My Symptoms are affecting my state of mind - please help

[Doug]

Hi all,

First time poster.

I've been suffering from anxiety since New Years Eve 2016 - I remember the date because I woke up that morning and didn't feel right, had a huge panic attack in the afternoon and I've suffered anxiety ever since.

I used to have anxiety when I was in my early 20's, I had a two year-ish period where I had daily panic attacks and didn't cope with them too well, I used to run away quite a lot thinking I needed to escape my current situation, go to hospital etc...

Then all the anxiety stopped suddenly and I didn't have a single issue for 8 years.

The anxiety started at the beginning of 2017 and reached a head in march of last year. I started having sever palpitations and chest pain when on my lunch break from work. I couldn't calm these down so I went straight to A&E. Once I was there, everything calmed down, my BP was checked, I had an ECG, all clear. Saw a doctor who said it might be acid reflux and told me to talk to my GP.

Saw my GP the next day who chatted to me about my symptoms and diagnosed anxiety and put me on 10mg of Escatalopram, she still wanted my heart checked out fully so I was given a 24 hour ECG. When that was done they said that they didn't see anything that concerned them but they wanted the palpitations to be cleared by a cardiologist - cue a year long wait to eventually have another ECG, a heart MRI and eventually a cardiologist shrugging at me and saying it was "Just anxiety"

Things calmed down a bit over the summer and my attacks became more and more rare.

Then just before Christmas it all flared up again and seemed a lot more extreme this time - throughout 2016 I would only get attacks at work, usually in the afternoon. Now I get them at home and at random times. It almost always happens whenever I sit down to relax or when I get into bed.

It starts with that feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach, then I get lightheaded and short of breath.

then I get the heart palpitations - these are the only symptom that I really can't cope with, I start to worry so that makes my heart worse, sometimes it's not fast it just pounds heard in my chest to the point where I can can feel it.

I feel like I'm going crazy when this happens like "is this my time? Is my heart going to give out?"

When I'm not having an attack then I know that it's all anxiety related and probably not dangerous but when I'm in the midst of it I really struggle to regain control.

It's affecting my work, my social life, my ability to relax etc...

I'd love to hear people's coping mechanisms when they start having scary palpitations. I just want to get back to how I used to be.

Sorry to ramble on so long, it helps to get it off my chest.

[Carys]

Hiyer,

Can you request some cbt (cognitive behavioural therapy) to help with your panic attacks? The thing about panic attacks is that the more you fear them, and don't just accept them, the worse they get. You know they are nothing to fear in your non-anxiety state, but once they hit you lose the ability to rationalise. Claire Weekes wrote books in the 60s about dealing with panic attacks, and hoep to 'float through' them and accept them as they were self-limiting. You can look up her self help books on Amazon ? Self talk always worked for me...literally out loud....repeating things like 'this is adrenaline, it will be over soon, int he meantime I'm going to get on with X,y,z' , 'you've been here before, you know what it is, it won't kill you like all the 100s of times before'. Etc etc

[Doug]

Hi,

Thanks for replying - I think CBT might be the best course of action. My main problem these days is that my mind goes to a dark place sometimes. I have days where I can't get the worry of sudden cardiac arrest out of my head. I know it's not an uncommon fear among people with anxiety. I'm 32 and I've had MRI's echos and ECGs that have all shown my heart is fine. it's that constant 'what if' feeling that I just can't shake.

[jray23]

Something a cardiologist recently told me when he was examining me - "There's no way I can completely assure you that you won't suddenly die of a heart issue, anything COULD happen, but do you worry about dying in a car accident each day? Because that happens more often [in people my age/condition]".

As a sort of numbers nerd/odds guy (gambler), that basically instantly made me realize how illogical my thoughts were and "cured" me, at least of that concern, and for now.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

[Doug]

Something a cardiologist recently told me when he was examining me - "There's no way I can completely assure you that you won't suddenly die of a heart issue, anything COULD happen, but do you worry about dying in a car accident each day? Because that happens more often [in people my age/condition]".

As a sort of numbers nerd/odds guy (gambler), that basically instantly made me realize how illogical my thoughts were and "cured" me, at least of that concern, and for now.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

That's an awesome way of thinking.

I cycle to work every morning down several busy roads full of commuter traffic. I guess I'm far more likely to be knocked off my bike than drop dead of SCA - yet I have zero fear/concern about this - it's amazing what you can let your head talk yourself into.

[Carys]

I cycle to work every morning down several busy roads full of commuter traffic. I guess I'm far more likely to be knocked off my bike than drop dead of SCA - yet I have zero fear/concern about this - it's amazing what you can let your head talk yourself into.

Yep ! Thats the thing that objectively other people, without extreme anxiety can see, and those with awful Health anxiety have lost perspective on. If you look at things statistically, your chances of any number of other things happening today, to threaten your health and well-being are probably much higher than your heart stopping/having a heart attack. Infact, you might be more likely to choke on a nut on your morning cake during coffee break (I don't wish this on anyone by the way, I just picked something unlikely yet mundane ) I've said this on here before, life is a risky business and nobody gets out alive. I don't say this as a scary thing, just to remind people that nobody knows what is around the corner for any of us at any time, we can minimise risk to the level we are able (by having our heart sensibly checked), but we can't account for everything. It would scare the pants off me the thought of cycling to work - that would be massive 'threat land' for me lol For you, it is of less importance and doesn't hold fear.