Symptom Overload

[hopefuljen]

I have gone through this session many times, I have done the relaxation tapes and yet I continue to obsess over my body symptoms. Every little thing is a symptom of some fatal disease. Right now, I am obsessing over chest pain. I've had the pain for a few days now and it comes and goes (usually comes on strong for a few minutes and goes away for a few minutes and returns). I am 35, female, have low blood pressure, low cholesterol so beyond excessive stress cannot logically see why it would be a heart attack but then I ask myself if I should get it checked out. What if I am one of those people who assume it can't be a heart attack and dies because you didn't get to a hospital. I cannot stop thinking this way and it is driving me crazy. This has happened like 3 other times before in the last 10 years. I end up going to the hospital to reassure myself. What do I do? I am at work at the moment and drinking chamomile tea, doing my very best to stay calm but not much seems to be working...

[hopefuljen]

Well, just goes to show panic is an amazing thing and so is the power of thought. Amazing how my rational self 100% knew that it was panic, but yet found it difficult to convince my emotional self otherwise. I did manage to talk myself down on my own, convince myself I was not having a heart attack (it took a few long hours but did it nonetheless) despite the continuing chest pain (it has continued but after relaxing it has dissipated a bit, sure in a few days it will be gone). I am proud of myself for that. It is frustrating to feel myself back to a place I felt I had left but now I am combining this program with psychotherapy so hoping that it can stick this time around. I need to learn to concentrate on the positive and not on some imagined future. This I know but find it incredibly difficult. Any tips on how to shift your thoughts? I think later sessions concentrate on obsessive thoughts. Looking forward to getting there.

Thanks for listening.