Hi

[Danny 74]

Hi,
New to site but have been reading it for a few days now mostly to reassure myself that my symptoms could be anxiety related!

Suffering bad health anxiety (I hope; if not then possibly seriously ill!) all about my heart / breathing. Like many on here been to A&E few times, ecg & bloods normal but as I am now over 40, a smoker & have family history of heart / vascular problems Dr's have sent me for further tests. This of course has made me more anxious!

Had chest pain clinic appointment did stress test & more ecg which were fine & nurse said they didn't think my pains/ palpitations were cardiac related. This reassured me for a few days but they want to do a ct angiogram to be sure & my GP said they wouldn't do that if they didn't suspect something so obviously sent my anxiety levels high again!

Feeling silly, scared, frustrated & struggling to get through. Angiogram will be at least another month & I even phoned bupa to see if could do it quicker privately but obviously way too expensive.

Any help much appreciated!

[venusbluejeans]

Hiya Danny 74 and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Why not take a look at our articles on our home page, they contain a wealth of information and are a great starting place for your time on the forum.

I hope you find the as site helpful and informative as I have and that you get the help and support you need here and hope that you meet a few friends along the way :yesyes:

[AnxietyDJ]

Hey, welcome to the site :welcome:

You'll find lots of help and information here, as well as plenty of people who share in and understand your health anxiety (myself included!).

Hope you start to feel better soon :)

[Danny 74]

Hi DJ, Venus.
Thanks for your welcome!
Have already found site helpful by knowing many symptoms I have are often anxiety related!

Only problem for me is many of the posts about heart anxiety are by 20 yr old non smokers! Of course I appreciate their anxiety is as worrying for them as mine but when people answer them saying you're young & low risk it only serves to increase my anxiety as I think I'm in a worse position risk wise. Gonna try & find some posts where the people are similar to me age / risk wise I hope!

Thanks again

[AnxietyDJ]

It can be very daunting, but the only thing you can really do is to wait for the tests to come back from the doctor / hospital. I suppose everyone is guilty of doing something to their body that may potentially harm it in the longer term, so if that is the case with you, you can definitely keeping having regular tests to put your mind at ease.

Silly question I suppose, but have you considered giving up smoking, or switching to e-cigs?

Hope you're having a good day so far :)

[Danny 74]

Hi DJ,
Have halved my smoking which believe me is very hard! Giving up completely while battling the anxiety feels a step too far at the mo, is the plan following ct angiogram tho!

GP just say wait for angiogram & not interested in additional symptoms / tests. Understand their professional view position but don't think they understand mine. Does help knowing so many others out there with similar problems.

[AnxietyDJ]

Well GPs can be very frustrating at times, so you're also not alone in thinking that they don't always listen properly, or have your best interests at heart, but if they had any fears of something serious being wrong, they would push you for more tests immediately.

Awesome job on halving the smoking! That's a great effort :) You've started going in the best possible direction, so if you can keep progressing a little bit further in small steps, I'm sure you'll get to the stage of quitting at some point in the near future... Just don't attempt it because other people keep telling you to... You have to really want it for yourself - and it sounds like you definitely do.

Take care! :)