Accepting irrational thoughts , YOURE IN CONTROL

[Kevin160]

Regardless of my thoughts these past years , all my fears were not real

It was 5am , i had left hand numbness and pain , i could barely think straight , i was panicking and my bp was like 150/90 or something on my bp home device, i was so hyper measuring it every 2 minutes, waking up my mom and telling her im having a heart attck , she held me and told me go to sleep beside me its ok , your thoughts dont have to be true ..just because they are in control now doesnt mean u cant sneak up from behind and realize when to know that you are fine , she made me realize all the scary thoughts i got whenever i seen a show or thought of a horror movie , or a story i was told , it all gets to your head and you only have to get logic , im young and healthy , i am a severe hypochondriac , realized that the only reason we become stressed is because we are afraid of whats next , just knowing that its not that easy to get a heart attack or its not that simple for your fear to become a reality , will help up big time , knowing that i dont have any risk , young , active and all sort of stress is just causing this panic attack , and getting support will calm me , im just shaking thinking of those days , i still suffer but its far less intense

[Calm_mama]

Hi Kevin,

You will be OK.

Ditch the BP monitor- you are 17 and do not need to check your BP Go put it on Ebay right now and have a ceremonial funeral for it Taking any measurements (BP, pulse, etc) reinforces anxiety. It's called "reassurance" and anxiety loves it- it keeps it awake and in 5th gear. Resist the urge to check these kinds of things and when your anxiety kicks and screams at you to check check check practice the correct reaction: "Oh anxiety. Always looking out for me. Always predicting the worst! We're OK. Not checking so give it up." This takes so so so much practice but you can do it.

So many have been through what you are going through. And come out the other side. Have you checked out the resources on my profile? They are awesome. Free therapy. But get into therapy with a good therapist too.

We're here for you

[Sunnidayz1 in reply to Calm_mama]

Aww..Kevin I didnt realize that you were 17! You are so young. I might have been too tough on you. Keep doin what you are doin buddy you will ok.

Listen to Calm_mama sounds like she knows you and can help you.

[Kevin160 in reply to Sunnidayz1]

Its fine , i understood where you were coming from and you only wanted to help , i actually realized that i was too caught up of talking about every single detail in hopes of getting rid of my problems quicker that i overdid it a bit, thank you though

[Sunnidayz1 in reply to Kevin160]

You're welcome

K cool

[Kevin160 in reply to Calm_mama]

Thank you do much calm mama , you are absolutely right , for me it was even when i realized im fine, it became scary for me to just go on with my day like everything is fine , it also happened in the same week where my mom had her annual mammogram and she got a cancer scare that its back , later turned out to be benign, so it was just scary for me to go on like its fine , worrying that what if i go out and these thoughts start racing , whenever i would go out I would panic over general or irrational fears and it became super frightening and i couldnt even recognize if its in my head anymore , but i feel much better after talking about it , for example i realized its normal fo bp to spike when stressed , and i realized even with stress i doesnt spike so high only when i have severe panic attacks or when im too hyper putting it on ofcourse it wont be accurate , i have a good support system i guess to , and yes i will check the references you have thank you for everything.

[Kevin160 in reply to Calm_mama]

Your idea of the bp monitor is super great , too bad its for my mom but im done using it , its been a while since i last measured it and even the last times i did it was good , i try to resist the urge of checking when my brain is like “what if it spikes what if there is an attack coming , you will find out” but i started worrying less and less each time , and The thought itself became less scary. Also seeing people here with the exact problems surprised me because i thought before all that what kind an idiot does that to himself not knowing that its actually some5hing that happened to so many people before And it was so relatable hearing peoples stories like kt was my own , otherwise i would have been so much worse off now