Member-only story
I Talk to The Root Cause of My Anxiety
3 Strategies that helped me manage my anxiety and get on with life
What's my story?
I was born with a congenital heart defect (CHD) called Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). They fixed me at age 5, but according to recent studies, the surgical repair should be done between 3 to 11 months.
That means I lived 5 years with a heart that had 4 defects. One of the symptoms is “TET spells”. Blue skin, nails, and lips because of the drop of oxygen after crying or feeding. Also called cyanosis.
My parents divorced when I was about 9 years old and we had to move. My father was an alcoholic and on occasion, he would beat my mother.
I had trouble in primary school. Mostly connected to my heart issues and one of them was trouble keeping in my pee. Some difficulty adapting to a new school in a new city and so on.
I joined the Police force in South Africa. This was 1989 and just before Nelson Mandela was released.
Anxiety free until then
Until the age of about 22, I had a few small anxiety attacks, but I overcome them, and I never thought it would be a big issue. I did not even really know what anxiety attacks were.