Worrying about heart

[kdubg]

Have been struggling with serious GAD for almost 2 years. I don't really get anxious about most things, accept my health. I'm on Zoloft and Xanax as needed. It's miserable. The main thing I think on is my heart. I'm 25 , see the doctor every 3 months, workout everyday, yet I still can't seem to get it out of my head. I've had EKGS and blood test done, and I'm told to be in perfect health. Still, everday( almost always when I lay down to go to sleep) I start freaking out and have to take a Xanax because I can feel it coming on. I had. A co worker did two years ago from a heart attack in his sleep, so I think that triggered it. But he was also 400 + pounds, and over 55 years old. But I fail to think rationally everytime I feel my heartbeat. I'm not asking for pity, but please for the love of god someone tell me that they are in my same shoes and understand what I'm going through. I hate feeling alone on this

[jhunter89]

You are definitely not alone. I had this a few weeks ago, luckily for me it went away after a few days but I'm scared of it coming back! I'm only 23, one day I decided to take a nap, I laid down and BOOM my heart started racing, I tried deep breathing, drinking water nothing was helping then my arm went numb and tingly, thought I was gunna die! It went on for a few hours and I told myself if it was a heart attack I'd probably be dead by now. It went on for a few days but it was worse whilst laying down trying to relax, I dreaded going to bed! But I just kept telling myself I was fine n I was just panicking and luckily *touch wood* it hasn't happened again.

[Fashoom]

It's really common and used to be one of my biggest fears. My dad had two heart attacks when I was a kid and then died of a heart attack at 57. The funny thing is I'm over 50 now and although I still have anxiety issues, I don't have a heart related phobia anymore. I'm sure you were deeply affected by your coworker's death. We have anxiety disorders so our minds can get very obsessive about a fear - even if irrational.

Two thoughts are - talk to your doctor about increasing your Zoloft dose. Have you tried CBT?

[kdubg]

Wow! This makes me feel better! I've tried therapy but I felt like the guy just showed me books rather than help me. My Zoloft dose is only at 100 mg though and I think my psychiatrist is working on upping it next week. I'm prescribed to ambien and only take half the dose (5 mg), but I don't like to take it because I worry about taking it. I know I'm a mess. Some days I'll feel great, when I'm thinking rational, and other days are a total wreck!

[fisher]

Hello,i dont see many posts about the heart but i have a heart phobia if thats what you call it,ever since i suffered with anxiety 10 yrs ago it stuck with me because i could always feel my heart beating and going fast with anxiety because of the anxiety it started a vicious circle,i couldnt slow my heart down,i was tuned into it,i had all heart tests they came back fine,but because i havnt had it checked for a few yrs i start worrying again, how do u cope with yours?

[kdubg]

It's pretty tough for me. Working out helps a lot because you realize " if I had a heart problem, I wouldn't even be able to work out". I get a lot of chest pain and sorness, and my doc says its all natural because I get so tense in the chest worrying about it. It kinda feels like my ribs are being poked, but you have to remember that theres muscles all over your body. I try to stay super busy, it just seems to get to me the most at night and when I had way too many drinks the night before. How's your sleeping? That's one of my toughest struggles

[salevietasia]

After all, I know a lot of people who are under a lot of stress.

[NatalieRegina]

I had this for a long time and only until recently did I found a solution (that worked for me). About a year ago, I was on Prozac (10 mg every other day) and I woke up one night with this awful neck pain. I mean it was like a charlie horse in my neck. I got up and ran into the bathroom, because I felt nauseous. As I was running into the bathroom, I fell to my knees on the cool floor (the pain was intense) and the cool felt so good. I called for my partner to come and help me and he ran in to check. I was fine, just a little sore and shaken.

What I'm saying in this mumbo-jumbo is that as I was 'falling' down, I realized:

#1: If anything really serious were to happen to me health-wise, I wouldn't be able to stop it.
#2: I can get the help I need, even if no one is near me constantly.
#3: I am able to take care of myself.

After laying there for awhile and then having some water and a heating pad, I returned to bed and slept the rest of the night peacefully. Later, I got off of the medication because it was causing me serious neckaches (an uncommon side effect) and I manage my anxiety naturally, but it was a good lesson to learn.

[ananxiousgirl]

You are not alone....not alone...

[jinxedau]

Your definitely not alone on this one.
I've forgotten how many Heart Attacks I've thought I was having. O_o

[lexi]

I have this one. When I was 18 my dad died suddenly of a heart attack he was 40 up untill then id never had a anxiety prob or panic attacks. This is where it all started for me and now as I head towards my 30s I'm convinced I'm gonna die from one

[superanxious]

I am in the same kind of fear. Last year, I had an allergy attack, well that was the doctor said. I had this burning sensation that started on my cheeks and radiated throughout my head for a couple of hours. My BP shoot up cos I was very scared and after a few minutes it normalized again. I was rushed to the ER and was diagnosed with hives but my mom insisted that I take a couple of tests the next day just to check that I don't have any heart or cholesterol problems. I am only 23 years old but married and has one child. Lipid profile was done as well as ECG. During the exams I was very very very anxious. Tests came back normal however, my ECG has this "old heart attack" thing there, which got me panicky once again. We saw a cardiologist and he told me I was fine. He just told me to quit smoking, stop drinking coffee and exercise and be mindful of my diet. He even told me that I can take a 2D-echo and Thyroid fucntion test ANYTIME that I want just to give me a peace of mind. So I did, my thyroid fucntion test was negative as well as my 2D-echo but since then, I started to have anxiety attacks and panic attacks.

Still, I am veyr concerned with my heart. I think I'm going to have a stroke or a heart attack. It's so scary. :(

[Manpie]

Me too, been to hospital loads of times for ECG's. That feeling though, has to be said, is horrific.

[costellocore]

I suffer the same problem. In fact it's mostly the fear of my own health and dying that triggers my attacks. I can't even take long road trips anymore because I'm afraid ill have a heart attack and be too far from a hospital to be saved. And I'm a 25. It's not fair that I can't get this fear away from by mind.

[rockett89]

Hi I'm EXACTLY the same but with cervical cancer I have had problems since having children I won't go into being a unisex forum!
I have had all kinds of tests and yes there's something not quite right but its nothing concerning this is what at least 6 drs have told me yet whenever I get a twinge or any pain the palpitations start and the horrifying daydreams of doom my mind jumps to who will look after my children? They won't remember me what if people tell them I was a horrible person and they get bullied.
It's irrational and ridiculous but its anxiety and any progress I've found takes time.

I too had it with my heart for about a year but tests etc came back clear and I did let it go. Hopefully once I'm diagnosed for my other issues I will relax a little. The hardest part is believing its truly JUST anxiety which can't hurt us. Xxx

[Enigma]

About the sleeping thing, why don't you try going to sleep with some relaxing music? Like Pandora Radio > Zen garden station. Or download the relax app. It's pretty good either one. That way you have your attention on something else.

[j_ozey]

I have this almost everyday.when my body just have any reaction or pain in my body i feel im have heart attack and start panic attack.how can get of rid of this paranoid thing.

[JayB4231981]

I have this bad and I never did until I developed GAD this has really ruined my life especially at nights when it's at it's peak. Along with having High BP and T2D im always paranoid being overweight and a smoker. Im only 31 but that still doesent mean im safe and I feel like the whole gloom and doom thing. Not sure how to shake this off, especially when I have lil chest pains and stiffness/pressure there almost every frickin night. All it's doing is creating extra stress which is prob causing alot of the symptoms.

