Worried about heart... again :-(

[londonchris]

Hi all,

Just seeking a bit of reassurance really which everyone here is really good at!! :-)

I'm a bit of a footie nut and went to a game last night. Now I like going to games, it's exciting, a good day out with mates, a laugh and generally a good time. However, it's a breeding ground for anxiety.

I suffer from ectopic beats and other health anxiety. Obviously even if you're not a football fan, going to a big game is a nervous experience. In addition to that, you're drinking all afternoon. Not a great start in terms of the old palpitations.

In the ground, you're standing up for 90 minutes screaming and shouting and singing and jumping around and getting excited and getting nervous all at the same time. As any football fan will know, it's a 90 minute rollercoaster.

What I'm getting at is this:

I love going to the football and don't want to stop as it's one of the only things left which I really enjoy now that hasn't been spoiled by my health anxiety.

However, yesterday was hard and I want to clarify if others feel the same sometimes. When I was shouting and singing, I suddenly feel quite out of breath. If I sing really long and really loud, it's almost like in straining my voice my heart just THUDS really hard and carries on beating. It's not out of place, it's not a missed beat, it just palpitates really hard and carries on as usual.

It's like a rush of blood to the head. I'll stand up and shout something and I feel out of breath, heart beats hard and I feel like sitting down.

Writing this I feel a bit stupid because it's probably just a natural reaction to shouting loud. However, others around me seem to be able to sing and shout the whole 90 minutes and feel nothing. I'm wondering if it's just because I'm paying attention to these sensations that I notice them more.

Trouble is, sometimes I'll go to a match and will be absolutely fine. Sometimes it will be worse than it was last night.

Following that, obviously everyone is shattered, headache, the lot. On the way home because you're so tired the heart starts fluttering and your head is pounding and your aching and it's one of the worst feelings in the world.

I really really don't want to stop going to football because as I say it's one of the few pasttimes I still enjoy despite my anxiety. I can't let it overcome this one too. But at the same time I can't help but think that all this strong heart beating and getting shattered and low sugar levels, one day I'll come out of the ground and keel over.

Can anyone reassure me that this isn't the case? Re-reading the post I feel a bit stupid but then again, I guess that sums up health anxiety really. It hasn't happened before and probably won't ever happen, but our minds work in peculiar ways.

Thanks :-)

[Schtopper]

If I sing really long and really loud, it's almost like in straining my voice my heart just THUDS really hard and carries on beating. It's not out of place, it's not a missed beat, it just palpitates really hard and carries on as usual.

Increase in exertion with a reduction in oxygen intake.

In other words you're straining and 'exercising' but in addition reducing the amount and length of time you're breathing in. you're heart is pounding because you're body requires oxygen you're not giving it enough to fullfill the requirement while exerting yourself so it's having to beat harder and faster to get round quickly.

Learn to breath properly whilst singing and it will stop happening

[ronski]

I expect you are suffering from a breathing dysregulation due to your anxiety. A slight elevation in your breathing rate could make you feel the way you feel do. What most people and most general practitioners do not comprehend is that our breathing rate only has to change slightly and that has serious consequences to our well being. Research is showing that about 20% of people who visit there doctors with bizarre unrelated symptoms have a breathing regulation problem. Our breathing rate is normally at rest 8-12 breaths a minute but once it goes up to 14 to 20+ breaths a min at rest then we become ill due to a change in the carbon dioxide in our blood stream.
Now this would explain your symptoms because if you are slightly over breathing then taking a bigger breath would make things far worse so your body try's to normalise things by stopping you breathing and thus the breathlessness. It also can cause an increase in blood pressure so your thudding heart.
I expect quite simply you have a condition called Chronic Hyperventilation Syndrome which is an anxiety driven behavioural response to stress.
You probably are also breathing your upper chest and maybe through your mouth and not your nose.
Get a copy of Dinah Bradleys book Hyperventilation Syndrome, it may just change your life as it contains very good exercises to normalise your breathing pattern.
Take care and I hope this helps