3 ms·

Well, reading yours made me feel less crazy. I feel like you don't hear about this aspect of mental illness that often. It's like a weird cross-section between

Well, reading yours made me feel less crazy. I feel like you don't hear about this aspect of mental illness that often. It's like a weird cross-section between anxiety, hypochondria, and OCD (which I hadn't considered before). My doctor referred to it as "hypervigilance" and it seems like there is plenty of literature out there concerning it. This study actually looks pretty interesting: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862826/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862826/ I stopped actually counting my pulse a while back. It wasn't exactly willful... more like I just don't want to know because it's probably artificially high and it's not like I've ever felt better after checking it anyway. I know I'm in good health, which is where the "I'm not dying, just a little crazy" thoughts come in. When it gets really bad most of my energy is spent remembering that I can do things like ride 16km and feel just fine, despite feeling like I can't breathe and my heart is going to jump out of my chest and my nerve endings feel like they're on fire. Xanax has been recommended to me but I'm very reluctant to start down that road. I can't really justify why, it just seems slightly scary or somehow unpleasant. Also, you're right. I should communicate with those around me a little better. It gets very awkward trying to explain an attack away. Thanks for talking!

fb03 8y ago
> Well, reading yours made me feel less crazy. Btw, I believe my wording made you think that somehow I said that you're crazier than me ahhaah and I feel better because I know there are 'crazier people than me'. English is not my first language, so sorry :-) What i really meant is that it feels good to know there are people going through the same stuff, because usually when we are having these symptoms, we tend to feel really alone ("why does this only occur to me?"), which is wrong -- there are lots of people going through this. Don't be scared of Xanax, I took it for two years and it really helped. It won't cure you, but it will do better: if you're struggling too much (daily) it will give you some time off to reorganize your thoughts and understand the whole situation (when you're in panic you're not able to have a logical train of thought, right?). And with better understanding comes better mental tools to deal with it (reassurance, previous experience, etc). Have a good one!

fb03 8y ago

> Well, reading yours made me feel less crazy. Btw, I believe my wording made you think that somehow I said that you're crazier than me ahhaah and I feel better because I know there are 'crazier people than me'. English is not my first language, so sorry :-) What i really meant is that it feels good to know there are people going through the same stuff, because usually when we are having these symptoms, we tend to feel really alone ("why does this only occur to me?"), which is wrong -- there are lots of people going through this. Don't be scared of Xanax, I took it for two years and it really helped. It won't cure you, but it will do better: if you're struggling too much (daily) it will give you some time off to reorganize your thoughts and understand the whole situation (when you're in panic you're not able to have a logical train of thought, right?). And with better understanding comes better mental tools to deal with it (reassurance, previous experience, etc). Have a good one!