you don't then find one you do. My experience of anxiety was painful and for over two years took over my life. I am still an anxious person, that will not change, but it no longer affects my life. I ACCEPT that that's me. By asking and ACCEPTING we have a problem is the beginning of recovery. If we go into denial and say we have not got a problem simply stops any forward movement. Very best wishes. A letter from a patient of Carl Jung. "Out of evil much good has come to me. By keeping quiet , repressing nothing, remaining attentive, and hand in hand with that, by accepting reality -taking things as they are and not as I wanted them to be - by doing all this rare knowledge has come to me, and rare powers as well such as I would never have imagined before. I always thought that when we accept things they overpower us in one way or another. Now this is not true at all, and it is only by accepting them that we can define an attitude toward them. So now I intend playing the game of life. Being receptive to whatever comes to me good and bad, sun and shadow, that are for ever shifting, and in this way accepting my own nature and its positive and negative sides. Thus everything becomes more alive to me. What a fool I was! How I expected to force everything to go my way".

Certain words crop up time and again and are the cause of ongoing anxiety. 'Fight' and 'Struggle' being the two most often used. 'Fighting' 'IT' only makes matters worse. You will never rid yourself of anxiety by fighting the symptoms or struggling with them. It's said by the non suffers 'you must fight this thing, you must not let it get the better of you'. This is not good advice. The more you struggle the more adrenaline you produce the more the anxiety persists. Adrenaline, the fear hormone, is triggered by our inability to ACCEPT what is happening. If we have been checked out and found to have anxiety, then ACCEPT that's what it is. Passive non resistance is the key. By doing nothing you do everything! There are so many paradoxes in anxiety. By ACCEPTING you calm the anxiety because, in not fighting and struggling you slow or even stop the adrenaline. Our adrenaline glands are so quickly active in anxiety. In so called normal people, whatever that means, anxiety can flare up in the event of a trauma or some fear making event. It soon dies down. With us it does not die down. Unspecified fear causes it to go on. ACCEPTANCE is not easy, far from it, but it can be done given the will.

Hi. mace. Perhaps we should try and get away from specifics and look at heath anxiety in more general terms. If it's not one thing it's another!! If we get over the fear of one particular illness another will surely arise because we are still anxious. The problem can never be solved unless we get to its root. Anxiety is always a manifestation of an underlying psychological problem, and that's why good counselling can help so much. Masking symptoms with medication while trying to forget or deny we have a problem does not help. Of course, medication can be so helpful in allowing us to steady ourselves so we can look at our problem more logically. But it can never 'cure' anxiety. We need to look at the situation as a whole and not one specific issue. Sometimes the cause is obvious. Bereavement, a real illness, financial problems, job loss, a divorce etc. But sadly the majority of anxiety patients can see no real reason for their problem. 'It came out of the blue'. I have heard that expression so many times. But there is always a cause that has 'triggered' the anxiety. Finding that cause and dealing with it is the job of a counsellor or maybe even a close friend you trust. Ask yourself, 'what is my anxiety showing me about myself, my way of life, my attitude to my fellow humans'. Am I tolerant? Do I care enough? Am I being kind and understanding to those close to me? The way we live and our attitude to life and others can play a big part in anxiety. Best wishes.

Hi.WW. Yes indeed Had it often when in an anxiety state and tired. 'What did I do an hour ago?', gone!! It is the result of a tired mind and nothing to worry about. Our minds can play some awful tricks and really get us going, often in panic. In the middle of an anxiety episode our thoughts are no longer in focus. The slightest thing can trigger off a panic attack or even muddled and frightening thoughts. Don't try and make yourself remember. Does it matter? Just go about as normally as you can. As you get less tired the feeling will go. Another one of anxiety's tricks. My problem was when I was driving I suddenly didn't know where I was and where I was going. Yeah!!! Honest!!! Memory soon returned but it was frightening at the time. We do some ridiculous things when in anxiety state and the secret still lies in ACCEPTANCE. Once, when in anxiety I was sitting reading a newspaper in a lay by. (for our US readers that's where you can pull in off the road!), and I read about a guy who had died in a lay by. I couldn't get out quick enough. Totally illogical, but tell me that at the time!! Don't judge yourself by how you feel now.

