As some of you know from another thread, we just found out that my 86-year-old father probably has a large cancer in his liver, and we're caught up now in the series of tests and meetings that will lead us to whatever can be done about that. So we're all under terrible tension right now.
I'm the one who has to handle all this for my folks, so I've absolutely GOT to stay clear-headed and competent. But ever since we got this news, I've been having intense heart palpitations -- nothing really different from what I sometimes have normally, so I don't think they're life-threatening or anything, but now they're so strong and so near-constant that I often feel weak and shaky and disoriented.
I can't think or focus, I have no short-term memory at all... and here I am on the site at this hour, unable to sleep, even though I have to take Papa in for his biopsy early in the morning. This anxiety is making it impossible for me to keep up with the life-and-death issues I'm trying to deal with here, and I can't afford to make a mistake!
Does anyone have any ideas for getting this under control? I was taught to tense up and hold my breath when my heart starts thumping this way, and that used to work -- but now it has no effect at all. Are there any other tricks for this kind of trouble?
I'm the one who has to handle all this for my folks, so I've absolutely GOT to stay clear-headed and competent. But ever since we got this news, I've been having intense heart palpitations -- nothing really different from what I sometimes have normally, so I don't think they're life-threatening or anything, but now they're so strong and so near-constant that I often feel weak and shaky and disoriented.
I can't think or focus, I have no short-term memory at all... and here I am on the site at this hour, unable to sleep, even though I have to take Papa in for his biopsy early in the morning. This anxiety is making it impossible for me to keep up with the life-and-death issues I'm trying to deal with here, and I can't afford to make a mistake!
Does anyone have any ideas for getting this under control? I was taught to tense up and hold my breath when my heart starts thumping this way, and that used to work -- but now it has no effect at all. Are there any other tricks for this kind of trouble?