Life Flashing Before Your Eyes?

[Strelets]

This sounds kind of weird, but my hypochondria has come back in really full force since November and I can't tell what's anxiety and what's other stuff anymore when it comes to things I'm experiencing.


I'm wondering, does anyone else randomly get random flashes of things from the past, kinda like your life flashing before your eyes? It's hard to describe. I have a really intense fear of dementia/diseases like that, so I was initially a little bit relieved by remembering stuff and being able to recall it afterwards, but then I saw this article about how life flashing before your eyes is a survival mechanism that pops up when you're at risk of dying or something sometimes. Now I'm freaking out that things aren't okay.
I got a clean MRI a few weeks ago, and talking it out with people who were trained in reading MRIs were able to put away my fears for a bit, but I'm kinda confused now.
Does anyone else have this stuff happen to them?

 

[MATD]

Yes. The brain stores everything you experience, especially things that are stressful. I think you are experiencing “ normal” memory recalls that somehow relate to current happenings, thoughts or feelings. It’s pretty much what I’ve experienced myself. I could be thinking about something and some tiny element can bring up stored memories that relate and then I go on a rumination spree that’s like watching tiny bits of a hundred different movies, jumping from situations, to feelings, to memories. Just a big jumble of feelings, thoughts, memories from different periods of time that are loosely related. I think this is all typical for anxiety. And as to your being unable to tell if it’s anxiety or not, when we have anxiety, especially more moderate or severe, there is literally nothing that is not affected by anxiety, your mood, thought content, perspective, emotions, your physical body as a whole. In short, Anxiety is pervasive, there is literally nothing that escapes the influence of it. It is what we are, anxious. Anxiety is the fight or flight reaction to stressors. It is a survival instinct that has gotten out of control, your assessment about survival is on the mark. Anxiety is treatable, it is only disordered, negative thinking combined with low self confidence that causes it. It’s Inly Anxiety by Carl James and/or Hope and Help For Your Nerves by Dr Claire Weekes are excellent sources for anxiety recovery. Research these books and see for yourself.

 

[Cuchculan]

I sort of view life as holding many triggers. Triggers that remind us of various things that we might have done in our lives. Songs remind us of things. Greatest example of all. Might see a scene in a film and remember something from years ago. Might simply be walking down the road and get a memory pop into your head. A car, a sound, anything might have put that memory into your head. So many people connect certain past events with things. Once we start remebering something, we go through the full memory of it. Is harmless really. The mind doing what the mind does best. Remembering things from long ago.

 

[Strelets]

I sort of view life as holding many triggers. Triggers that remind us of various things that we might have done in our lives. Songs remind us of things. Greatest example of all. Might see a scene in a film and remember something from years ago. Might simply be walking down the road and get a memory pop into your head. A car, a sound, anything might have put that memory into your head. So many people connect certain past events with things. Once we start remebering something, we go through the full memory of it. Is harmless really. The mind doing what the mind does best. Remembering things from long ago.

See thats the thing. Sometimes it's caused by a trigger, and sometimes it's not. I'm more worried about the latter because it's random stuff and I can't honestly tell if it's something else causing it or it's just a response to a lot of stress over the past few months.

 

[MATD]

It’s anxiety brought on by stress. It is all too common for random memories to pop up. Not at all uncommon in an anxiety state. I suggest Dr Weekes book. You would be surprised at the tricks anxiety can play. Or you can go on like you are. You do have options.

Every one experiences memory recalls every day, they just don’t get excited about it, because it’s normal, we rarely take note of this. In a heightened anxiety state, we get fixated on things and start to fear and abhor them. That’s all that is going on with you.

Painful memories are probably the most common memories that pop up in the anxiety state. Once we recognize this, acceptance can lessen the impact these memories can still cause, and gradually, thru acceptance, we stop reacting to them and letting them affect us.

 

[FirstJack]

Absolutely. In my case it is related to a bad physical trauma. The events will sometimes just pop up and I compare the experience to watching a movie. It is always the same movie, an actual event, right down to details. This does not cause me any stress, and has not for years. But it is interesting that it happens. I don't know why it happens and I can't anticipate it. I think it may be the brain reminding of a similar situation that maybe needs to be dealt with cautiously.

 

[MATD]

Absolutely. In my case it is related to a bad physical trauma. The events will sometimes just pop up and I compare the experience to watching a movie. It is always the same movie, an actual event, right down to details. This does not cause me any stress, and has not for years. But it is interesting that it happens. I don't know why it happens and I can't anticipate it. I think it may be the brain reminding of a similar situation that maybe needs to be dealt with cautiously.

You may be right, and I’m glad you used the word “ cautiously.”

 

[Strelets]

It’s anxiety brought on by stress. It is all too common for random memories to pop up. Not at all uncommon in an anxiety state. I suggest Dr Weekes book. You would be surprised at the tricks anxiety can play. Or you can go on like you are. You do have options.

Every one experiences memory recalls every day, they just don’t get excited about it, because it’s normal, we rarely take note of this. In a heightened anxiety state, we get fixated on things and start to fear and abhor them. That’s all that is going on with you.

Painful memories are probably the most common memories that pop up in the anxiety state. Once we recognize this, acceptance can lessen the impact these memories can still cause, and gradually, thru acceptance, we stop reacting to them and letting them affect us.

Thank you! I'll need to check the book out. For me though it's not any like, painful memories for the most part. It's just random stuff that I haven't really remembered or thought about doing in years. Mundane, inane stuff. How a bathroom at a place I haven't been to in about a decade looked, being in church with kinda screwed up cuticles in the 2nd grade, being in a play in the 4th grade. Random stuff that flashes up and then goes. I'm not sure, like I said, if it's something else causing it or if it's a prolonged stress response (ie, my body's been so stressed that it's doing this).

 

[Nutmeg]

I have this happen, and it's been happening a lot more frequently this past year.
I'm telling myself that it's not that I'm losing my mind, and that it's more likely to be related to the amount of uncertainty we have in this current climate. The economy is disrupted, we're being constantly scaremongered about our health, and we've just spent two years trying to adhere to rules that don't always make sense and aren't always completely clear. It's understandable that we will be suffering mentally, we've been put through hell.