shaggy82
03-17-2008, 04:00 PM
Hi all. I would just like to say that this will be a very long topic, so i understand if you dont bother to read it all. First i will talk about what happened to me today, and then i will talk about a book i red this weekend.
You can skip the book-part if you're not interessted.
1. Earlier today i felt fine. I've had allmost two weeks with only minor anxiety. i haven't really thought about it, and i have felt really good. Sure, my thinking is the same, my checking for pulse, heartbeat etc is the same. But not nearly as often as before. So, in other words, a really good week. Positive!
But at 19:00 today, i was watching tv. Just chilling after eating some food. And suddenly my heart jumped hard (and i mean hard) in my chest. Maybe 4-5 really hard and heavy beats, and then it cooled down and got normal again. I quickly sat up, and felt the anxiety rushing. I know my signals, so i tried to calm down as quickly as i could. The anxiety after was allmost non-existing, but the sudden heartbeat still freaks me out. Why do i have these beats? Why wont it go away? Is it something dangerous?
The good thing is that i didnt get attack. I allways got attack after these really hard beats (and they are slow also). Im still scared, but i dont get attack anymore.
I would really be happy if there is someone out there who has the same thing, and can tell me. Its really troubling me and i cant stop thinking this is serious.
2. And now for the book. I red a book this weekend, written by a norwegian doctor. In 1995 he started the only hypocondrial pratice in the world. And since that, he has written 4 books about cognitive therapi used with hypocondric people or anxiety. The reason why i read it was that my psychologist recommended it for me last session. She thinks that my anxiety is real, im scared of dying. But my heartproblems are hypocondric. And that got me thinking. But in stead of blowing her claims away, i red the book. And i want to share it with you. Not because i think it will make everything better, but because i found some interessting points.
First off all, the book is kinda about the King of Norway. The doctor started getting interessted in our country's King, after he was diagnosed with cancer in 1998. Of course he was scared, and thought he was going to die. But the difference from other people was what he said in the interviews in the media later. On his way to surgery he said:
" Im worried, of course, but i think its going to be all right. I trust the doctors here."
This atitude is hard to have. At least for me. I have allready heard from 1 doctor and 1 psychologist that i have anxiety, and still i have doubts.
The King was also interviewed after the surgery, asking if was scared that the cancer would come back. He responded:
"I dont think about that."
Of course, he knows this could happen but he dont want to use his time thinking about that until it happens. And he adds:
"I have an atitude saying that im healthy until the opposite is proven"
This is the opposite of mine thinking. Im thinking that im sick, until i get proven wrong by doctors.
In a personal interview the King was asked he ever thought about death. He answered: "The only thing thats surtain is that when you are born, you are going to die. I have thought about death sometimes, but not often, and not for long a the time."
This must be a healthy way to look at death, in my mind.
The writer says: " You can't decide to be heatly of sick, but you CAN decide if you want to think about your health. We can all be KING in our lives, and dont spend to much time on what we cant do anything about."
He writes about one of his pasients:
- A 40 year old woman had a son, who went to Thailand. She had been SO worried for him when she knew he was on the plane. She ment that it was healthy to worry a bit, which was a method she had used before - with sucess. Now, not to worry was to gamble with their life!
I said to her "you must be some kind of superwoman?". No, she said, im normal, and she laughed. I couldn't understand that. I told her "if its true that you, just by worrying, can keep an airplane in the air all the way over in Asia, you must be pretty mighty!" She laughed and i think she got the point. She agreed to not take any sorrow in advance, just like the King.
This is maybe not the way I personally think, but i found that i think like this about my self. If it really is a heart problem, then what can I do about it? If i can't trust my doctor, who can i trust? My selfe - with no medical background what so ever?
I realize now, after reading this book, that i need to be the King in my life. I have a choice what to believe and how much energy i will put in my thoughts about heartproblems. I think that the reason why my attacks are allmost gone is this way of thinking that i refer to in the book. And also lot of experience, and education about what happens when i have attack.
Im sorry that this was a bit messy topic. It was harder to translate from norwegian and still keep the meaning than i thought. But i hope you see what i mean. For those of us who dont trust our doctor, who find new things to worry about, i hope you agree with with the writer of my book.