[katelynn]

Coming from someone who has been 100 pounds overweight with very high BP and that used to smoke a pack a day...what really helped me honestly was having my life on the line. I was in ICU and I had days to think about turning my life around after lithium toxicity. Almost dying scared me enough to get my act together and be health conscious. Study, educate yourself about health. Look at food as energy, work out to calm your nerves and get energy. It is all worth it in the end. You have a long life ahead of you, so make the best of it! I hope you can obtain good health soon. Best wishes and good luck.

[kdubg]

Holy geez! I had no idea people were even reading this! It makes me feel much better. Thank you all so much. We're not alone! Keep in touch!

[sandyrdh1]

Holy geez! I had no idea people were even reading this! It makes me feel much better. Thank you all so much. We're not alone! Keep in touch!

Sure we are:) we are all here to support each other:)

[BiBiDoll]

My grandpa had a heart attack(died from cancer) and my father died of a heart attack he was only fifty. Long story short I never got to meet my dad and ever since I found out and was able to meet my family on my dads side I stress out thinking I might have a heart attack with every uneven beat or jump. Arm numbness or pain and I think I'm having one. I constantly think I have something fatal going on with the most simple\stupid symptoms.

[xxcraigiexx]

Its so nice to hear that I am not the only one who suffers with this. Im 26 years old and I have been to the doctor over and over again and they told me that my heart is fine. Sometimes I get heart palpitations which makes me freak out even more. I went back to the doctor and he told me that the palpitations are because of the "anxiety state" that I am in all the time and they will not hurt me. Its one thing hearing that and then trying to convince myself that I am ok.

[Truman 04]

I am in the same boatbuilders I have chest pain jaw pain and shoulder pain. All the time. Normal ekg's and stress echo. I still worry myself sick.

[binky]

Ive had CIN cells removed via a laser and still have to go every year for check ups! Had one irregular one which set me off flappy and worried but was just changes and nothing to worry about :) I've had skin cancer and ganglions from my spine removed from injections then a cyst removed via surgery last year...coped with it all but got a bit flappy when they said it would be a new team who would do the surgery as had gotten used to my old one!! Still, am ok and here and now so yeay!

Hope you continue to be ok!! ;)


...btw that was in reply to the lady who was worried about her cervix and its being a ladies and gentleman board!! :)

[sharacel91]

I'm 21 and have a major fear if my heart. I think im having a heart attack every day I'm always getting chest pains and palpertaions soon as I feel any of them I think the worse. I'm glad I know I'm not alone and there's others that feel this way!

[Sedigive]

I know. I get the same symptoms actually occuring right now that's why I hopped on here. Take care all.

[krayziee]

Everyday i have a moment i think my heart will stop and im only 22,I have a lot of symptoms concerning muscles and joints. Tietze syndrome i think. Had it for 5 years. Love and support from the netherlands.

[Lynn Palestrina]

Same here! Had it in my 20's....went away now back in my mid 30's....

I know how much it sucks. As I write, pressure/tightness in chest, heart racing but also pounding, can hear it in my ears. Then the mind movies start..... clips of my kids finding me dead, seeing me wheeled out in ambulance.

Stress test and EKG normal.

I do know that the more I fight the feelings the worse they get. Seems backwards I know but ACCEPTING that I am going to feel like this is the only thing that got e out of my funk in my 20's. You know the old the only thing we have to fear is fear itself BS.... but again as I right this I feel like I am in a bear hug.

I'm gonna say a pray for us tonight. Would appreciate the same. I dont give a crap who or what you worship...ask them to help us out.

[Walking Circles]

I too have been down the heart worries road. I had a bout of AFib last year and have had palpitations on and off for years, I went through a phase after my AFib of constantly checking my pulse. It can and does get better, if you have had clean EKG's and the like then you can take a deep breath.

[MrsJ88]

Right there with you all. My main anxiety trigger is my heart. I've been to a cardiologist and all is normal but why can't I shake this fear?? I think I worry more than someone that TRULY has a heart condition!

[Blessed]

Have been struggling with serious GAD for almost 2 years. I don't really get anxious about most things, accept my health. I'm on Zoloft and Xanax as needed. It's miserable. The main thing I think on is my heart. I'm 25 , see the doctor every 3 months, workout everyday, yet I still can't seem to get it out of my head. I've had EKGS and blood test done, and I'm told to be in perfect health. Still, everday( almost always when I lay down to go to sleep) I start freaking out and have to take a Xanax because I can feel it coming on. I had. A co worker did two years ago from a heart attack in his sleep, so I think that triggered it. But he was also 400 + pounds, and over 55 years old. But I fail to think rationally everytime I feel my heartbeat. I'm not asking for pity, but please for the love of god someone tell me that they are in my same shoes and understand what I'm going through. I hate feeling alone on this

Sounds like me 100 percent. Every single word

[scared44]

Sounds like me 100 percent. Every single word

Hi I've been suffering from heart palps, racing heart, skipped beats ect for over 26yrs now and I'm still alive and kicking:-) just remember and tell yourself it's just anxiety and it wont kill me! Focus your mind on something calming and breath..... It will go away if you let it. Take care xx

[Judie]

Scared44, You and me both ( on and off 29 years) I believe you have to laugh or you'll cry. Positive mindset. When things are good, you just don't have time to worry ( feed the anxiety ) Honestly, if we didn't all hate the anxiety so much we would probably recognize it as a friend. Actually in reality it simply is the mind's way of letting us know things aren't right and that we need to make it so ( a good friend will do that as well) Good to know you're still hanging in there, although I am not surprised given that Panic is all Bark no Bite Bravado !
:) Be Well.

[scared44]

Scared44, You and me both ( on and off 29 years) I believe you have to laugh or you'll cry. Positive mindset. When things are good, you just don't have time to worry ( feed the anxiety ) Honestly, if we didn't all hate the anxiety so much we would probably recognize it as a friend. Actually in reality it simply is the mind's way of letting us know things aren't right and that we need to make it so ( a good friend will do that as well) Good to know you're still hanging in there, although I am not surprised given that Panic is all Bark no Bite Bravado !
:) Be Well.

Hi Judie how are you well I hope? After 26yrs I am not going to let anxiety rule my life any more. When I feel an attack coming on I talk myself through it and its starting to work. Like today I have driven 2hrs to see my pain specialist! That was a MAJOR STEP for me as I did it alone and I'm so proud of myself :-) just have to get through the next few hours..... Anyway take care abd hope your doing well also. xx

[Judie]

Hi Judie how are you well I hope? After 26yrs I am not going to let anxiety rule my life any more. When I feel an attack coming on I talk myself through it and its starting to work. Like today I have driven 2hrs to see my pain specialist! That was a MAJOR STEP for me as I did it alone and I'm so proud of myself :-) just have to get through the next few hours..... Anyway take care abd hope your doing well also. xx

Hi scared44, Yes I am doing well. I think we both are in the role of knowledgeable Supporters on the Forum. My anxiety ebbs and flows ( like life lol ) and is in direct relation to the amount of stress/depression at any given time. I understand the disorder pretty well and like you talk myself through it. Initially the Panic Disorder many years ago was crippling as far as what it did to me emotionally. I stood up to it even then, educated myself on Agoraphobia and fought it with no meds. It was tough I weighed 95 Lbs and Drs. were unfamiliar with the disorder so I was left little choice but to educate myself. I continued to work, date etc ( not always easy, in fact sometimes downright horrible ) I got married 24 years ago, had my daughter ( now 22 ) and was actually afraid of postpartum depression but never happened. I was taking care of my Dad, she was four and he was quite ill, out of the blue the Panic returned with Avengence ( Panic Disorder/ Depression are cyclic, they sometimes lay dormant for years. Well anyway being a young mother I couldn't risk not being there for my dad, husband, step kids and daughter so I started an antidepressants ( SSRI's ) I remained on these for ten years and found tremendous relief BUT ( always a but lol ) it cost me 60 Ibs. I happen to be one of those individuals ( and there are quite a few of us ) that weight gain is a major side effect. Some people don't gain any ( lucky)and some gain just a few ( very much worth it ) . I stopped it 4 years ago and have been med free since. I take 2,000 mg of Fish Oil ( Omega 3's Brain Function Vitamin very successful adjunct to help anxiety/depression as well as Alzheimers prevention why not right lol ? ) I will tell you anxiety, as you know is very tricky. I did have ulcer pain all winter and I'm very achy ( could be Lipitor ? ) but Yes thank you I am doing well. I asked someone else this today, do you have any relatives with anxiety ? There is a strong hereditary link. I don't talk about it on here, I don't want people to think it's not manageable, because it is. Great chatting a bit. I would love to hear a little bit about you. Pain Specialist ? Yes, Always be proud of accomplishments like driving two hours. :)

[kelliesean]

Ahhhh.. Reading these posts make me feel so NOt alone..

