PSA test result anxiety is like (fill in blank) anxiety

In the world of anxieties, where does PSA test result anxiety fit in? What other kinds of anxieties, the kinds that we all have, is it most like?

Perhaps this is more than just an idle question. Matching PSA test anxiety with another anxiety or anxieties that we have had in the past, and that we learned to cope with, may provide us with a possible coping option for the PSA thing.

That is, if we realize that PSA test anxiety turns out to be pretty much similar in our minds to another anxiety in the past for which we developed effective coping strategies, then it may be possible to employ those same strategies usefully in coping with the PSA test anxiety.

For example, "... waiting to find out if I got the job or not was very stressful, but I came up with coping strategies for dealing with it. Maybe those same strategies will work for me as I wait for PSA test results."

Of course not all anxieties present the same stressors. Level of stress, kind of stress, how long the stress goes on, etc., will vary from anxiety to anxiety. But if you had coping strategies for a similar anxiety you had in the past, maybe you can indeed apply them when it's PSA test time.

Here, for example, and off the top of my head, are some anxiety situations we have all likely faced in the past, most of us probably more than one of them, and for which we learned to cope. Would the way you dealt with one or more of them by helpful when awaiting PSA test results?

Will I get the job?
Will I get the promotion, raise?
Will she accept my marriage proposal?
Wife's in labor, will she/child be okay?

It's interesting to note that so many of the outcomes of such situations can be framed in a yes-or-no context. Will things be okay or not? But isn't that true as well, really, for PSA test results most of the time? They'll either be okay or not. Yes-No.

So what do you think? Ask yourself if the way you handled a particularly stressful situation in your own past might provide a model for dealing with PSA test result anxiety now, and post and tell us how that worked.

Just had another thought about this, one that might work into the thread theme of coping with PSA anxiety.

On the following scale, how would you rate your own PSA test anxiety?

0(none at all)....................................................10(blows my mind)

Then maybe rate some of your other anxieties using such scale numbers, and then compare them all together.

Maybe for some of us putting such numbers on our anxieties and comparing them together in this way might make for some psychological control of them.

PSA test results are largely out of our control. I still get anxiety, but for me, the more tests I have the less anxious I get.

btw, Jack/guffaw why don't you just stick with one user name. It's not like you're fooling anybody.

My whole life, my sister’s suggestion for dealing with anxiety has been to ask herself, “What’s the worst that can happen?” (She says that always clams her down)

Her way don’t work for me, I can tell you that.

81GyGuy said...

What other kinds of anxieties, the kinds that we all have, is it most like?

It is very similar to the situation dating (before married) where something went wrong and the rubber broke. The legalese fine print on the side of the box says, "If the rubber breaks, your guarantee runs out".

I will second mattam's thought that "...the more tests I have the less anxious I get." Have found that with testing monthly (for uPSA doubling time calc and SRT decisions), I don't get as much anxiety, and it's getting routine. The lab readings are going to be whatever they are going to be...

Robert

I would have to say the PSA anxiety is very high. Especially in the last month before the three month checkup. I know the anxiety is higher when a family member has been diagnosed with a serious, debilitating ailment. Such as when your daughter stops by to tell you she has breast cancer. Fortunately, it was knocked out with surgery and radiation. Anxiety off the scale. Now they have done a biopsy of uterine growth. Hello anxiety my old nemesis.

For me this is much much worse.

In my adult life I've been out of a job maybe 5 times. I've never sweated about getting another one. Why, I'm a confident arsehole.

The first 3 years or so on lupron I was pretty confident about PSA tests.
But then I went on ADT vacations only to have my PSA rise exceptionally fast.
Scares the you know what out of me.
I have 38 more days until my next test and I think about this carp constantly.
When will Lupron stop working?
It's been almost six years on this carp, I'm overdue for it to stop working.
The average is 2-3 years.

Sharing too much, sorry. To answer your question again, much much worse than finding or losing a job.