Struggling to trust my body

[anberry]

When I start entering into what I refer to as a "anxiety spell" which is not really an anxiety attack, but just kind of racing thoughts and feeling weird, I start becoming very worried about my bodies internal processes. I feel the urge to control my breathing and worrying if my heart will stop beating randomly. I have a hard time letting my body do its thing and I feel the urge to control everything. Like I know our bodies sometimes make mistakes (by creating genetic mutations and such) and I become scared that some process will go wrong and all of a sudden my heart will fail to beat.

Is this very common? Any advice on how to give up this feeling of need for total control over my body?

[mtalton]

although difficult at times, base your reaction on the facts on the body. Even if you are in a coma, the body knows how to control breathing. it does not need your to help any more than blinking.. affirm that you are healthy and you have a strong heart.. try guided meditation or relaxation to control breathing making sure you affirm that you are healthy. you could have a professional relaxation therapist guide you through it and record a affirmation on your smart phone that is specific to you. you could then play it through whenever you needed it.

[gypsylee]

The heart doesn't just stop beating for some random reason :) I've been pretty rough on my body in terms of drinking, smoking and drugs, and my heart is still pumping away. These internal processes are very clever and hardy. Go and have some tests if that helps put your mind at ease.

All the best,
Gypsy

[danielhermanson]

There is a very powerful process which works in the subconscious part of the brain that keeps our internal organs working all the time and this process is very important when sleeping because our conscious mind is not active. Nobody can modify consciously this process because we are build this way. You may think you can stop your heart beats or breathing but trust me this is not possible.

To avoid having this attacks try and never concentrate on your heart beats and breathing. If you can not stop this, when the attack is starting try and shift your focus on other things and make your mind very busy. For example try and count backwards very fast or learn to count in other language like german and concentrate counting fast. I use this technique where ever I feel anxious, I learned a little bit of german and start counting to make my brain focus on something else. I suggested german because it is quite hard to count in this language and this will put your brain to work. But you can learn other language that you might like, chinese language why not.

You can also learn a poem or a story, anything you like to keep your brain concentrated on one specific task that is not related at all with the triggers of your anxiety.

Take care!