I have lived years bouncing from one fear to another.. It's almost like my brain is hyper focused on every little bodily sensation... Sweating to myself that I'm having an aneurysm for sure!! (Bc of the tinge I felt in my head).. But then only to panic bc I can't breathe (surely I have asthma!!!) and then my fingers get numb.. My heart is skipping (OMG!! Heart attack!!) oh boy.., it is E X H A U S T I N G..

[xxcraigiexx]

Ahhhh.. Reading these posts make me feel so NOt alone..

I have lived years bouncing from one fear to another.. It's almost like my brain is hyper focused on every little bodily sensation... Sweating to myself that I'm having an aneurysm for sure!! (Bc of the tinge I felt in my head).. But then only to panic bc I can't breathe (surely I have asthma!!!) and then my fingers get numb.. My heart is skipping (OMG!! Heart attack!!) oh boy.., it is E X H A U S T I N G..

I am the exact same way!, it's exhausting even thinking about all the time I am wasting but it's so hard. Everyone tells me to ignore what I feel but my mind won't let me.

[kelliesean]

I am the exact same way!, it's exhausting even thinking about all the time I am wasting but it's so hard. Everyone tells me to ignore what I feel but my mind won't let me.

I know! I was just w my very best friend yesterday.. Driving home from Brooklyn.. Tons of traffic (if that helps set the mood lol) .. Back to where I live, about 40 min drive to Long Island. Anyway the traffic was making me insane.. I cdnt handle the idea of not being able to quickly make my way to an exit/hospital if I needed! And.. I was in an unfamiliar area to boot.
So I'm telling my friend that I'm getting anxious.. And she really is TRYING to understand.. N she says "but this stresses me out too.. " etc.. But she just can't wrap her head around the fact that he can't understand the terror that is u raveling in my head.. She can't understand that I am losing my mind and spiraling out of control into and anxiety hell .. All quietly inside where no one can see..
And being that we all KNOW we have this disorder.. It's easy for someone to say "mind over matter"... But it simply is not that simple.. Therapy and medication are crucial components for those of us who have it severe enough where our quality of life is greatly compromised.. No amount of wishful thinking will help otherwise.. We need help.. And that's ok :)

[Ryaan]

I feel you completely, it's misery, iv'e gone through many kinds of phases with my anxiety, but iv'e hit the worst one, I hate going to bed at night because like you said it feels like your heart is starting to act up, I have PVC's also, my heart skips and likes to do its own thing, it's scary, but it's a heightened awareness of your heart due to anxiety, you can't get your mind off of it, the worst part is that you can't get your mind wrapped around it, you don't know why, and the only answer the doctor has is that its your anxiety.

This is what iv'e come to realize about this...

The stress hormone (cortisol) witch is responsible for all our misery's is adrenaline, think about when you work out, same kinda feeling just without the movement, heart pounds and your anxiety feeds off of it, am I on the verge of a heart attack? Am I gonna go crazy? Am I not gonna wake up tomorrow morning?

It's hell, i'm a smoker too, witch doesn't help, when I try to quit my hell go's through the roof, after 4 or 5 days i start feeling a little better but then i start smoking again, but I fear that this will not fix my problem.

My last option is sexual, Iv'e noticed the more stressed I get the more I wanna have sex, and the less stressed I am the less I wanna have sex, so I'm stopping it completely for a month to see if this is whats causing my pro longed insane anxiety and depression, sometimes we have to think back on when we felt healthy, and think about how our lives were day to day, whats different now from then, and fix it, because unfortunately, anxiety is not an infection or sickness, it will not heal itself, we have to work for it, try stopping everything, put all your worrys away, think naturally, and rationally, coffee, cigs, drugs, booz... Dont touch it, try to only allow peaceful things into your life, you might notice a difference or even start to heal, just remember it's not overnight, it's a healing process, your body's chemicals need to rebalance and your body and brain needs to adjust, i hope i helped

[andy2013]

This anxiety boils down to fear of death. The sooner you accept that the better. Then you can stop worrying abou the inevitable and live without fear of death.

[starbryte76]

The heart attack fear led me here. I felt I couldn't be the Only person w/these panic disorders that has them. I spent this last weekend going through it after a bad incident on Fri morning at 4am. I upped my meds, googled symptoms frantically. Then I googled online help for panic/agoraphobia and here I am

[Stephj526]

I can completely understand heart anxiety, it's my biggest nemesis. I can't even count how many times I thought I was having a heart attack or stroke. I have a cardiologist now, and all tests have been normal except the sinus tach. Which is easily managed, so I'm fine. But that doesn't stop me from freaking out sometimes.
The Lexapro helps a lot to be honest. And in once read an article who said "when your heart races, think about when you work out. It goes fast for a while, then back to normal". Same thing with anxiety.

[beachymg]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one... right now I'm having a hard time sleeping because I've been having heart palpitations. I'm 26 thin pretty active. My doctors tell me I'm young and healthy. They gave me Zoloft and ativan, but I chose not to take it. I had counseling for a couple months. I know I'm fine, but when my heart palpitates I just freak out. There's been a few deaths and constantly think about when will my time be.

My anxiety started when my heart started pumping fast and palpitating while I was driving. I went home to try and relax but I just felt so scared that I was gonna have a heart attack.

It's so frustrating that I do this to myself. I just want to let go of all this fear and live.

[fortizboriqua]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one... right now I'm having a hard time sleeping because I've been having heart palpitations. I'm 26 thin pretty active. My doctors tell me I'm young and healthy. They gave me Zoloft and ativan, but I chose not to take it. I had counseling for a couple months. I know I'm fine, but when my heart palpitates I just freak out. There's been a few deaths and constantly think about when will my time be. My anxiety started when my heart started pumping fast and palpitating while I was driving. I went home to try and relax but I just felt so scared that I was gonna have a heart attack. It's so frustrating that I do this to myself. I just want to let go of all this fear and live.

Worry and fear makes your symptoms worse! Your heart is the strongest muscle in your body. If you want comfort while it is happening check your own pulse. I put 2 fingers next to my Adam's apple and checked my pulse. You will find that it is probably a little high but nothing your heart can't handle. Your heart can handle a crazy amount of heart beats per minute. Remember that worry and fear fuels all symptoms. When I used to feel symptoms like heart palpitations and anxiety I trained myself not to pay attention to it. Divert your attention away from it by thinking about something else, like reading street signs, counting numbers on a clock. Find something that works while it is happening. You will find that the symptoms will start to desolve.

