Little help with this...

[lifeless]

Hi,

after some advise,

Ive had ''anxiety'' for about 10 years,(i'm 28 now) it began with a panic attack in the middle of night waking up with my heart rapidly pounding - dizzy, weak with intense fear etc, seen the G.P who did an E.C.G and advised that it was a panic attack and nothing to worry about. After countless visits to the G.P with no improvement was sent to Heart specialist, another E.C.G, Checked over - no fault found, put on medication beta blockers, anti depressants etc, still no joy, this continued for some time until the G.P sent me back to the specialist and was monitered for 24hrs - again the tests came back normal, but now rather then ''attacks'' i was having the feeling of a panic attack (heart thundering at pace, dizzy, shaking,headaches etc) for days on end, and i noticed that my heart was racing just from running up the stairs and i felt tired alot, i have been to see councilors, therapists and to be honest when ive spoken to a specialist or G.P i do leave feeling a little better after being reassured that i havent got anything seriously wrong with me, but i never felt 100 percent since that first panic attack. I left work 4-5 weeks ago feeling like i was going to faint and the best way to discribe it is feeling like i have the flu all the time - after checking up on the symptoms of aniexty i can relate it to my own symptoms - but mine are every day for most of the day - my legs and arms feel weak, my heart beats rapidly alot of the time( i have a fast heartbeat for most of the day about 90bpm) and ive been suffering really bad headaches, after seeing the G.P about 3 weeks ago and again being checked over another E.C.G - heart normal, and being told again - anxiety. But im having real trouble believing this is anxiety - i just feel so awful all the time and im so sick of checking my heart as it feels as if it is being squeezed,and my whole body just feeling numb its all so scarey!!!!.

Any advice on what route to take next would be most welcome and im so sorry ive been a bit all over the place with this post...

[Jeordie]

"Lifeless",

first of all you should stop calling yourself that.
You need to change attitude.
I'm experiencing the exact same things lately among other symptoms. I'm 25 now and had my first panic attack at 19 where I felt I was going to have a stroke. Lately my attention is focused on my heart, fearing I have a heart condition.

Now, after you've done SO MANY tests for the heart, it's really time to give up thinking you have a heart problem. Your heart is perfect, rejoice!

What you have is anxiety and panic attacks.

At least two times, I woke up at night with my heart racing at some three hundred beats for minute (it felt that much), and screaming, as I was sure I was going to die. I used to feel dizzy and ill in that situation but still, instead of collapsing, I used to instinctively run out of my room and sit somewhere and wait for terror to pass, and my heart to slow down.

Just about an hour ago I had a similar attack, by daytime. It scared the hell out of me but I'm still here. I've had some stressful events in the last few days. I'm more likely to get panic attacks when I finally have peace after few weeks of severe stress.

So what I'd say is:
- you definitely don't have a heart problem.
- the faintness and flu-like feelings are the normal response of the body to severe prolonged anxiety.
- stop focusing on these symptoms and think of what you can change/improve in your life through your own action.

[smbkrn]

One thing I believe is that you can worry yourself into more anxiety issues by being so concerned about your cardiovascular health. I too worry about it as you hear things periodically these days of someone young having a heart attack. What we all are experiencing is anxiety plain and simple. Focus your attention on tackling the anxiety.

Good luck!

[lifeless]

thanks Jeordie and smbkrn for taking to the time to read and reply to my post, it all helps, thanks.

[col73]

I can relate to your problems, as I have suffered with anxiety problems for just over 10yrs.

And like whats been said, there is nothing wrong with your heart, its working fine, the more you focus on it the worse it will get, I know its hard but try not to focus on it, how fast its beating etc, focus on calming yourself down, once you do that, your heart will calm down.