I have a strange fear of exercise! It is ruining my life!

[lifeunexpected]

Hello all,

I have been battling anxiety and panic disorder, as well as depression, on and off for almost 4 years. Like it is for many of you, the feeling of being out of breath and your heart racing is unpleasant because it mimics the feeling of the anxiety attack. I've had ekg's and holter monitors because I was terrified that there was something wrong with me, but time and time again the doctor has insisted that I start exercising because there is nothing wrong. For some reason, that is not enough for me.

It has gotten to the point where I am afraid to climb stairs! I fly up the stairs in my house, no problem. But if they are stairs in a public place I am terrified that I am going to pass out or drop dead if I only climb just one flight. As soon as I see stairs, my heart rate goes up, I feel short of breath and I get really hot- and I haven't even climbed them yet!! To add insult to injury, when I get anxious I get skipped heartbeats which is the absolute worst feeling in the world. I don't care if the doctor says they are harmless. Having a racing heart that skips is just awful and I can't take it anymore.

I thought I was cured when I went to Europe this summer. I was with my boyfriend and I always feel so safe around him. I've never had an attack if he's around. I've done more walking and more climbing of stairs while I was in Europe then I have in about 6 years- and I felt great. I climbed 6 flights of stairs. Yes, my heart beat faster, but it didn't skip and I felt so energized and alive!!

I was so happy at the prospect that I could live normally again. But when I got home and went to school and stoon infront of those stairs, the anxiety started again and that was it- racing heart and skips after climbing one flight. I'm afraid if I climbed another flight I would have actually died.

Now I avoid stairs in public places at all costs. If the building doesn't have an elevator, I don't go.

I'm so embarrased about this. Nobody but my herbalist knows about this problem.

Does anyone have any advice for me?? Have a similar experience? I'm so sorry this was a long post. I needed to get this off my chest- I actually feel a little better now. Thanks for reading :D

[Evilbob333]

Look at it this way...you know its not a medical thing otherwise you wouldn't have been able to get so physical in Europe...you know for a fact that this is just a mental obstacle. So you know that the only thing thats stopping you is your fear, and fear alone isnt going to kill you, and neither is any other physical anxiety symptom.
Try taking this problem in hand...do some gentle pulse raising exercises to get your heart rate up...jogging on the spot, step ups on your bottom step at home. Allow yourself to get used to your heart beating, become comfortable with the sensation...feel your anxiety and battle through it, prove that you can raise that pulse through exercise with no adverse effects!
Its funny i should read this today. As part of my job we do exercise sessions with kids and yesterday we had them do what is known as the bleep test, which is a pretty hardcore fitness test. Anyway by the end of the test there were a few kids crying because they thought they couldnt breathe...they were basically having panic attacks because they had exercised so hard they were shocked to find themselves out of breath...which not only illustrates how unfit some kids are! but also that physical sensations can be scary if we dont fully understand them or misinterpret them.

[Stevieboy]

Absolutely! I have this problem too. Exercise is one of the best ways to battle depression and anxiety. It gets your homones nice and up. It makes you feel happy and calm. With exercise, over time, your body becomes very good at maintaining and balancing itself even more so than it can normally. It can also help to regulate gland function which sometimes may be a little out of wack for those of us with panic and anxiety problems. I have this problem with exercise, but I am getting over it. One of the things I do to help get over it is doing yoga.
It has been said many times that your anxiety symptoms are not going to harm you and that is very true!

[gettingoverit]

I would also recommend yoga as well, however I believe you have to face your fears. I Know it is very frightening mentally and physically to do this, but this is something I feel that you want to overcome and can. Once you overcome the stairs, what can't you overcome? The biggest supporter needs to be yourself. Yes, you will probably get scared and panicy, but what is there really to be afraid of...you have been up how many stairs in Europe without dying/have an attack? I have these feelings all the time, such as driving to work, talking to people, etc...but I push through with positive thinking. I know you can overcome this fear, now it is your turn to believe in yourself.