Donna grew up surrounded by discussion of cardiac health and blood pressure.  When she started experiencing panic attacks, and the blood pressure spikes that naturally come with them, her struggle with health anxiety and an obsession with her blood pressure was ignited. 
For full show notes on this episode, visit https://theanxioustruth.com/142
Donna worked herself into a position where she was obsessed with her blood pressure.  She was continuously terrified and convinced that she was on the edge of a fatal blood pressure spike at all times. This obsession drove the compulsion to check and record her blood pressure many times each day.  To Donna, the compulsion to check her blood pressure was an attempt to soothe her fear and convince herself that she was safe, even when she was sure that she was not. She became a slave to the blood pressure monitor and was frozen by the irrational fear that she was in mortal danger at all time
In the end, Donna not only conquered her health anxiety and blood pressure obsession, but learned that she is able to handle all kinds of obstacles that life sometimes throws at us.  The lessons she learned while conquering her anxiety disorder gave her a strong foundation to stand on when things went south in her personal life.  Donna has passed through major relationship changes and a global pandemic and social upheaval and all the things we've all been subject to over the last few years, and she's out there enjoying her life and in her own words ... "living big".  
GO DONNA!
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Music Credit: "Afterglow" by Ben Drake (https://facebook.com/BenDrakeMusic) with permission