Having a rough go at it

[ryangreen]

Just don't know what to do anymore

I am doing everything my doctor/ therapist tell me to do meds,cbt exercises I want this to stop so bad that I try everything they ask of me as well as a lot of the suggestions on this site. But the fear over my heart stopping or me stopping breathing just won't go away.

I read everywhere that an ekg is so basic and if you have heart issues a lot of the time they will be missed on the ekg so I'm stuck as to what to do as my doc won't order an echo which is far better at determining heart issues

[saab]

You have had a 24hr monitor which came back ok too, remember. Plus you were healthy enough to exercise regularly. You are only 30 - the chances of you having a heart problem is very, very small. An ecg does analyse the rhythm whilst you are on it, but it can also tell them if you have had a heart attack in the past, if there is any heart enlargement, and if cholesterol is blocking the blood supply.

Unless you have a seriously damaged heart, which you don't or it would have come to light, the chances of your heart just stopping, or you stopping breathing, are tiny. Breathing is controlled by the brain anyway, so there is no reason whatsoever why you would stop breathing.

When we get anxious our mind tricks us into believing that ridiculous things are true. Claire Weekes calls this our 'nerves bluffing us' in her books. A good phrase I have read recently about negative thoughts is, 'Real, but not true'. The thought in our head exists, the thought is real. But it isn't true.

So which is likely to be true? The opinion of doctors, based on tests and experience, or the thought that pops into your head?

I hope you feel better soon.