[shayshay]

Wow this makes me feel sooooo much better knowing I am not the only one!! I just went to the hospital because of an anxiety attack. I always think it's my heart and it isn't. I am as healthy as I can be. Still though, freaks me out so much that I think I'm having a heart attack but it's just anxiety. When I went to the hospital apparently my chest cavity got inflamed due to the anxiety so they gave me a shot of anti inflammatory. Doctor told me to take Motrin for the pain. For the anxiety I try to listen to relaxing music as well as watch things to keep my mind off of it. It is sooo hard tho. Especially when people do not understand. They think it's something that we could just shut off. If it were only that easy. It sucks. Does the anxiety disorder ever go away?!

[embrace123]

Omg I read every post and I can relate to everybody,

[Worried Bear]

I get really uptight at any social occassion, can hardly breath at times and get pains in my chest. Only eases up after at least four drinks. I can jog four miles in 30 mins without any chest pain so I know it's not heart related. Zoloft has helped but I doubt I'll ever be normal.

[nobot87]

I'm going through the same thing! I'm 26 though. It sucks soo much. I set an appointment with a cardiologist instead of depending on what the nurses at the ER say. Hopefully it'll convince me that I'm okay. It's so bad that I even feel pain going down the left side of my body. It sucks that anxiety has the same symptoms as a heart attack and heart disease. I almost always have pressure and tension on my chest. So yeah dude ur not alone!

[Jmillhimes]

I was diagnosed with sfib! I had my heart a few times race up to 200bpm just out of the blue! I was given 2 options, surgery or meds for life! I'm 36 so I said meDs! Now I have anxiety thinking my heart is going to take off again or I'll suffer a heart attack!

[JPatterson]

I'm 26 and have been experiencing this exact same anxiety. I have an irrational fear that i'm going to die from a heart attack. My heart will start beating loud and fast, I feel a tightness in my chest and on occasion feel as if my heart is skipping a beat followed by lightheadedness. I've had EKG's done, blood work, ran on the treadmill, physicals, heart monitor, and whatever else you can think of and i'm in perfect physical health. For whatever reason though my thoughts trick me into not believe this. The physical effects of anxiety make it seem so real yet I've never had a heart attack and I'm obviously not dead. A few triggers for me is overeating, laying down for whatever reason, drinking, and the MOVIES! (I had a bad panic attack one at the movies and haven't been able to go back). You're definitely not alone and if you need to talk and discuss anything regarding our anxiety i'm here. I plan on overcoming this and it would be great to work together on doing so.

[Dahila]

JP I am 60 and I experience the same thingy , my whole life. It is anxiety talking my dear. Avoid stupid horror movies, they cause a panic attack for me too. Drinking will cause more anxiety; I have been there. Laying down: you expect something bad to happen or maybe you lie on left side, turn around and breathe:)) Welcome to the forum

[JPatterson]

Thanks Dahila!
I wish none of us suffered anxiety but I do feel better knowing other people experience the same things that I do. After posting on this forum and talking with some of you I've had a great few days. It's incredible to me how strong the mind is to trick your body into that anxiety state. It took me a long time to trust that what I was feeling was indeed anxiety and not something physically wrong with myself like a heart issue. I think the palpitations and dizziness are the absolute worst and what usually lead to a bad anxiety attack. I've also lost a bit of my appetite thinking that something I was eating was making my heart react like that. I'm getting back on track and I hope to snap out of it. If anyone wants to talk ever please feel free to message me.

[Dahila]

I know it sound selfish but I also feel much better with all the heart palpitation knowing that everyone of us goes through it:))
When I take my blood pressure my heart goes like crazy, it calms down when I finish:)) I am scared that it is spiking so the heart response, highers the heartbeat. Heart beat from 70- 100 is perfectly normal. Very athletic people have a low heartbeat. :)

[lexiii]

this is story of my life.. I've suffered for 2 years now ... i always think I'm having a heart attack or dying in fact i just got back from the hospital and all the tests r clear... work out every day etc etc.. i guess suffering from panic attacks makes feel this way :(

[JohnC]

Been to the ER twice thinking it was a heart attack but just an expensive panic attack

[Weasel27]

Been to the ER twice thinking it was a heart attack but just an expensive panic attack

I have bouts of palpitations (skipped beats, sometimes one or more a minute) from time to time that can last a day or a few weeks. I have no idea what the hell causes them. The first time it happened, I wound up in the ER and was given a clean bill of health. Doctors say they "just happen" and/or attribute it to anxiety. I'm 37 and from time to time I have this irrational fear that I'm gonna drop dead soon of a heart attack, even though I'm in decent health and have no family history of early onset heart conditions.

[Kixxi]

Have been struggling with serious GAD for almost 2 years. I don't really get anxious about most things, accept my health. I'm on Zoloft and Xanax as needed. It's miserable. The main thing I think on is my heart. I'm 25 , see the doctor every 3 months, workout everyday, yet I still can't seem to get it out of my head. I've had EKGS and blood test done, and I'm told to be in perfect health. Still, everday( almost always when I lay down to go to sleep) I start freaking out and have to take a Xanax because I can feel it coming on. I had. A co worker did two years ago from a heart attack in his sleep, so I think that triggered it. But he was also 400 + pounds, and over 55 years old. But I fail to think rationally everytime I feel my heartbeat. I'm not asking for pity, but please for the love of god someone tell me that they are in my same shoes and understand what I'm going through. I hate feeling alone on this

Definitely not alone. I had that exact symptom when my panic attacks first started. My heart was beating so fast I thought I was getting a heart attack.
That particular symptom stopped when I started on Sertraline. I've never really been on Benzodiazepines, except Xanax for about a month, only anti-depressants since then.

[JPatterson]

I have bouts of palpitations (skipped beats, sometimes one or more a minute) from time to time that can last a day or a few weeks. I have no idea what the hell causes them. The first time it happened, I wound up in the ER and was given a clean bill of health. Doctors say they "just happen" and/or attribute it to anxiety. I'm 37 and from time to time I have this irrational fear that I'm gonna drop dead soon of a heart attack, even though I'm in decent health and have no family history of early onset heart conditions.

Hahaha man kind of funny to hear everyone have pretty much the same story. Your are definitely not alone. I've had like 4 EKG's, I've gone to the ER once, and went to a cardiologist to get everything checked out. I kept on going because no one would give me a definitive answer on what caused it besides "You're perfectly healthy, it MIGHT be Anxiety". I would assume it was from lack of sleep, something I was eating, soda, stress from school and work and many more and they all became anxiety triggers and I still fight through most of them every day. Even though I know my thoughts of dying from a heart attack are irrational I still have a small % fear that keeps my anxiety rolling. It all boils down to a fear of death in general so my goal is to learn, and understand how to overcome this. I'm not very religious, I was never really introduced to any sort of religion. I do believe in a higher power but what that higher power is and what happens after death is a mystery and it's a little scary. I think if I face this fear it might eliminate my fear of a heart attack.

[ShaunAlex]

WOW! This is exactly the anxiety I have as well. ALWAYS on the heart and I can't stop thinking about it when I get palpitations or fluttering. Awful and difficult to ignore.

