scrumking
10-09-13, 17:10
hey all,
I have been dealing with health anxiety for the last 7 or 8 months but i am at my wits end and all i keep hearing is "its your anxiety its all in your head you are fine" NO I AM NOT OK
BRIEF RUNDOWN
i am a 31 year old smoker overweight and know i need to correct both issues and currently working on both. In january my grandmother passed suddenly from a ruptured brain aneursym that was never detected, in march i was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and in may we lost my father in law after a 7 month battle with cancer at the age of 62. my anxiety started in the middle of all these events and was started with a panic attack that was triggered by wearing my sleep apnea mask for the first time.
That one panic attack has pushed me into a life filled with all day 24/7 intense anxiety and worry mostly relating to sudden death in the form of heart attack,stroke,brain aneurysm. so here goes my first doctors visit I was completely honest and he ordered a full blood work up an ekg and a 24 hour holter monitor. When i got my blood tests back I was shocked everything was normal I thought I would have high cholesterol and maybe signs of diabetes but my doc said I was "healthy as an ox". So now comes time for the ekg after two days i get a call that my doc would like to see me in his office as soon as possible well it turns out that one side of my heart appears enlarged but my doc tried to reassure me that it was common in sleep apnea and it would be corrected for the most part with continued use of my sleep apnea cpap machine. I was called and told nothing concerning was found on the holter monitor.
so lets fast forward to today I am currently on day 4 of lexapro 10mg as i am very anti med this was a big step. I am convinced something is terribly wrong with my heart and after asking a friend who is a nurse if the tests i had were enough she said "pretty much but all you have had tested is the electrical activity of your heart those tests dont really present an overall picture of heart health" i am even more scared and by doing some research i have found out it may be congestive heart failure or coronary artery disease both of which can not be diagnosed by the tests I have had.
I can not go to sleep at night without letting my body get so exhausted it just falls asleep because i am TERRIFIED i will not wake up and my wife will wake to find me dead in bed next to her at the age of 31. I also spend most of the day thinking that my heart is going to stop or i am going to stop breathing at any minute resulting in my sudden death
I dont know what to do anymore, do I go back to the doctor and demand more conclusive heart tests? Do i wait and see if this lexapro starts working or do I just give up commit myself to the loonie bin and let my wife enjoy her life without me being a burden?
thanks all,
really scared
I have been dealing with health anxiety for the last 7 or 8 months but i am at my wits end and all i keep hearing is "its your anxiety its all in your head you are fine" NO I AM NOT OK
BRIEF RUNDOWN
i am a 31 year old smoker overweight and know i need to correct both issues and currently working on both. In january my grandmother passed suddenly from a ruptured brain aneursym that was never detected, in march i was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and in may we lost my father in law after a 7 month battle with cancer at the age of 62. my anxiety started in the middle of all these events and was started with a panic attack that was triggered by wearing my sleep apnea mask for the first time.
That one panic attack has pushed me into a life filled with all day 24/7 intense anxiety and worry mostly relating to sudden death in the form of heart attack,stroke,brain aneurysm. so here goes my first doctors visit I was completely honest and he ordered a full blood work up an ekg and a 24 hour holter monitor. When i got my blood tests back I was shocked everything was normal I thought I would have high cholesterol and maybe signs of diabetes but my doc said I was "healthy as an ox". So now comes time for the ekg after two days i get a call that my doc would like to see me in his office as soon as possible well it turns out that one side of my heart appears enlarged but my doc tried to reassure me that it was common in sleep apnea and it would be corrected for the most part with continued use of my sleep apnea cpap machine. I was called and told nothing concerning was found on the holter monitor.
so lets fast forward to today I am currently on day 4 of lexapro 10mg as i am very anti med this was a big step. I am convinced something is terribly wrong with my heart and after asking a friend who is a nurse if the tests i had were enough she said "pretty much but all you have had tested is the electrical activity of your heart those tests dont really present an overall picture of heart health" i am even more scared and by doing some research i have found out it may be congestive heart failure or coronary artery disease both of which can not be diagnosed by the tests I have had.
I can not go to sleep at night without letting my body get so exhausted it just falls asleep because i am TERRIFIED i will not wake up and my wife will wake to find me dead in bed next to her at the age of 31. I also spend most of the day thinking that my heart is going to stop or i am going to stop breathing at any minute resulting in my sudden death
I dont know what to do anymore, do I go back to the doctor and demand more conclusive heart tests? Do i wait and see if this lexapro starts working or do I just give up commit myself to the loonie bin and let my wife enjoy her life without me being a burden?
thanks all,
really scared