[mandatory "i relieve my hysteria the old fashioned way" joke]

Yes, and both times eventually developed into a major cardiac event. The first resulted in racing palpitations that were the impetus for implanting the defibrillator in my chest, and the second instance was accompanied by a heart attack. This may be hardwired into our systems, much like the euphoria that accompanies drowning and asphyxiation.

Hmmm. I've felt a huge, hysterical crash AFTER the calamity didn't happen [read: my wedding(s)], and I've felt an odd Zen calm while IN a semi-calamity [read: ridiculously unprepared for student council speech in front of school, which didn't kill me but was REALLY not helpful].

I had another anxiety-inducing moment this morning, which thankfully I can recognize as such. It's funny; most of the time I'm very laissez-faire about threats to my life and sanity, e.g. "Okay, so the tiger's comin' at me -- just come eat me already." (I'm sure I would feel differently in the moment...) The rest of the time, I overanalyze little things so that they really do drive me crazy.

Maybe I'm not the best person to answer this question. At any rate, good on ya :)

yeah, glad you came out on the better side there

[mandatory "i relieve my hysteria the old fashioned way" joke]

By removing your uterus?

Eideteker: hysteria.

I had surgery over the holidays that was pretty sure to be routine but I was nervous about anyhow. After the year of losing my dad and having to manage a lot of stuff, I was not ready to deal with anything other than smooth sailing but I couldn't really put it off any longer. I have this irrational simultaneous feeling that I am both going to be fine and die when stuff like this happens. At best, though, I thought I'd be in a lot of pain for a while and bla bla. As it turns out the whole thing went swimmingly and I healed up much more quickly than I'd thought I would. And I wasn't just happy about this, but I was pleased and sort of manic about it and it was only then that I sort of realized [or admitted to myself?] how scared I'd been that it would be worse.

Damn, I feel like I must be abnormally Zen like.

Yes, a couple times. Oddly enough it was almost as unfun as the situations leading up to it.

Have you ever felt hysterically relieved?

In the past relief from hysteria meant excision of the uterus.
/a little medical history humor... well, a little try at humor, anyway.

Damn, Eideteker beat me to it! Whoa!!

Hysterically relieved. My word. That is my exact state this morning. Alternately laughing and wondering if I might throw up.

Haahahhhahaha. Whee.