Heart worries...

[jenpen60]

Hi all
'I'm pretty new here, it's a bit different for me but I decided to join. I was almost in tears because I realized how much I am NOT alone.

Basically, I recently came off my antidepressant because it started causing anxiety etc again. I feel good about coming off it. However, my heart worry and anxiety is back FULL FORCE. I get jaw pains, head pains, arm pains, chest pains, back pains. I bother my mom quite often for reassurance that there is nothing wrong and I'm not going to die. Going to the doctor is tempting but I know I won't believe them anyway. It gets difficult to believe anyone at this stage.

Does anybody have any advice for me? I feel like I'm going out of my mind with worry. I laid my hand on top of my heart the other night, I almost had a panic attack because I was convinced my heartbeat was too weak, that it was not regular, etc. I can't handle this.

[rsanchez]

You have to resist the urge to check your pulse. I know personally that when you are very anxious you'll have a hard time finding your pulse, and that will only make you anxious about not finding your pulse.

If this is an option for you, I would get a device that you can use to measure heart rate. Something like a portable blood pressure machine, or a pulse oximeter. The reason I am saying this is because you are checking your heart rate and with the trouble you're having finding it, this serves as confirmation that you were right to check it. With a device that can reliably check your heart rate, you will see that your heart is in fact working well. You will also start learning that your heart rate will naturally be elevated when you are anxious and you will be able to see it actively go down when you try to relax. This has helped me a lot. After checking my actual heart rate enough with a device, it even helped me to stop checking my heart rate.