Panic brought on by excercise/ fear of excercise

[nbs1]

As i have previously stated on this forum, i used to be incredibly fit and excercised on a daily basis. This included going to the gym, going runs and representing my university at football. When the anxiety attacks started, i stopped excercising as i feared it was my heart. Months on i am still not excercising. The attacks have been brought on after runs and at the gym and i actually feel like i have forgotten what a normal healthy increased heart rate should feel like- as soon as it happens i panic. this has now led to me completely fearing excercise, ill do almost anything to avoid it(wont happily run for a bus!). it sounds ridiculous but its how i am now. my life literally revolved around excercise until all this started and not doing any is really adversely affecting my life. anyone else suffered from anything similar and got any advice to get over it. you'd think the times ive run, gymed it, etc since the attacks started would satisfy me that nothing bad will happen but they dont, theres still a fear that what if i just drop dead. reading things in the paper etc only makes it worse!

[PUGLETMUM]

im sorry that you are having a problem around exercising as it is known to be extremely beneficial in helping with both depression and anxiety. i myself use exercise as part of my self help regime and i would be really upset if i couldnt do it.

it sounds as though youve now got a phobia about exercising as you are associating it with negative symptoms/feelings? anyway really you now just have to un-learn this conditioned response by exposing yourself to it and going through the anxiety symptoms without running away! (pardon the pun!) this is cbt, and it gets you better. go at your own pace and dont beat yourself up if you dont reach the goals you set, but keep the goals in mind.

so for example start off with brisk walking for 10 minutes say and then increase the strength of exercise and the length of time you do it and eventually you will see that you are feeling anxious as you are exercising but that is all it is, just anxiety not your heart.

and try to tell yourself that actually by not exercising you will be increasing your risk of heart problems as exercise is beneficial to a healthy heart.

good luck emma

[Wendie j]

Hi when reading your thread i thought "gosh this is me", im currently going through CBT about this fear about heart / exercise. My fear came on when i started having palpitations and although i had all the tests and nothing was found i wasnt having none of it. Like you i get extremely anxious with an increased heart rate.Unfortunately i started to get feelings of breathlessness when walking etc and it was happening because i was out of condition!! which brought the panic on more.

Mini steps are what im doing starting by walking or cycling on my exercise bike gradually building up say a minute a day or if you cant do that half a minute.Doing it daily also helps as it doesnt allow the fear to build up for too long .

Hope this helps you are not alone, feel free to PM me any time to chat about it with a fellow sufferer.

wendie j xxxx:hugs:

[Piglet]

Have a read of this thread!

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4768

Piglet :flowers: