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Stress Management for BP Reduction
Heart & Blood Health | Last Active: Mar 14 9:43am | Replies (9)Comment receiving replies
I love this! I recently had a heart attack and was not aware or made aware that this battle w anxiety would be somthing I would possibly face..The anxiety I'm experiencing is awful and it comes and goes..I'm trying find a way to control and beat it w out using more Meds..I like the fact that your scheduling and keeping yourself focused on doing and adding things to your daily routine..thank you for this advice!!
Replies to "I love this! I recently had a heart attack and was not aware or made aware..."
It's really difficult managing anxiety after a heart attack or other medical condition... I have a chronic health condition, and in working with my therapists, PTs, and doctor (she is an integrative physician, which helps), I learned that medical trauma--meaning a traumatic stress response after a major health event or development of a chronic condition--is very common. But of course, it's not really something that specialists bring up, and if you do, they tend to want to throw more pills at it. But just after hearing from my care team that it's normal helped a lot.
I have POTS, and it's a condition that causes my heart rate to shoot up, which then causes symptoms of anxiety. It was worse when I didn't know what the problem was, but even now that I do know what the problem is, just being hyper-aware of it has the paradoxical effect of making me anxious because I worry about knowing what to do if it happens. And hyper-vigilance is a symptom of traumatic stress lol, so my doctors basically taught me to be hyper-vigilant, but when it goes too far, that's a problem too.
It's not a bad thing to use medication for it if you need it, but if you can incorporate even just 5 minutes a day of breathing practice or mindfulness, over time, it can really help. It doesn't even have to be complicated. My PT just taught me to focus on what's around me, i.e. there's a technique called 5-4-3-2-1, where you name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can smell, 2 things you can touch, 1 thing you can taste. Just the act of focusing on a specific thing can stop the swirl of the over-activity in the amygdala. It's the same part of the brain that gets overactive with both pain and anxiety, which is why it's so common that one can exacerbate the other.
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I understand that anxiety is a huge factor after a heart attack, or any serious health issue. I'm glad you are looking for ways to cope.
How is your physical recovery going? Have you found any source of relaxation, like deep breathing, soothing music or coaching that can help you when the anxiety occurs? Does distraction help you (it helps me when pain threatens to overtake me!)
If you are still in cardiac rehab, they can often refer you for a few sessions with a coach or counselor to get you started. Can you ask your cardiologist?
Sue