[fortizboriqua]

Have been struggling with serious GAD for almost 2 years. I don't really get anxious about most things, accept my health. I'm on Zoloft and Xanax as needed. It's miserable. The main thing I think on is my heart. I'm 25 , see the doctor every 3 months, workout everyday, yet I still can't seem to get it out of my head. I've had EKGS and blood test done, and I'm told to be in perfect health. Still, everday( almost always when I lay down to go to sleep) I start freaking out and have to take a Xanax because I can feel it coming on. I had. A co worker did two years ago from a heart attack in his sleep, so I think that triggered it. But he was also 400 + pounds, and over 55 years old. But I fail to think rationally everytime I feel my heartbeat. I'm not asking for pity, but please for the love of god someone tell me that they are in my same shoes and understand what I'm going through. I hate feeling alone on this

I was diagnosed with Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia about 3 years ago. The symptom that you are referring to is called heart palpitations (HP). Heart palpitations is one of the most common symptoms when it comes to panic and anxiety disorder. It is also one of the most feared. I was in and out of the hospital. I too feared heart palpitations. But, what I am about to fill you in on will hopefully ease your fear of heart palpitations as it did for me. Your heart is one of the strongest muscles in your body. It can handle a lot more than you can imagine. A regular heart beats about 60 to 100 beats per minute (BPM). When you exercise it can jump to 200 bpm in a lot of cases especially for those whom are out of shape. In the beginning when I got (HP) I thought I was having a heart attack. And it would scare the living daylights out of me. It wasn't until I started doing these breathing exercises that required me to take my own pulse did I realize that my HP wasn't what I thought it was. First of all lets start with heart attack. The following are the symptoms:

Most Common Symptoms

The most common warning symptoms of a heart attack for both men and women are:

Chest pain or discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center or left side of the chest. The discomfort usually lasts for more than a few minutes or goes away and comes back. It can feel like pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain. It also can feel like heartburn or indigestion. The feeling can be mild or severe.
Upper body discomfort. You may feel pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, shoulders, neck, jaw, or upper part of the stomach (above the belly button).
Shortness of breath. This may be your only symptom, or it may occur before or along with chest pain or discomfort. It can occur when you are resting or doing a little bit of physical activity.



Other Common Signs and Symptoms

Pay attention to these other possible symptoms of a heart attack:

Breaking out in a cold sweat
Feeling unusually tired for no reason, sometimes for days (especially if you are a woman)
Nausea (feeling sick to the stomach) and vomiting
Light-headedness or sudden dizziness
Any sudden, new symptoms or a change in the pattern of symptoms you already have (for example, if your symptoms become stronger or last longer than usual)

So as you can see there are a lot more symptoms to having a heart attack then an accelerated heart beat. So now lets go back to taking my pulse and how it helped me lose fear of HP. I would take my pulse for 30 seconds and multiply the amount of heart beats by 2 and that would give me my BPM. After learning how to take my pulse I came up with idea of checking my pulse while having heart palpitations to measure how hard my heart was actually beating. And to my surprise the first time I did that I found that my BPM was well below 100. Im talking somewhere in the range of about 75 BPM. I found that my heartbeat only increased slightly from my norm. I would check my BPM every time I would have HP after that day and every time I got the same results. Ultimately, it helped me lose fear of HP because my heart was beating normal. It got to the point when HP came on I would laugh at it because I knew it was all an illusion of having a heart attack. It slowly started to disappear until it finally went away. When you have anxiety and panic disorder the thing that fuels it is fear of the symptoms. When you fear the symptoms, the symptoms get worse. So when HP comes on your initial reaction is fear. Because you think you're having a heart attack. Once HP comes on try to ignore it. And if you do it will go away almost as quickly as it came. Lastly, lets talk about what HP really is. Being that I knew that my heart was beating normal i was baffled as to why I was feeling that my heart was about to jump out of my chest. When you get panic disorder one of the things that happen is your nervous system becomes overly sensitive. I found that lights were brighter, dishes clanging made me cover my ears because it seemed like it was so much louder, I even felt my boxer briefs pulling on the hair on my legs to the point it became uncomfortable. Once I realized that my nervous system was overly sensitive it explained my HP. I was feeling my heart beat normal but I felt it easily because I was sensitive to almost every sensation in my body. I hope that this helps all who read. And know that you can actually beat panic and anxiety because I am living proof that you can. Remember that there is hope. There are 2 things that you need to do. The first is accept what you have. The second is to lose fear of the symptoms. The most important for me was I trusted God.

[ShaunAlex]

I was diagnosed with Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia about 3 years ago. The symptom that you are referring to is called heart palpitations (HP). Heart palpitations is one of the most common symptoms when it comes to panic and anxiety disorder. It is also one of the most feared. I was in and out of the hospital. I too feared heart palpitations. But, what I am about to fill you in on will hopefully ease your fear of heart palpitations as it did for me. Your heart is one of the strongest muscles in your body. It can handle a lot more than you can imagine. A regular heart beats about 60 to 100 beats per minute (BPM). When you exercise it can jump to 200 bpm in a lot of cases especially for those whom are out of shape. In the beginning when I got (HP) I thought I was having a heart attack. And it would scare the living daylights out of me. It wasn't until I started doing these breathing exercises that required me to take my own pulse did I realize that my HP wasn't what I thought it was. First of all lets start with heart attack. The following are the symptoms:

Most Common Symptoms

The most common warning symptoms of a heart attack for both men and women are:

Chest pain or discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center or left side of the chest. The discomfort usually lasts for more than a few minutes or goes away and comes back. It can feel like pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain. It also can feel like heartburn or indigestion. The feeling can be mild or severe.
Upper body discomfort. You may feel pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, shoulders, neck, jaw, or upper part of the stomach (above the belly button).
Shortness of breath. This may be your only symptom, or it may occur before or along with chest pain or discomfort. It can occur when you are resting or doing a little bit of physical activity.



Other Common Signs and Symptoms

Pay attention to these other possible symptoms of a heart attack:

Breaking out in a cold sweat
Feeling unusually tired for no reason, sometimes for days (especially if you are a woman)
Nausea (feeling sick to the stomach) and vomiting
Light-headedness or sudden dizziness
Any sudden, new symptoms or a change in the pattern of symptoms you already have (for example, if your symptoms become stronger or last longer than usual)

So as you can see there are a lot more symptoms to having a heart attack then an accelerated heart beat. So now lets go back to taking my pulse and how it helped me lose fear of HP. I would take my pulse for 30 seconds and multiply the amount of heart beats by 2 and that would give me my BPM. After learning how to take my pulse I came up with idea of checking my pulse while having heart palpitations to measure how hard my heart was actually beating. And to my surprise the first time I did that I found that my BPM was well below 100. Im talking somewhere in the range of about 75 BPM. I found that my heartbeat only increased slightly from my norm. I would check my BPM every time I would have HP after that day and every time I got the same results. Ultimately, it helped me lose fear of HP because my heart was beating normal. It got to the point when HP came on I would laugh at it because I knew it was all an illusion of having a heart attack. It slowly started to disappear until it finally went away. When you have anxiety and panic disorder the thing that fuels it is fear of the symptoms. When you fear the symptoms, the symptoms get worse. So when HP comes on your initial reaction is fear. Because you think you're having a heart attack. Once HP comes on try to ignore it. And if you do it will go away almost as quickly as it came. Lastly, lets talk about what HP really is. Being that I knew that my heart was beating normal i was baffled as to why I was feeling that my heart was about to jump out of my chest. When you get panic disorder one of the things that happen is your nervous system becomes overly sensitive. I found that lights were brighter, dishes clanging made me cover my ears because it seemed like it was so much louder, I even felt my boxer briefs pulling on the hair on my legs to the point it became uncomfortable. Once I realized that my nervous system was overly sensitive it explained my HP. I was feeling my heart beat normal but I felt it easily because I was sensitive to almost every sensation in my body. I hope that this helps all who read. And know that you can actually beat panic and anxiety because I am living proof that you can. Remember that there is hope. There are 2 things that you need to do. The first is accept what you have. The second is to lose fear of the symptoms. The most important for me was I trusted God.

