Irrational anxiety back. Aortic dissection.

[Deepseathree]

I just recently post about a blood clot worry and am now in a downward slope with a worry of an Aortic Dissection. My anxiety seems to hang around for a week or two then head out for a few months. Binge worries if you will. Right now as mentioned my fear is of an Aortic Dissection. Brought on by reading a story yesterday of a weightlifter who is suffering from one right now. Or so that's where I think the worry is. Though this guy was 375-400lbs and maybe heavy into anabolics. I just turned 29 and have a bp of usually 110-130/70-80 and HR of 55-65 in the doctors office. My cholesterol is mildly elevated. I have exercised on and off my whole life. My cardiovascular health is still up to par as I was testing it this evening. But yet I still have this worry. Problem is I started reading about things on the internet and found what my anxiety wanted to fuel it. The guy was in his 20s and had one but wasn't presenting pain from what I could remember. I usually look at things rationally and with statistics but didn't want to look further. Anyone able to talk me out of this.

[ServerError]

Aortic dissections in the Young are incredibly rare. They're almost unheard of in fact. But well done on finding a story on the internet to keep your anxiety going. I'm sure you don't need me to point out the extent to which you've done this to yourself. Aortic dissections are hard to catch because they often don't show symptoms until it's too late, so I personally don't waste my time worrying over something rare that would kill me quickly if it happened. While that might seem blunt, it's important to develop rational cognitive behaviour.

I just wonder if you're having any treatment for anxiety?

[Deepseathree]

I'm very aware of how rare they are. Especially in someone young that's not a smoker and has pretty good cardiovascular health aside from ldl being slightly elevated. I probably wouldn't be having this worry had I not looked further into what happened to the weightlifter. Also when I had search on the internet I found quite a few stories. Which was awesome. Lots of times reading into things helps with my anxiety as I'm able to approach things with a rational mindset and realize that with rare ailments people usually have a predisposition or just statistically it doesn't pan out that I'd have it. I was on Prozac maybe a year ago and stopped taking it. I was fine as I was back into exercising and a decent daily schedule but lately neither of those have been looked after. So this recent bout of anxiety i think is a culmination of lack of sleep, no daily stability, and most important for me, no exercising. But the awareness of this doesn't take the worry away. Also this was how my grandmother died. You don't need to tell me about her age as I'm aware that it's more likely with her than me. I just don't like reading conflicting things about it presenting with pain and not pain.

[ServerError]

There's plenty of rationality in what you're saying. Clearly you recognise the irrationality of your fear and you know it's rare. But when you say "knowing this doesn't make the worry go away", it becomes harder to help you because it makes it harder to know what you're looking for by posting here.

What I mean by this is that all we can really do is point out the facts around this condition and confront your fear with rationality. Beyond that, all we can really do is offer a tea and sympathy approach. That's fine, but I've never seen it really help anyone get on the right track.

As I say, the Googling is self-inflicted misery and you do have control over this. You aren't on a position to properly interpret the nature of these extremely rare cases you're reading about. And by seeking them out, you only make yourself worse. But you know this.

All I can suggest is that you get some help in the real world. You've done it before, so you can do it again.

[Deepseathree]

i guess I was just looking for confirmation into how crazy my fears were and that it was unlikely. It usually helps me to hear that it's not likely and also writing it out and seeing it helps me as well.

[Deepseathree]

Anyone else share this worry?

[Fishmanpa]

Anyone else share this worry?

I'm sure if you do a search you'll find plenty of threads with this fear and all sound similar to yours.

Serious question though... Knowing deep down how irrational this fear is, would knowing someone else has had this really help? What would you tell them?

Positive thoughts