The Machine Was Fine!

A 63-year-old retired man came to see me because his defibrillator kept firing painful shocks.

His cardiologist couldn't find anything wrong with the device. So he sent him to me. The man wasn't happy about it. As far as he was concerned, this was a physical problem.

When I sat across from him I wasn't looking at his heart. I was looking at him. He had gambled away everything he had saved for retirement. He had to move into his son's house. He had been drinking for years. His defibrillator was firing three to four times a week. It started with flushes, feeling of suffocation, dizziness — then palpitations that triggered the painful shock.

His defibrillator wasn't malfunctioning. His body was having panic attacks severe enough to trigger a cardiac device. He came in talking about the machine. The machine was fine.

The body will say out loud what the mind has decided it cannot afford to know.

What is your body telling you that your mind refuses to hear?

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