Hmm, the problem with this is I can have all of these symptoms during a panic attack! The more i think about what the symptoms should be the more they appear

[fortizboriqua]

Hmm, the problem with this is I can have all of these symptoms during a panic attack! The more i think about what the symptoms should be the more they appear

My question to you is what do you think brings on your symptoms? Do you think that the things you do bring on your symptoms? When I had panic disorder, when I thought that drinking a glass of water would give me anxiety and panic, it would. Why do you think that is? The one and only answer is you FEAR the symptoms. When I thought that by drinking a glass of water I would get anxiety and panic I would. Why? Because after drinking the water I would be scared and pay attention to see if the symptoms would appear. And any type of fear and stress would bring and increase the symptoms. Panic Disorder is a fear of symptoms driven illness. You fear the symptoms of anxiety and panic not because of the things you do. The symptoms are so horrible that you fear them. This is what is keeping it alive. If you want to defeat panic disorder you have to lose fear of it. Let me explain how it works. Your sitting there watching tv. Nothing stimulating just plain drama. All of the sudden you feel this wave of anxiety come out of nowhere. Your initial reaction is that you pay attention to it with fear. The fear causes your symptoms to grow stronger until you either have severe anxiety or a panic attack. And the thing that sucks is the anxiety doesn't go away. It stays and you usually feel it all over. The first thing that you have to do is accept what you have. Accepting is the beginning. The way you accept is you have to decide that you have this illness and what are you going to do about it? Are you going to give into it or are you going to fight for normalcy. Remember, I once had it and I am back to normal. So you can be back to yourself again but how bad do you want it? Second, is you have to lose the fear of the symptoms. How? You've already felt the worst that panic disorder has to offer. Nobody has ever died from it. You have felt a panic attack and severe anxiety and those are the 2 worst symptoms. So being that you have felt the worst and you know that you are not going to die from it then you need to ask yourself is your normal life worth fighting for. Secondly, comes the losing fear. I think by now you know that I know what I am talking about. And I know that dealing with Panic Disorder is the hardest thing you will ever have to go through in your life. How do you lose fear? Lets go back to the example. Your watching tv and a wave of anxiety comes on. My initial reaction was normal. I would pay attention to it and get immediately scared. But once I realized what it was I would stop paying attention to it. I would continue to watch tv and try to focus on the program and not the symptoms. Initially, when I lost fear, the symptom of anxiety would not go away immediately. I would have to ride it out and go about my business. I would literally not pay attention to it even though it was there pounding me. When I lost fear it took months for the symptoms to slowly dissolve. But the symptoms eventually did. A huge part of losing fear is I turned to God. When I turned to God I committed 100%. I not only went to church I studied the Bible. And when I studied the Bible I tried to live it. But the most important part of it is I had faith that God was going to help me. And believe me he did. I am the only known case to have had panic disorder for the shortest amount of time in the history of panic disorder. I had it for 9 months. The average is 3 years and some never get over it. Everything I did and everything I thought was God. The doctors teach about cognitive exercises. Cognitive exercises basically teach you to divert your attention away from the symptoms by paying attention to the numbers on the clock. Or counting the stripes on a wall. My cognitive exercise was prayer and God. If the symptoms of panic came on I would immediately pray and try to envision Jesus's image. The symptoms of panic immediately went away. Whenever I could sleep the minute I woke up the first thing I would think of is God and Jesus. I lived and breathed and believed God was going to heal me. And He eventually did. What I learned that there is a misconception about religion. I bought The Life Application Study Bible and so far what I read are about stories of encouragement, Bravery, Courage, etc. It taught me to love, honesty, forgiveness, etc. My perception of the Bible was wrong. What I learned is the Bible is a guide to life and if you live by it you will never go wrong. When I turned to God he immediately would answer prayers of things that I needed to help me overcome various symptoms. And those things added up to eventually defeating the illness. Ultimately, if you lose your fear of your symptoms you will win. You have to fight for normalcy so how bad do you want it?

[ShaunAlex]

My question to you is what do you think brings on your symptoms?

Hey Fortizboriqua, first of all thank you for your lengthy response. It was most helpful and you make some brilliant points.

And I fully take my hat off to you for turning to God and it bringing peace to you. I would never criticise others' beliefs and only wish I could find similar peace. Massive respect. In my personal experience, I turned to religion when I first suffered anxiety about 15 years ago - when I was a teenager. I immersed myself in as much as I could. For me (and this is just me), the experience left me with a great many more questions about the world than it did answers. I explored further and spoke to some very senior christians at length. Again, this left more questions than answers. What it ended up doing way making me far more anxious and far more unsure about my place in the world and I started tipping over a dangerous edge. But that's just me - I recognise I have an overly analytical brain and am always looking for things/answers that just aren't there. Furthermore, I was at a vulnerable age to be taking in such information. But again, I admire and envy your successful search for peace.

[ShaunAlex]

Most Common Symptoms

The most common warning symptoms of a heart attack for both men and women are:

Chest pain or discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center or left side of the chest. The discomfort usually lasts for more than a few minutes or goes away and comes back. It can feel like pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain. It also can feel like heartburn or indigestion. The feeling can be mild or severe.
Upper body discomfort. You may feel pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, shoulders, neck, jaw, or upper part of the stomach (above the belly button).
Shortness of breath. This may be your only symptom, or it may occur before or along with chest pain or discomfort. It can occur when you are resting or doing a little bit of physical activity.



Other Common Signs and Symptoms

Pay attention to these other possible symptoms of a heart attack:

Breaking out in a cold sweat
Feeling unusually tired for no reason, sometimes for days (especially if you are a woman)
Nausea (feeling sick to the stomach) and vomiting
Light-headedness or sudden dizziness
Any sudden, new symptoms or a change in the pattern of symptoms you already have (for example, if your symptoms become stronger or last longer than usual)



Over the course of the night, I had pretty much all of these symptoms. As I said, my brain is over analytical and is creating them. I'll go and have my dozenth heart screening but, in the harsh light of day, I know my head is creating this.

[fortizboriqua]

I was diagnosed with Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia about 3 years ago. The symptom that you are referring to is called heart palpitations (HP). Heart palpitations is one of the most common symptoms when it comes to panic and anxiety disorder. It is also one of the most feared. I was in and out of the hospital. I too feared heart palpitations. But, what I am about to fill you in on will hopefully ease your fear of heart palpitations as it did for me. Your heart is one of the strongest muscles in your body. It can handle a lot more than you can imagine. A regular heart beats about 60 to 100 beats per minute (BPM). When you exercise it can jump to 200 bpm in a lot of cases especially for those whom are out of shape. In the beginning when I got (HP) I thought I was having a heart attack. And it would scare the living daylights out of me. It wasn't until I started doing these breathing exercises that required me to take my own pulse did I realize that my HP wasn't what I thought it was. First of all lets start with heart attack. The following are the symptoms:

Most Common Symptoms

The most common warning symptoms of a heart attack for both men and women are:

Chest pain or discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center or left side of the chest. The discomfort usually lasts for more than a few minutes or goes away and comes back. It can feel like pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain. It also can feel like heartburn or indigestion. The feeling can be mild or severe.
Upper body discomfort. You may feel pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, shoulders, neck, jaw, or upper part of the stomach (above the belly button).
Shortness of breath. This may be your only symptom, or it may occur before or along with chest pain or discomfort. It can occur when you are resting or doing a little bit of physical activity.



