Finding it really difficult to accept...Really scared!

[amy3]

Hi, I've been suffering from anxiety for around 5 years now, since having my first child, Im only 23 and I am worried about my heart, like with everything I feel I think it's heart related..when I feel sick, when I need the toilet and if I'm poorly like if I have a cold I think I have a disease and my hearts going to fail on me. Ive been having more panic attacks recently. It comes and goes all the time but when it comes back, it comes back with avengeance! I don't take any meds as I am worried they're going to affect my heart. My gut is really telling my that there is something really wrong to the point where I feel like just going in to a hospital saying 'SORT ME OUT!' I hate how I'm walking down the street and my heart would pound so hard it feels like it's going to stop!!! I don't know if it's just me but over the years the heart pounding has gone worse and I go really disorientated when it happens and I get tunnel vision, it just seems more intense! I am really worried but also really worried about going to the doctors with it just in case I do have something wrong with me! I've also been getting what feels like missed beats on top of it, which scares me even more!!! Xx

[Ally-SA]

Hi Amy

I know how you feel - my heart too goes crazy at various times. But I learned that the heart can beat around 200 beats per minute or more - and you'll still be fine.
I've been going to gym, and have had a couple of panic attacks while checking my heart rate, but have decided not to give in to it. I make sure I finish whatever it is that I'm doing - even if I just slow down - because I know it will be okay.
When your heart pounds really fast I bet you feel a little light-headed and whatnot - it's all just anxiety, which can give us so many strange sensations.
Try some relaxation techniques. I know it's difficult because most of us can be over sensitive to every little twitch or odd feeling - but give some exercises a go if you don't want to start meds. You'll have to find other coping mechanisms. :)
xx

[ankietyjoe]

First step is to go to the Doctors.

Whether you're scared or not, it's something that's got to be done. The good news is that what you're suffering from is incredibly common amongst most, if not all of us at some point.

Once a Doctor tells you you're fine (which they will) then it'll be immeasurably easier to accept it when it happens again.

At the moment it's a bit of a self sustaining process.

[annie.hall]

I'm like you, I always think there is something wrong with my heart. But since it's been years and nothing has ever happened to me (no heart disease), I try to tell myself to leave my poor heart alone! I've come to hate it, hate feeling every heartbeat and every flutter. But what has he done to me but keep me alive all these years? So when I get an overwhelming feeling that my heart is failing me, I tell myself that it's just doing its job. It's responding to fear, fatigue, whatever. It knows its job.

I still have times where I cannot take it anymore, but it passes. Hang in there. :hugs:

[franklin2003]

This is all good advice, if you haven't talked with a doctor and been examined, you should. Once they have examined you and believe its anxiety trust their judgement. The next is you need to learn to not fear your heart...I believe you have to fully not care if it is your heart. ONly then will your mind not be tuned to charge with anxiety...go through the fear and realize nothing will happen. That is how you will "cure" your anxiety.