Heart Health Anxiety to the Extreme

[tbird907]

So a little about myself. This is the first time I've shared anything with anyone online. I have always seen therapists and doctors for my problem, but none can really help me. Maybe that is my own problem. My fear is so bad that I can't even believe a cardiologist who tells me that nothing is wrong. In 2013, at the age of 24, I went into Atrial Fibrillation. I was an otherwise healthy guy, riding his bike, heart rate around 180 bpm, pushing it whilst commuting down the streets of Anchorage, Alaska. My heart went into such a rhythm, that I called the ambulance and I was sure I was going to die. The paramedics arrived, believing that I was having SVT (super ventricular tachycardia.) My heart rate lowered, but was soon discovered on the EKG, that I was in Atrial Fibrillation. I arrived at the Emergency Room at Providence Hospital undergoing constant monitoring for the next three hours. The doctors said that I wasn't in danger and sent me home. At the time, I was living with my mom who was out of town, so I went home alone. I spent the whole night basically hearing my heart struggle and thinking I could just die at any moment. I slept for a few hours and then went back to the heart institute to receive another EKG showing that my heart was indeed still in AFIB. I was scheduled for a cardioversion later that day. I arrived at the hospital to receive my cardioversion surrounded by a room full of elderly people. They all looked at me strange as if I wasn't supposed to be there. I received a pep talk from my doctor who informed me that I was to be put under and shocked, so that my heart would return to a normal rhythm. Luckily, this procedure went without any complications and I have been arrhythmia free since that day.

Unfortunately, a new health issue arrived. The fear of my heart. I have probably been to the Emergency Room more than 99% of the populations visits in their lifetime. I go on average once a month. Unfortunately, I have started to go weekly, and last week, I went twice. I experience such bad anxiety attacks, that I feel that I am having a heart attack every time. That this is the time that I will really die. No matter how illogical it sounds, at that moment, I feel like I'm going to die. My chest is squeezing, my chest pain is radiating to my jaw, my neck, and my arm. I cannot breathe, and I feel like I'm about to pass out. This is the end, and that is what I feel every time. It comes on slowly, starting at the beginning of the night. I try to sleep, only to feel sharp chest pains that radiate throughout the left side of my body. I get severe indigestion, that makes it feel as if a balloon is in my sternum. I try to ride it out, laying there in fear, waiting for it to subside, but it only becomes worse. Eventually the panic sets in and it becomes so extreme that I have to call 911. It is an illogical response every time, because every time it happens, I go to the ER, they check my troponin (heart enzyme normally elevated in an event of heart attack), they give me a chest x-ray, and an EKG, and then send me on my way.

At this point, I don't know what to believe. Everyone says it is anxiety, yet I experience these chest pains, shortness of breath, indigestion and bloating, before my anxiety symptoms.

I cannot live like this any longer. It is interfering with my job, my girlfriend and my enjoyment of life.

Please help.

Tom

[needtogetwell]

Hi Tom,

Well, that is one scary story. I can't imagine it, and I fully understand why you are going into full blown panic and anxiety attacks.

I might suggest , if you have a family doctor , go and see him/her. Explain the fear and panic attacks, they may be able to give you something as simple as Ativan to calm you when you are in the midst of an attack.

The other thing that you would benefit from is a few sessions with a therapist who knows cognitive behavioural therapy (cbt). From what you have explained, more than half of the problem is your thought processes. CBT can teach you how to look at what you are thinking when you get into one of these attacks and challenge the validity of what you are thinking. Anxiety and panic attacks are largely, for the lack of a better analogy, mind games. The more you engage the invalid thought, the worse the attack is.

Because of that heart history, I would strongly suggest you involve your family doctor, they are best suited to guide you.

Wishing you all the best,
Cheers!

[MTelford]

Feel for ya buddy. I have anxiety about that kind of thing sometimes.

The best advice I can offer you is to look into meditation. It can work wonders for anxiety. And like the person above said, CBT is good stuff.

[Goomba]

Not sure if it helps but..

My mom has had afib for about 15 years, along with some other arrhythmia's that are worse. She has only gotten healthier, and is doing well.

My grandmother has had afib for a very long time, and has had two severe heart attacks - caused by smoking. Her heart is dead pretty much and has been since the dr gave her a year or so to live....35 years ago. That woman has more energy than me, and I'm 25.

Point is that the heart is an incredible muscle, and they can do a lot for it. Even if you do have something (which you have been told you don't), that doesn't mean it's the end all be all. Enjoy each day that you have.

[JohnC]

Hi Tbird907, Been to the ER twice for panic attacks but they never found anything and i even had a angioplasty ( I think thats what its called ) but nothing. I had an associate that was in afib all the time and his heart would flutter and misbeat, He went that way for a long time and finally they went in through the groin and actually burned several tiny spots inside of his heart. He is fine now and now problems, that was 15 years ago.
P.S. i used to live just off of the old Seward Highway.

[Mathieu Frenchfish]

I m having panic attack over my heart since many years, also had an episode of Afib that resolved naturally. I always pushed hard at sport and never cared about my heart before my first panic attack when i went on a verry hardcore sport program and started feeling really bad. I too have the indigestion and the feeling of gas pushing trough my chest, i feel the need to burp constantly , and this shit comes every time i m nervous. If you want to compare notes ,feel free to pm me ;)

[NathanH]

Hey man,your symptoms are the exact same ones I endure with a panic attatck..I go asleep and wake up and then my attack slowly builds up to a full out attack..my first anxiety attack I was convinced I was having a heart attack and going to die..I had to be taken to hospital by ambulance due to my condition..the ambulance crew reassured me I wasn't having a heart attack and that it was a extreme panic attack they basically told me I'd know for sure if it was a heart attack because the pain is in the middle of the chest and like someone is literally jumping up and down on your chest..I had never had aniexty before but on speaking to my doctor after he told me you can get it from nowhere and I have what's called nocturnal anxiety disorder..