Other Common Signs and Symptoms

Pay attention to these other possible symptoms of a heart attack:

Breaking out in a cold sweat
Feeling unusually tired for no reason, sometimes for days (especially if you are a woman)
Nausea (feeling sick to the stomach) and vomiting
Light-headedness or sudden dizziness
Any sudden, new symptoms or a change in the pattern of symptoms you already have (for example, if your symptoms become stronger or last longer than usual)

So as you can see there are a lot more symptoms to having a heart attack then an accelerated heart beat. So now lets go back to taking my pulse and how it helped me lose fear of HP. I would take my pulse for 30 seconds and multiply the amount of heart beats by 2 and that would give me my BPM. After learning how to take my pulse I came up with idea of checking my pulse while having heart palpitations to measure how hard my heart was actually beating. And to my surprise the first time I did that I found that my BPM was well below 100. Im talking somewhere in the range of about 75 BPM. I found that my heartbeat only increased slightly from my norm. I would check my BPM every time I would have HP after that day and every time I got the same results. Ultimately, it helped me lose fear of HP because my heart was beating normal. It got to the point when HP came on I would laugh at it because I knew it was all an illusion of having a heart attack. It slowly started to disappear until it finally went away. When you have anxiety and panic disorder the thing that fuels it is fear of the symptoms. When you fear the symptoms, the symptoms get worse. So when HP comes on your initial reaction is fear. Because you think you're having a heart attack. Once HP comes on try to ignore it. And if you do it will go away almost as quickly as it came. Lastly, lets talk about what HP really is. Being that I knew that my heart was beating normal i was baffled as to why I was feeling that my heart was about to jump out of my chest. When you get panic disorder one of the things that happen is your nervous system becomes overly sensitive. I found that lights were brighter, dishes clanging made me cover my ears because it seemed like it was so much louder, I even felt my boxer briefs pulling on the hair on my legs to the point it became uncomfortable. Once I realized that my nervous system was overly sensitive it explained my HP. I was feeling my heart beat normal but I felt it easily because I was sensitive to almost every sensation in my body. I hope that this helps all who read. And know that you can actually beat panic and anxiety because I am living proof that you can. Remember that there is hope. There are 2 things that you need to do. The first is accept what you have. The second is to lose fear of the symptoms. The most important for me was I trusted God.

[ShaunAlex]

But that's just it. The palpitations are one thing, but when I get anxious about it (like now!) I start to have all the other symptoms you mention as real heart attack warning signs!

[ShaunAlex]

Tight chest sensation - check
Pains in left arm, chest, abdomen, jaw and neck - check
Nausia - check
Cold sweat - check
Tiredness - check

The only thing going for me is that my blood pressure is within normal boundaries. Oh, a new symptom for me: lack of appetite. Can all of these symptoms also be anxiety?

Anyway, I'm going to the doctors tomorrow and will insist on a thorough check up. Hopefully I can keep my anxiety about it in check 'till then!

[fortizboriqua]

Tight chest sensation - check
Pains in left arm, chest, abdomen, jaw and neck - check
Nausia - check
Cold sweat - check
Tiredness - check

The only thing going for me is that my blood pressure is within normal boundaries. Oh, a new symptom for me: lack of appetite. Can all of these symptoms also be anxiety?

Anyway, I'm going to the doctors tomorrow and will insist on a thorough check up. Hopefully I can keep my anxiety about it in check 'till then!

Lack of appetite is a symptom of anxiety. I used to have to force myself to eat breakfast lunch and dinner even though I had no hunger. Have you tried taking your pulse when the heart palpitations started? I checked my pulse by placing 2 fingers right below my chin on the side of my neck. Lastly, go to the doctor and get yourself checked out for peace of mind. Chances are if these symptoms keep happening it's not what you think it is. The hardest part of this is losing fear of the HP. After checking your pulse if your heart beat is normal then more than likely it is HP especially if this is reoccurring. If you e established a normal heart beat divert your attention away from it. Lie I told you before I used to pray while envisioning Jesus.

[fortizboriqua]

I wrote a long summary called "A clear understanding of anxiety and panic disorder and how to beat it. " you should read it to help you understand why it is your symptoms get fueled.

[Momof4]

Hello how is everyone I must say I have been better these past couple days have been awful!! Well I'm already diagnosed with anxiety and depression and I'm on Zoloft for that. The last time I had Any issues was about four months ago when I just gave birth to my son and fell into postpartum depression. Everything was going really well then a few days ago I started feeling chest pains which I'm pretty sure was from gas but my anxiety kicked right in from there. Ever since I have been worrying constantly that I'm going to have a heart attack or that I have some other serious illness. I have no other symptoms at all but I can't get it off my mind even when I'm not experiencing any pains I think about if it's going to happen so much that here it comes. It's the first thing I think of when I wake up and it continues on all day I just can't seem to shake it out my mind

[fortizboriqua]

Hello how is everyone I must say I have been better these past couple days have been awful!! Well I'm already diagnosed with anxiety and depression and I'm on Zoloft for that. The last time I had Any issues was about four months ago when I just gave birth to my son and fell into postpartum depression. Everything was going really well then a few days ago I started feeling chest pains which I'm pretty sure was from gas but my anxiety kicked right in from there. Ever since I have been worrying constantly that I'm going to have a heart attack or that I have some other serious illness. I have no other symptoms at all but I can't get it off my mind even when I'm not experiencing any pains I think about if it's going to happen so much that here it comes. It's the first thing I think of when I wake up and it continues on all day I just can't seem to shake it out my mind

Go to the previous page and read what I wrote. I wrote a long summary about heart palpitations. I hope it works for you.

[JPatterson]

I was diagnosed with Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia about 3 years ago. The symptom that you are referring to is called heart palpitations (HP). Heart palpitations is one of the most common symptoms when it comes to panic and anxiety disorder. It is also one of the most feared. I was in and out of the hospital. I too feared heart palpitations. But, what I am about to fill you in on will hopefully ease your fear of heart palpitations as it did for me. Your heart is one of the strongest muscles in your body. It can handle a lot more than you can imagine. A regular heart beats about 60 to 100 beats per minute (BPM). When you exercise it can jump to 200 bpm in a lot of cases especially for those whom are out of shape. In the beginning when I got (HP) I thought I was having a heart attack. And it would scare the living daylights out of me. It wasn't until I started doing these breathing exercises that required me to take my own pulse did I realize that my HP wasn't what I thought it was. First of all lets start with heart attack. The following are the symptoms:

Most Common Symptoms

The most common warning symptoms of a heart attack for both men and women are:

Chest pain or discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center or left side of the chest. The discomfort usually lasts for more than a few minutes or goes away and comes back. It can feel like pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain. It also can feel like heartburn or indigestion. The feeling can be mild or severe.
Upper body discomfort. You may feel pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, shoulders, neck, jaw, or upper part of the stomach (above the belly button).
Shortness of breath. This may be your only symptom, or it may occur before or along with chest pain or discomfort. It can occur when you are resting or doing a little bit of physical activity.



Other Common Signs and Symptoms

Pay attention to these other possible symptoms of a heart attack:

Breaking out in a cold sweat
Feeling unusually tired for no reason, sometimes for days (especially if you are a woman)
Nausea (feeling sick to the stomach) and vomiting
Light-headedness or sudden dizziness
Any sudden, new symptoms or a change in the pattern of symptoms you already have (for example, if your symptoms become stronger or last longer than usual)

So as you can see there are a lot more symptoms to having a heart attack then an accelerated heart beat. So now lets go back to taking my pulse and how it helped me lose fear of HP. I would take my pulse for 30 seconds and multiply the amount of heart beats by 2 and that would give me my BPM. After learning how to take my pulse I came up with idea of checking my pulse while having heart palpitations to measure how hard my heart was actually beating. And to my surprise the first time I did that I found that my BPM was well below 100. Im talking somewhere in the range of about 75 BPM. I found that my heartbeat only increased slightly from my norm. I would check my BPM every time I would have HP after that day and every time I got the same results. Ultimately, it helped me lose fear of HP because my heart was beating normal. It got to the point when HP came on I would laugh at it because I knew it was all an illusion of having a heart attack. It slowly started to disappear until it finally went away. When you have anxiety and panic disorder the thing that fuels it is fear of the symptoms. When you fear the symptoms, the symptoms get worse. So when HP comes on your initial reaction is fear. Because you think you're having a heart attack. Once HP comes on try to ignore it. And if you do it will go away almost as quickly as it came. Lastly, lets talk about what HP really is. Being that I knew that my heart was beating normal i was baffled as to why I was feeling that my heart was about to jump out of my chest. When you get panic disorder one of the things that happen is your nervous system becomes overly sensitive. I found that lights were brighter, dishes clanging made me cover my ears because it seemed like it was so much louder, I even felt my boxer briefs pulling on the hair on my legs to the point it became uncomfortable. Once I realized that my nervous system was overly sensitive it explained my HP. I was feeling my heart beat normal but I felt it easily because I was sensitive to almost every sensation in my body. I hope that this helps all who read. And know that you can actually beat panic and anxiety because I am living proof that you can. Remember that there is hope. There are 2 things that you need to do. The first is accept what you have. The second is to lose fear of the symptoms. The most important for me was I trusted God.

