Sudden Death (cardiac arrest) fears.

[weallmissedme]

I've been getting aches under my armpit, and chest pains and pressure for a while now. I get light headed relatively easily, and am short on breath a lot of the time. I am now paranoid that I am going to drop dead of cardiac arrest for no reason, since it has happened to young people very rarely.....

Anyone else ever experience this? I fainted once and am afraid that's a telltale sign of cardiac arrest.

[Catherine S]

Your breathing pattern is probably because of your anxiety...yes I know everything is blamed on this, but this kind of breathing pattern is typical of it, because of shallow breathing and that results in an imbalance between oxygen and carbon dioxide in your bloodstream. This imbalance can result in over breathing and make you feel like you are suffocating. To restore the balance there are breathing exercises you can do to calm yourself down.

Cath ☺

[weallmissedme]

So you don't think any of it can be a sign of impending CA?

[Fishmanpa]

Less than a week ago you were worried about a brain aneurysm. Before that it was water intoxication, a stomach pulse and a head injury. All this in a month.

Have any of those fears come true? (No "yes, buts"). This is a yes or no answer. The answer to that question is the answer to this question and fear.

Positive thoughts

[weallmissedme]

Well, I have come to the realization that cardiac arrest doesn't just happen. And that "sudden death syndrome" isn't just random cardiac arrest, it happens to people with underlying health conditions. I have had 5 electrocardiograms, and 1 echocardiogram this year. They would have found something I believe. So thankfully it looks like I can get over this. Thanks for the positive words. I really appreciate it and it is one of the reasons I come to this forum.

[GiantMogwai]

An ECG is not always the best at spotting this but an echocardiogram probably would have spotted signs, but your other symptoms don't really point to this at all. In my case I had an irregular ECG once, irregular signal averaged ECG, and worrying contrast echocardiogram, but MRI was all clear, and 24hr tapes plus exercise tests were clear. This whole process started because I had a double blackout with accompanying injury, followed by an irregular ECG. I was finally released with an 80% all clear which is best you can get really. The thing that caused the most harm in this process was the anxiety of being told for months by doctors I could die at any time from cardiac arrest. You don't have any of the signs so forget about it.

[weallmissedme]

Ugh, I get constant lightheadedness and fatigue. Can this be anxiety?

[GiantMogwai]

Ugh, I get constant lightheadedness and fatigue. Can this be anxiety?

Yes, it can be. Also dehydration, or not enough vitamin D.

[ServerError]

Anxiety is the most likely and most common cause of those things.