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Feelings of anxiety post ablation

Heart Rhythm Conditions | Last Active: Sep 30 5:20am | Replies (23)

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Profile picture for gloaming @gloaming

Yikes. You almost certainly do not have a mental disorder, but you......may. The big thing in this new journey is to learn. Read, watch videos about AF and its treatments. Also learn about....YOU! This is another opportunity to find out what you're made of. Also, keep an open mind. If you are willing to learn, and can keep an open mind, you may have to accept that you DO have a mental disorder. It may be 'generalized anxiety disorder', a formal diagnosis in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental illness, probably edition 6 or 7 by now....you can google it).
Again, the way you get through this depends on your personality, and your propensity to put things off, to not want to know, or to be oriented completely opposite: you insist on knowing, learning, and being part of the decision-tree in your treatment. Your power in this is going to be in how you come across to any help you seek from other experts. If you are engaged, inquiring, focused, energetic, and determined to succeed, those experts tend to want to do well for you. But ya gotta listen, too, meaning keeping that open mind, even if you begin to hear things from them that you don't like!!! If you need time to digest what they say, say so! Go away, come back in a couple of weeks having learned more, pondered more, and with a decision about which option they place before you is your preferred one.
You are in what is called the 'paroxysmal' stage. It's early, and much more easily treated than if it is allowed to progress, which it will, to more advanced stages. So, get on top of your new 'friend' now, right away. It might mean medicine, it might mean a catheter ablation. But please do figure this out now while your disordered heart is going to be easiest to manage.

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Replies to "Yikes. You almost certainly do not have a mental disorder, but you......may. The big thing in..."

@gloaming Thanks! I was offended by that assertion! Even a well trained, and educated Physician would, most likely, become quite anxious, if, suddenly, out of the blue, they felt their heart flopping in their chest, seeming in distress, then couldn’t feel a heartbeat, along with pain in the left shoulder, that, along with feeling light headed. The anxiety from that for me, lasted a few days, and then I calmed down somewhat, but, that does not mean that I should be labeled, as having a generalized anxiety disorder, by my new Neurologist!! Oh, by the way, did I tell you that I majored in Psychology, in College!!