You can skip the book-part if you're not interessted.
1. Earlier today i felt fine. I've had allmost two weeks with only minor anxiety. i haven't really thought about it, and i have felt really good. Sure, my thinking is the same, my checking for pulse, heartbeat etc is the same. But not nearly as often as before. So, in other words, a really good week. Positive!
But at 19:00 today, i was watching tv. Just chilling after eating some food. And suddenly my heart jumped hard (and i mean hard) in my chest. Maybe 4-5 really hard and heavy beats, and then it cooled down and got normal again. I quickly sat up, and felt the anxiety rushing. I know my signals, so i tried to calm down as quickly as i could. The anxiety after was allmost non-existing, but the sudden heartbeat still freaks me out. Why do i have these beats? Why wont it go away? Is it something dangerous?
The good thing is that i didnt get attack. I allways got attack after these really hard beats (and they are slow also). Im still scared, but i dont get attack anymore.
I would really be happy if there is someone out there who has the same thing, and can tell me. Its really troubling me and i cant stop thinking this is serious.
2. And now for the book. I red a book this weekend, written by a norwegian doctor. In 1995 he started the only hypocondrial pratice in the world. And since that, he has written 4 books about cognitive therapi used with hypocondric people or anxiety. The reason why i read it was that my psychologist recommended it for me last session. She thinks that my anxiety is real, im scared of dying. But my heartproblems are hypocondric. And that got me thinking. But in stead of blowing her claims away, i red the book. And i want to share it with you. Not because i think it will make everything better, but because i found some interessting points.
First off all, the book is kinda about the King of Norway. The doctor started getting interessted in our country's King, after he was diagnosed with cancer in 1998. Of course he was scared, and thought he was going to die. But the difference from other people was what he said in the interviews in the media later. On his way to surgery he said:
" Im worried, of course, but i think its going to be all right. I trust the doctors here."
This atitude is hard to have. At least for me. I have allready heard from 1 doctor and 1 psychologist that i have anxiety, and still i have doubts.
The King was also interviewed after the surgery, asking if was scared that the cancer would come back. He responded:
"I dont think about that."
Of course, he knows this could happen but he dont want to use his time thinking about that until it happens. And he adds:
"I have an atitude saying that im healthy until the opposite is proven"
This is the opposite of mine thinking. Im thinking that im sick, until i get proven wrong by doctors.
In a personal interview the King was asked he ever thought about death. He answered: "The only thing thats surtain is that when you are born, you are going to die. I have thought about death sometimes, but not often, and not for long a the time."
This must be a healthy way to look at death, in my mind.
The writer says: " You can't decide to be heatly of sick, but you CAN decide if you want to think about your health. We can all be KING in our lives, and dont spend to much time on what we cant do anything about."
He writes about one of his pasients:
- A 40 year old woman had a son, who went to Thailand. She had been SO worried for him when she knew he was on the plane. She ment that it was healthy to worry a bit, which was a method she had used before - with sucess. Now, not to worry was to gamble with their life!
I said to her "you must be some kind of superwoman?". No, she said, im normal, and she laughed. I couldn't understand that. I told her "if its true that you, just by worrying, can keep an airplane in the air all the way over in Asia, you must be pretty mighty!" She laughed and i think she got the point. She agreed to not take any sorrow in advance, just like the King.
This is maybe not the way I personally think, but i found that i think like this about my self. If it really is a heart problem, then what can I do about it? If i can't trust my doctor, who can i trust? My selfe - with no medical background what so ever?
I realize now, after reading this book, that i need to be the King in my life. I have a choice what to believe and how much energy i will put in my thoughts about heartproblems. I think that the reason why my attacks are allmost gone is this way of thinking that i refer to in the book. And also lot of experience, and education about what happens when i have attack.
Im sorry that this was a bit messy topic. It was harder to translate from norwegian and still keep the meaning than i thought. But i hope you see what i mean. For those of us who dont trust our doctor, who find new things to worry about, i hope you agree with with the writer of my book.