It gets easier to manage the further out you get from your PE, but I will say it is not at all uncommon for people to make lots of trips to the ER, learn there's nothing wrong and then feel you're losing your marbles. I think there's a balance between being aware of your body and being hyper vigilant about your body. The hyper vigilant stuff is anxiety driven. And the anxiety symptoms can mirror PE symptoms, and so it's like a cycle. I actually saw a counselor briefly to help me get a handle on the anxiety. That helped me greatly. I also practiced a lot of body scan meditation which you can google and you'll see how easy it is to do. That helped me get in touch with my body, what I was feeling, but then also the ability to not fixate on what it was I was feeling.

Also, I think distractions are really important. The more you start doing and getting out and hanging out with people, you'll find your self awareness starts to lessen.

Another thing that I would do is simply remind myself, over and over again if necessary, that I was on anticoagulants so the risk of getting new clots was super low, that if there was a risk the clots were still growing and traveling, the doctors would have never released me from the hospital. You really have to sometimes talk yourself off the ledge, even if you don't always quite believe what you're saying. Pretend you do, until you do believe it.

Hang in there. It really does get easier as you go along and seriously, I can't even tell you how many people I know through this group have been to the ER many times in those early days. It's kind of a rite of passage. Been there myself.

Thanks for that great advice mb.

Even having you mention its a right of passage to visiting er frequently in the beginning even gives me peace of mind . Thank you.

I will look into the counsellor for anxiety and the body scan meditation .

what year did you get your DVT PE ?

In 2007. The first 2 monthe after were the hardest. Then by month three I started physically feeling better which helped me feel like, ok, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Within 6 months I felt back to normal although my DVT leg still bugged me but other than that, the only residual stuff I have from the PE is the cold weather and humid weather kind of irritate my lungs.

I have reclotted after 4years and I agree with rmb. I am prone to Lung infections since my first round of PEs 4 yrs again alot of pneumonia and plurasy

If it's day time see ur gp but its always safe to go to see someone if ur worried

I did at least two return visits to the ER... one less than 24 hours after getting out of the hospital via ambulance! Every time I went, it wound up being anxiety.

I will say that it can be really hard for a while to decide what is worth a trip to the ER. In my personal opinion, if you're going to be up all night worrying about it, you might as well go get checked out and save yourself the hours of worrying. Otherwise, maybe give yourself some time, focus on something else, sleep on it, and see if you start to feel better.

Ultimately, contrary to what we all feel, it isn't necessary to monitor ourselves 24/7. This is easier said, than done, of course. For many of us, hypervigilence is probably what saved our lives in the first place and it is hard to turn that off once you're in recovery. We're convinced that we need to pay attention to everything ... and it is really, really difficult to turn that off.

I know that sometimes, even I know what is causing an issue, I'll still have irrational worry about it. I wrenched my leg once on a spinning chair. And, even though I KNEW why my leg hurt and I KNEW I was safe on anticoagulants, my anxiety/fear levels were up for several days until the pain started to die down.

Hang in there ... it does get better. @rmb had some fabulous suggestions for dealing with the anxiety. It really can take you over if you let it. If you take it on first, you'll feel more in control of everything.

Toss n turn I do believe it was my hyper vigilance that saved me 3 weeks ago but now really to focus on managing the anxiety while being on the look out for potential threat.

Thank you for your insight and encouragement,