Receiving results in MEN1?
Here are 3 anxiety-reducing actions for you
Do you know that fluttery feeling in your tummy when an email enters your inbox, a letter comes through the post or your phone-screen reads ‘Unknown Number’ (though we do know exactly who it is…).
Time after time of opening my test results to see red dots all over the place, well out of reference range, numbers higher or lower than they should be, jargon which I just about understand (but still don’t really)…
It’d be enough to send me into the middle of next week (but leaving my fluttery tummy behind — rollercoaster style).
So one day, I asked myself, ‘does it really have to happen like this?’ ‘Is anxiety part of the diagnosis too?’
Not, I’ve discovered, if you know how to outsmart it.
Here’s how to turn your test results from anxiety-inducing to anxiety-reducing.
[Once you’ve opened your results, had a quick look through and potentially feel your heart rate quadrupling…]
- Take a breather
And I mean quite literally, breathe. Because I can guarantee you’ll be holding your breath, which tells your body to panic (if your mind hasn’t already got there).
2. Reach out to someone
Preferably the right someone who understands even the minutest bit about patient-life. They can help cut across your catastrophising thought-process (don’t worry — the min’s doing its job) and see the reality of what’s in front of you.
3. Let go of any attachment to the result
The human brain is wired to solve problems, to work out how this came about or what we could have done to avoid that. Fixation on what you can’t control is a recipe for misery.
After years of not doing this, I’ve come to see that anxiety is not part of my diagnosis. Of course, it’s a natural, instinctive response to a threatening situation. But exactly that — does ink & paper pose me danger?
Intrigued? Like, comment & share with any one who could do with reading this.
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