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Exposure work

for 11 år siden 0 +0 / -0 20

Hello Davit,

Thanks for all the insight! You mentioned some interesting points in there that I will have to try!

for 11 år siden 0 +0 / -0 6252

JustAdam

Being 62 I expect mine to be a bit high and I have the option of adjusting my medication if I want to so you see I have an out you don't. Just knowing I can fix it helps. I used to do this with my Ativan when I was getting off it. I'd carry it and never take it. Just knowing it was there worked. Not relevant to you again but there must be something you can do that will say everything is okay. I'm claustrophobic in my mind, not actually. So thinking about tight spaces bothers me where actually being in them doesn't. My answer is to say over and over, "I would never do that". Sort of like a mantra. Like the time during a very bad spell of panic attacks at night, I said I'm sick of this, go away, I'm not doing this anymore. Surprisingly it worked. That is when I started to realize the problem was me, but why. At about this time My Therapist told me about associated memory being able to trigger unrelated things purely by stimulating anxiety memories. It works like this. An anxious thought gets your heart rate noticeable and memory associates it with a fear thought and it goes round and circle and ends back in memory so it can do it again. Here it gets complicated. Thinking about your heart could be a distraction from some other anxious thought. If so and what it is doesn't matter as much as having a coping skill to get your mind off it. One of these is acceptance. Saying "Oh here you are again, I know what you are, you can't hurt me". Like other exposures, do it enough and it becomes subconscious.

Another is distractions: Saying "Hmmmm, what did I miss to cause this". This one gets your mind elsewhere than the problem. Again, do it often enough and it becomes automatic and subconscious.

Like my claustrophobia (sort of) If I go find what triggered it I can laugh it off by saying "I would never do that".

I have another trick for claustrophobia but it is not relevant unless claustrophobia is a subconscious trigger for your blood pressure. It is visualization. In my case, it is thinking I'm smaller than I am and the space is bigger. Visualization can work for anything. You can use all three at the same time and others here may be able to add something to this.

Sunny gets by with acceptance and relaxation techniques where I get by with acceptance and aggression towards it. (telling it to get lost and out of my life)

If you can check your pulse and accept that it is related to blood pressure, which you know is normal except in your mind, would that work to calm you.

Obsession is like having a song stuck in your head. To get rid of it you think about a different one. Even if it is only mildly less obsessive.

I don't know what the answer is, only what works for me and I'm so glad I have something that does because frankly when I had panic attacks they were very scary.

Davit

for 11 år siden 0 +0 / -0 20

Hello Davit,

I have tried repeatedly taking my blood pressure several times and every reading after the initial one is normal. I have tried this over an extended period such as everyday for a week. The problem is that I begin to obsess about it and I feel like I have to know what it is. Then if I am unable to take it the uncertainty makes me extremely anxious.

for 11 år siden 0 +0 / -0 6252

JustAdam

In my opinion you are doing this backwards. If you want to get your mind around this you have to treat it like a game. You know that if you concentrate hard and count slow you can lower your blood pressure. I use my machine to see how low I can get this. So now the machine doesn't bother me even in the doctors office. You can have control of this if you want to.

Davit.

for 11 år siden 0 +0 / -0 20

Shari,

Thank you for the advice. I will try to replace my negative thoughts with positive ones and see how that works! Im sure it will take a while trying to reverse years of negative thinking but it will be worth it in the end!

for 11 år siden 0 +0 / -0 1071

Hi Adam,

I identify with not being able to do exposure work on certain things also, because it's not on a regular basis. When I was repeatedly told that I had borderline hypertension, I was obsessed with thoughts about it. When I talked to other people and told them the numbers, which were your numbers, they all said, oh - that's not too high. In the States, they have changed the base blood pressure numbers, so everyone is now in a higher category which makes no sense. So, what was once normal is now considered borderline. I'm old fashioned or old school and I don't like it when they change things around when it used to be one thing for decades. To answer your question: Shift your focus to thinking about what your doctor said, that he is not concerned, and replace the negative thoughts with that positive fact of what your doctor said. And, over time, you will default to the positive thought and your negative thoughts will be background noise. The only way to counteract negative thoughts is to replace them with positive truthful statements and shift the focus off of the negative onto the positive. Over time the negative will become quieter or will go away altogether. It's repetition until you form the new habit, so every single time a negative thought comes in, replace it with a positive truth, as many times as needed, that's the key. It's the same with going to the doctor's office, whatever negative you're telling yourself, replace it with a positive truth. Example: Negative Thought, "I hope my blood pressure won't be high." Positive Replacement Truth, "My doctor is unconcerned, so I am unconcerned.", and believe it, that is another key, belief. It may sound simple or silly, but it works.