I don't think this is helpful. All the heart attack symptoms you outlined can all be felt during a panic attack and worrying about your heart. My heart palpitations are not just a feeling of a sped up heart rate but a feeling like my heart has skipped a beat.

[Estelle2008]

Tight chest sensation - check
Pains in left arm, chest, abdomen, jaw and neck - check
Nausia - check
Cold sweat - check
Tiredness - check

The only thing going for me is that my blood pressure is within normal boundaries. Oh, a new symptom for me: lack of appetite. Can all of these symptoms also be anxiety?

Anyway, I'm going to the doctors tomorrow and will insist on a thorough check up. Hopefully I can keep my anxiety about it in check 'till then!

I just wondered how you got rid of these feelings when they come on? I have been under quite a bit of stress lately and today my brothers and I got great news and our fathers farm/house finally closed! This has been a very long process and I thought I was handling it well, it was suppose to close sept.30/15 then the date changed to Oct.16/15 and then today it happened! I should be happy and thinking about what I am going to do with my portion of the money and instead I have a weird pain in my upper arm and a few palpitations! Now I am 4 hours later and I still have my weird pain in my upper arm. I have a bad case of health anxiety, I worry every single time I have a weird sensation! My left hand on the heel part of it is also tingling, been most of the day.

[Aly1506]

If you think it will help, get checked out by a doctor, but I have to say, I experience all those things as I have health anxiety too. Have you tried mindful breathing exercises? I also find that if I'm able to do something that gets my mind off it that can help- just because I can tell myself layer if something was really wrong my heart wouldn't 'care' I was distracted

[Kixxi]

If you think it will help, get checked out by a doctor, but I have to say, I experience all those things as I have health anxiety too. Have you tried mindful breathing exercises? I also find that if I'm able to do something that gets my mind off it that can help- just because I can tell myself layer if something was really wrong my heart wouldn't 'care' I was distracted

Same here.

[ad0885]

Your definitely not alone on this one.
I've forgotten how many Heart Attacks I've thought I was having. O_o

Same here. I've been dealing with this for about 4-5 years now. This is the only type of anxiety I have is health or fear of how my hearts beating constantly. I never had any problem with anxiety until I hit 25 years old and then I started noticing myself beginning to have panic attacks. I thought I was the only one too though I haven't met anyone with this problem until I fell upon this thread.

[sazco]

Same here. I've been dealing with this for about 4-5 years now. This is the only type of anxiety I have is health or fear of how my hearts beating constantly. I never had any problem with anxiety until I hit 25 years old and then I started noticing myself beginning to have panic attacks. I thought I was the only one too though I haven't met anyone with this problem until I fell upon this thread.
You gotta figure out if it's your diet, your heart, or anxiety... or all three. One can affect the other pretty easily.

[Umi]

it seems like allot of people think of that there is something with their heart.
its just probably our mind thats in this continous stress mode and it makes your heart pound faster.
i think you need to find a distraction, maybe playing some games?

[Kirk]

My wife once went to the ER with chest discomfort and nausea with some vomiting. It turned out to be GI related. Stress can also
cause many heart related symptoms.

[Dahila]

heart , heart , we know when it stops we are in trouble so be happy it beats. Everyone I know, and i know tons of people with anxiety have this problem............. fast heartbeat and tightness in chest. When in doubts check with doc. We are not doctors and we can not slow your heartbeat. We can offer you advice to do something for yourself. This long thread (we have so many of the same ones) is comical. Heart is a pump and it is going to beat as long as it wants. Thinking about it is making it beat faster due the anxiety. It is known fact..............
Ladies and gents you all tell how tough it is. You have no idea what tough is. Imagine a child who does not know if it wakes up in the morning or her/his mom will there, ......there is tough.
You have easy, we have easy. access to medical care, we have internet so we obviously are not homeless.................eh waste

[MikeMaverick]

Dude, you're not alone with this. I was experiencing heart phobias after my brother passed away. Yeah. it really took a major toll on me. Like every little small thing (like nausea, chest pain, throbbing on my head, feeling like your neck is squeezing the life out of you, really makes you feel like you about to die, and that's a scary thought.

I usually play video games to calm me down like I did a while back during my time my mom, my dad, and my brother were alive, but now I lost my way somehow, but I will manage to get back on my horse somehow. I realize it's a long journey ahead of me, and I will be able to find my way, one way or the other.

I understand that the death of the co-worker triggers you. I feel like my brother's death triggers me even further to the point of losing faith, but I will try my best to stand tall and will get over it. If I'm trying, you can try too. I believe in you. :)

[Guitarist38]

Yep, been to the hospital a few times for heart issues (or so I thought). It's hard to break the thinking habit though. Obviously you are not having a heart attack, and the realistic chances of someone your age (especially in your health) are seriously likely under 1%...its just not gonna happen. Logic and reason don't work well with these thoughts as we all here know, but just as I just posted in the other thread, you've got to understand that living with severe anxiety is living a lie. You're own mind is telling you these things...those are YOUR thoughts, and this is YOUR mind and YOU can control what you think about....don't let something else tell you what you can and can't think about!

[iwanttobeok]

Get check-ups like normal. Remind yourself your symptoms are just from the anxiety, then focus on a movie or something :P

[Maleymo]

So not alone. Im even afraid to work out because I don't want my heart to work too hard and fail. Rediculous.

[lynnb62]

Maleymo, Your heart is not going to fail! In fact it's very good for you to get your heart beat up. By jumping jacks, running in place. This problem we have is ridiculous. None of it makes since. But it's real. I have had it since I was 18 I am now 62 still struggling with it. Trust me! Please. I do know what I'm talking about. If you want to chat. Lets. My name is Lynn I live in CO.

[Abel101]

Be positive

[Poppy_recreation]

Not alone at all. I have been having the same thoughts for going on a year now. I had a massive panic attack last year due to mountains of stress I buried inside for months. Finally, it all came crashing down in a major panic attack, however, I was convinced I was having a heart attack. It took everything I had to not call 911 I was so scared. I came down stairs to my step-mother and told her I thought I was having a heart attack and she told me it was definently a panic attack. Ever since then I have been scared for my heart. I also workout all the time and try to eat as healthy as I can. Everytime I eat junk food I fear that I'm making it worse. I also have the fear I'm diabetic.

[ToovaCero]

My heart rate depends on how much cardio I am doing. When Im doing a lot of cardio, I have to work hard to get my heart rate above 140. When Im not doing as much cardio my heart rate stays in the 140-155 range. I have hit 160s. But my body really doesnt like my heart rate above 150s.

[Dahila]

if you like it or not the heart will only beat limited times, then everyone of us will check out of this plane,

[Memaw52]

I hope you are all doing okay. Let's be strong. We can make it Enable GingerCannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection
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[Ponder]

I rest my case.