Hi. Butterflies. Palpitations were what triggered my anxiety many years ago, in fact over 30! I was at work and it frightened the life out of me. I wore out all the ECG machines in the County, and I still didn't believe them. Palps are one of the worse symptoms in anxiety because they are frightening, I still get them if a bit up tight, but just accept them as me. It's how I react to stress. We all have our most susceptible organs and it can be headaches, joint pains etc. Very few get all the symptoms at once. Once you calm down they will go, but can recur when you are stressed or worry overmuch about them. Once again, the old ACCEPTANCE comes in. Let the palps come. When you have been checked out just accept them as another little frightener in anxiety's box of tricks. Electrical impulses from the brain to the heart are put out of kilter by stress. Your heart does not actually skip a beat but has a double beat to make up for the lost one.

Hi. JG421. Your doctor does not seem concerned and neither should you be. It is still a big surprise to me that very few of us recognise that anxiety has a wonderous box of tricks. ANY part of the body can be affected. Feeling unable to walk properly is but one. The limbs get weak from constant anxiety. Ever the strongest of men and women fall for this feeling. The expression 'My legs went like jelly' gives it away. Before a big job interview or a hospital appointment this can happen. But when we begin to worry about it overmuch it becomes chronic. It always passes if we accept that it is anxiety. Of course the doctor is stumped. There is very little training in medical schools about anxiety and it's affects. My doctor told me this, but fortunately he had been there himself and knew what it was like. Have your MRI then. when told you are OK, as you will be, try and ACCEPT it for what it is.

Yeah MOM. You are right. It was stupid to Google Dr. Google. There is nothing but negativity on there and is best left well alone. For reassurance and advice go to the only person who is trained to deal with such problems. Your GP!! I know we are all afraid to go there, well most of us are, but it's the only way to get some relief from the constant worry. All the questions you ask I am incapable of answering. I'm not medically trained, neither is anyone on here as far as I know. Your friends doctor has obviously seen such a condition before so he/she would hardly give such advice if he/she though it a real problem. We panic so easily and it sets off a train of anxiety/ symptoms/fear/ anxiety. Take it easy. Get checked out and get reassurance.

Hi. MOM. I am so sorry you are back in the old anxiety spiral. Fear/anxiety/symptoms/fear. First of all you are NOT losing your mind. How could you come on here with a very lucid post if you were? You are having counselling and that is good, but it takes time. We can all relate to your problem. It is such classic anxiety! Poking and prodding and seeing if it's getting worse is not good. But you know that. As to your GP sending you for scans it's because they have to be seen to be taking the best care. So many get sued these days for neglect that they are wary of not doing enough. Once again, this death phobia is very common and is all part of the 'what ifs'. It's called 'catastrophising'. Everything is negative. It's the glass half empty. I doubt any one of us has not felt this at some time or another. Look after yourself and your kids. TRY and ACCEPT for the time being that you are in a nervous condition and symptoms will arise.

Hi Anonymous. Don't get alarmed or fearful. That will just add to the problem. When you say your brain shakes you mean your head. Now one thing that comes up every time in anxiety is that it can mimic any known disease and many conjured up ones. This is not realised enough, especially in health anxiety. Feelings such as yours can be caused by stress or some problem in your life. For reassurance see your GP. Dizziness, unsteadiness and head problems can all be anxiety. The more you think about it and worry over it the worse it will get. TRY and accept it as part of being human and having feelings and emotions.

Hi. SRM. MARC is right. It has nothing to do with firearms but a lot to do with medication. Some meds can suppress the libido, and it is often frustrating for one or the other partner. Your wife may have read somewhere that guns can be an extension of the male ego, being like a phallus. But you are on a lot of medication and a doctor's advice is needed. Have you spoken to your GP about this?

THIS IS AN ANXIETY WEBSITE NOT AN ADVERTISING PLATFORM. COME ON YOU MODERATORS,

Hi. Holls. It's good to see some of the old hands have not deserted us. You have made significant posts over the years and have helped me for one, and no doubt many more. We don't hear from Gilly anymore which is a pity. She also was such a help. Time goes by so fast and people come and go. Anxiety will and is becoming a major problem in most countries. We have yet to see the full impact yet. Being isolated for so long has affected so many people. Now take care, and very best wishes to you. Good to see you again.