Shari

for 11 år siden 0 +0 / -0 20

Thanks for all the replies!

My doctor has told me I have white coat hypertension because everytime I went in there it was significantly high. Usually 150-90 He sent me for the 24hr blood pressure test which revealed mild daytime elevation. It did not help that everytime the cuff would inflate I would nearly have a panic attack! My doctor told me he is not concerned but treated me with medication and asked me to check it at home because the office readings are not a true reflection This is kind of wear my obsession began!

Whenever I check it at home the first reading sometimes is elevated because I am anxious and then all subsequent readings are normal. As for what scares me about not knowing my blood pressure is I feel like its something that I am in control of and that my frequent anxiety and stress episodes are causing damage to my heart/cardiovascular system and may cause a stroke or other complications in the future. And I feel that it would be my fault due to the inability to control my stress/anxiety.

I have tried not taking it for a month and it did relieve some of the obsessive thinking everyday. However when I did go to take it again the anxiety level was much higher than when I took it every day. So im kinda in a pickle either way! I guess I should focus on my underlying thoughts that are leading me to be anxious when its being taken. How do you go about reducing anxiety about going to the doctors office. You can not really do exposure work because I only have an appointment once every six months and its not frequent enough to unlearn the fear.

for 11 år siden 0 +0 / -0 2606

Hello Justadam,

Thank you for sharing this with us. Session 4 in the panic program is all about exposure work. It goes over some great information on how to unlearn fear, this session also explains how to do exposure work. Take a look at the session, there is also homework assignment for it. This could be helpful to better help manage this anxiety.

You have also received some great feedback from fellow members and Kaitie posed some great questions as well.

Samantha, Health Educator

for 11 år siden 0 +0 / -0 177

Hi Adam,

What Shari said about White Coat Syndrome is true :) One of my cousins needed a monitor on for 24 hours because she had it, and her results came back clear.

As for what is considered normal, when I was in hospital a few months ago for my panic disorder, my blood pressure was spot on 120/80 but my pulse was 140 beats per minute for the first few days I was in there. With blood pressure, what is considered 'normal' varies. If it mostly the 120/80 then there's not much to worry about, and for some people 130/90 can still be considered normal.

With my anorexia, knowing my weight affected my anxiety. I would always try to stay 5kgs under my goal weight. It was only once I started seeing my dietician a few years ago and she made me turn my back on the numbers, did I start to see results. Even now I refuse to have a set of scales in the house, the temptation is too much! Maybe that could help for you too. My dietician used to weigh me and then say whether or not my weight was going in the right direction. You could close your eyes when the doctor takes your blood pressure and then have them say whether or not there is cause for concern. It's hard at first, but eventually you will realise that it is okay not to know your blood pressure and for everything to still be fine :)

Dealing with the panic associated with this.. What exactly is it that worries you with you blood pressure? Why are you anxious about it being high? You can do the anxious thoughts sheets associated with your worries and whenever you feel anxious you can remind yourself of your challenging statement :)

Hope this helps,

Kaitie.

for 11 år siden 0 +0 / -0 1071

Hi Adam,

I had a similar situation. Before I lost 18 lbs., I had border line high blood pressure and when I went to the doctor's I would be concerned about it. I guess it was at a time, where I had a few things happen and had to go a few times in a row and it did cause anxiety. It's easier said than done, but what I did was just get my blood pressure checked at the annual doctor visit and not think about it in between. Did you know that when you're not feeling well, your blood pressure tends to go up and it's normal and also there is something called White Coat Syndrome which my Mom had. It simply means she had anxiety every time she went to get her blood pressure taken at the doctor's (doctor's wear white coats :) office. Her blood pressure would go up, because of her stress about it and that was considered normal too. Hope this helps a little.

Shari

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