Home→Forums→Emotional Mastery→Something I realized about my anxiety attacks
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Tee.
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February 27, 2023 at 5:35 am #415882
Mr. Ritz
ParticipantI’ve had a few bad anxiety attacks (well, they’re all bad, right?)
It begins with heart palpitations and then moves on to a rapid heartbeat, around 160 bpm and sweating.Breathing exercises don’t work. Sometimes a Clonazepam or Xanax will help, sometimes not.
I’ve went to the ER twice with these symptoms, once with hospital admittance, and they find nothing wrong.
The other day it occurred to me that several of these attacks aligned with bad news, for friends and relatives, not me personally!
~My neighbor who grew up with my sons and I consider my adopted son, was telling us in great detail about the end of his marriage and divorce.
An attack.~My Mother in law coming down with a fairly serious illness.
An attack.~A family friend who’s husband has dementia and attacked her one evening.
Another attack.There have been others, but I only recently made the connection.
None of these events with friends and family were even on my mind! I didn’t consciously think about them at all after hearing the news, and they didn’t occur until later in the evening, hours after the news was delivered.
What does everyone think? I’m very surprised that this has affected me this deeply.
May 4, 2023 at 4:29 am #418169Mr. Ritz
ParticipantAgain last night!
A friend discovered a 90% blockage in his LAD and had 2 stents installed. 5 years ago I had an 80% blockage in the same artery and had a stent installed.
They call this one “The Widowmaker” because it can be fatal if completely blocked.
Anyhow, he’s fine now.I was sound asleep, but got up to use the bathroom last night and realized my heart was beating fast and uneven, and I was hot and sweaty. I took a Xanax to make sure it wasn’t due to the cough medicine I took before bed, and sure enough, within the next hour, my heart began to slow down and beat normally again.
Sounds like I’m some type of empath that absorbs the problems of other people that I know? Why would I be so affected?
Can anyone shine a light on this?May 4, 2023 at 6:13 am #418173Tee
ParticipantHello Mr. Ritz,
I am glad your heart palpitations calmed down after taking medicine, and that you’re fine now. As for why you react with a delayed panic/anxiety attack upon hearing bad news… I don’t really know. It seems you get triggered by bad news related to not only your family members, but also friends experiencing sickness or personal hardships.
Sounds like I’m some type of empath that absorbs the problems of other people that I know? Why would I be so affected?
Hmm empaths do absorb other people’s emotions, but they are also aware of those emotions. For example, upon hearing the bad news, I think you would immediately start feeling bad, worried, anxious etc. However, you say that it’s not the case with you:
None of these events with friends and family were even on my mind! I didn’t consciously think about them at all after hearing the news, and they didn’t occur until later in the evening, hours after the news was delivered.
Since you weren’t consciously thinking/worrying about the other person’s problem, I don’t think you’re an empath. For you, the reaction came hours later, completely unconsciously, sort of “out of the blue”.
However, what could be happening (this is just an idea) is that you might be suppressing your emotional reactions (because you might have a belief that “boys don’t cry”, for example). And so those valid emotional reactions come out to the surface in form of an anxiety attack?
Maybe this is a stretch, so please disregard if it doesn’t apply. But in any case, it seems like something is triggered – something that is beyond your conscious awareness. One possibility why things are beyond our conscious awareness is that they were not allowed to be expressed, typically in our childhood (say we weren’t allowed to cry or show weakness), and so we have suppressed them.
May 4, 2023 at 6:28 am #418174Mr. Ritz
Participant“Maybe this is a stretch, so please disregard if it doesn’t apply. But in any case, it seems like something is triggered – something that is beyond your conscious awareness. One possibility why things are beyond our conscious awareness is that they were not allowed to be expressed, typically in our childhood (say we weren’t allowed to cry or show weakness), and so we have suppressed them.”
That sounds pretty accurate. My wife on the other hand will show the emotions right away, where I don’t. I should feel it at the time, but I don’t. I wasn’t sad, I was surprised but glad.
This issue with my friend’s heart trouble is actually good news as they caught it in time. Having the same procedure done myself, I’m sure that he’s feeling better (still waiting on his return call).
Unlike me, he’s healthy, active, does not have high cholesterol or blood pressure and is not overweight.Maybe that’s the scary part? It could happen to anyone anytime regardless of taking precautions?
May 4, 2023 at 9:02 am #418178Peter
ParticipantI don’t think its a stretch. What your describing sounds a lot like repression which for sure trigger anxiety attacks. Not surprising a some part of you knows whey a larger part of you does not want to know – blocking flow – experienced heart palpitations and all the stuff assoicated with that.
My untrained guess is that the unconscious issue that you would prefer not to make conscious is something to do with the notion of death. If so facing your fear and concept of death, making that conscious should help reduce the number and or intensity of future anxiety attacks.
