Anxiety

[Mandy0102]

i have a health anxiety i have a fear of having a heart attack i panic that im having one or tend to dwell on what ifs and thinking theres something wrong with my heart to the point where i feel pain in my chest and get more anxious my main worry is what if i actrually do have a heart attack and mistake it for a panic attack as the symptoms are the same, any answers?

[panic12]

Hi this was my first ever problem, I worried so much there were serious problems with my heart, I had short of breath, heart palpitations, tingling arms, noticing every single heartbeat the list is endless.

If you were having a heart attack you would know about it, this problem only went away for me when I got knew anxiety symptoms which led for me to worry about a completely different disease and thus all my heart problems went away, obviously at the cost of a whole new set of symptoms.

What I'm trying to get at is when you don't worry about symptoms it will go away, try doing anything to keep your mind off it because once you realise it's all anxiety it will slowly go away.

Try talking to your doctor about these symptoms :)

[cattia]

Hi there. I am sorry to hear that you're having such trouble with anxiety. Heart worries are really common for anxiety suffers as so many of us have trouble with palpitations, feeling short of breath, heart pounding etc. Unfortunately I lost a close friend to a heart attack almost seven years ago. I was with him at the time and he died a week later. I've thing this showed me is that if you're having a heart attack, you'll know about it. I can promise you that you wouldn't be wondering whether it was anxiety or something else, you would know. My friend was not a healthy individual. Although he was young to have heart trouble, he had many medical issues which he refused to deal with. He didn't look after himself and if he'd taken better care of himself he would still be here today. If you are fit and healthy and taking good care of yourself then you have nothing to worry about. Try some deep relaxation or self hypnosis, I find these great at calming me down when I feel like I'm losing it.

[Pcdaft]

Hi i was the same too but I took my first on in the Caribbean which was very scary I hot I would not make it home but I did and that was 6 years ago just do your breathing exercises and the will help you I promise they did me take care x

[Arnie365]

Hi Mandy

I'm exactly the same as you as are lots on here so you are not alone. The first step if you haven't already done it is to go and get checked out by a doctor. Over the past 7 months I've been to a &e 3 times an been to the doctors I can't remember how many times. All my tests have shown there is nothing wrong with my heart. But I totally know how it feels the pains are so real and that little voice in your head keeps telling you it could be a heart attack this time then the panic cycle set off. Ultimately it has take a full medical assessment I had to pay privately for last week to finally believe there is nothing wrong with my heart. I'm also on fluoxetine and started cbt so I'm tackling it from all angles. I'm not sure how long you have felt like this but I think the sooner you accept it is anxiety and not a serious heart condition the better. I wish I had accepted it sooner as it would have meant I could have dealt with it sooner rather than the last 7 months being miserable thinking very day was going to be my last.

Hope this helps

[Pansy]

Hi Mandy, you aren't alone with this. Many of us with anxiety have issues with our heart or impending heart attack, related chest pains etc. I suffered for years with it hanging over me and now I'm better I regret not dealing with it sooner. So I do agree with Arnie365, try to accept it is probably anxiety, but ask your doc for a check-up and if he says your heart is fine, then believe him, and concentrate on putting the 'symptons' to the back of your mind.
Good luck.