May 4, 2023 at 9:27 am #418179Tee
ParticipantHi Mr. Ritz,
That sounds pretty accurate.
Okay… so you’re aware that in your childhood you were not allowed to show emotions?
My wife on the other hand will show the emotions right away, where I don’t. I should feel it at the time, but I don’t. I wasn’t sad, I was surprised but glad.
I guess you did feel sadness (or fear, or anger) as a child, but have learned not to feel it, because that was safer?
Unlike me, he’s healthy, active, does not have high cholesterol or blood pressure and is not overweight.
Maybe that’s the scary part? It could happen to anyone anytime regardless of taking precautions?
Well, it can happen to anyone, however I believe there are still reasons. They don’t always have to be physical, such as high cholesterol, but there can be psychological reasons too, such as stress. And I believe that suppressing emotions can actually contribute to stress and cardiovascular problems… Anyway, I don’t think it’s that random. But that’s just my opinion, I tend to believe in the mind-body connection and a holistic view of disease…
May 4, 2023 at 10:47 am #418180Mr. Ritz
Participant[quote quote=418178]My untrained guess is that the unconscious issue that you would prefer not to make conscious is something to do with the notion of death. If so facing your fear and concept of death, making that conscious should help reduce the number and or intensity of future anxiety attacks.[/quote]
That may be close to the truth. I thought I’d made my peace with death, but maybe not 🙁 Our group of friends as well as us are all past 60, so it’s probably on my mind more than before.
Getting a new Psychiatrist so I’ll bring that up to her.[quote quote=418179]Well, it can happen to anyone, however I believe there are still reasons. They don’t always have to be physical, such as high cholesterol, but there can be psychological reasons too, such as stress. And I believe that suppressing emotions can actually contribute to stress and cardiovascular problems… Anyway, I don’t think it’s that random. But that’s just my opinion, I tend to believe in the mind-body connection and a holistic view of disease…[/quote]
That also should be true. This friend is one of the most relaxed mellow guys I know, but his wife is pretty intense. He may suppress some anger, but I’ve never seen him let it out.
May 4, 2023 at 11:22 pm #418195Tee
ParticipantHi Mr. Ritz,
That also should be true. This friend is one of the most relaxed mellow guys I know, but his wife is pretty intense. He may suppress some anger, but I’ve never seen him let it out.
Yes, it could be: if the guy is mellow and never stands up to his intense (probably angry, criticizing?) wife, it is likely that he has a lot of suppressed anger, which he isn’t allow to show. Maybe not even to himself. But the anger is building up and can cause high blood pressure, for example. Although you say he doesn’t have high blood pressure either, so that’s kind of curious.
In any case, I think it helps if we try to deal with those emotional blockages and let our emotions “flow” (best in therapy), because it might help prevent some of the physical symptoms too.
May 5, 2023 at 4:00 am #418198Mr. Ritz
ParticipantSo I’m wondering how to deal with this to avoid another incident?
If I’m not feeling any strong emotions when I hear the news, what am I supposed to do to avoid the anxiety later?May 5, 2023 at 8:41 am #418199Tee
ParticipantHi Mr. Ritz,
So I’m wondering how to deal with this to avoid another incident?
If I’m not feeling any strong emotions when I hear the news, what am I supposed to do to avoid the anxiety later?Well, you said that this suggestion of mine sounds pretty accurate:
But in any case, it seems like something is triggered – something that is beyond your conscious awareness. One possibility why things are beyond our conscious awareness is that they were not allowed to be expressed, typically in our childhood (say we weren’t allowed to cry or show weakness), and so we have suppressed them.
So if you have problems expressing emotions (let’s say fear), and it comes out indirectly, in form of an anxiety attack, then I guess you’d need to get in touch with that fear. It most probably stems from your childhood, so I think you’d need to work on some of your childhood memories (those that were hurtful) and process what happened to you.
You mentioned you’ll start seeing a new psychiatrist. Is she also offering counseling/psychotherapy? Because I guess that’s what you’d need if you want to address childhood issues.
May 7, 2023 at 4:35 pm #418367Mr. Ritz
Participant[quote quote=418199]You mentioned you’ll start seeing a new psychiatrist. Is she also offering counseling/psychotherapy? Because I guess that’s what you’d need if you want to address childhood issues.[/quote]
I am unsure but it said visits were 60-90 minutes. Any other Psy I have dealt with was 15-20 min.
May 7, 2023 at 10:52 pm #418368Tee
ParticipantHi Mr. Ritz,
I am unsure but it said visits were 60-90 minutes. Any other Psy I have dealt with was 15-20 min.
60-90 min is the usual appointment duration for psychotherapy. So that’s good, you’ll have an opportunity to talk about issues in more detail.
Wishing you luck! Let me know how it went, if you’d like to.
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