Keep worrying about heart

[LF87]

My health anxiety is back with a vengeance at the moment after a few years of it being at bay. I'm constantly worrying about something in my body. The last few months I've been sure I had a GI bleed, stomach ulcer and now I'm worried about my heart. When I'm trying to sleep I feel like it's starting to race, or when I just wake up. Am i subconsciously anxious and that's actually causing it, I just don't know. I darent Google racing heart and I am sure there'll be a whole realm of terrifying results so just looking for some opinions. I have been more anxious at night and when waking up a lot too. Seeing a therapist next week but just need reassured this isn't something scary to keep me rational. I've entered into so many bad habits surrounding HA too, checking my body constantly, googling, focusing relentlessly on symptoms, acting as if I'm ill, it's all creeped back in. Hoping to squash it again with CBT, no idea where the turning point back into this was. Very frustrating

[BlueIris]

I know it's tough, but you need to stop the googling. That's the single most effective way to nip things in the bud.

[ankietyjoe]

Increased heart rate is the number one response to anxiety. If you're anxious, your heart rate will rise.

What is happening is that you're observing your heart, you're worrying about it, it gets faster, you worry more....it gets faster etc etc etc.

We've all been there.

And Blueiris is right, never google. Ever.

[BlueIris]

Joe, I used to have a seven hour a day Google habit. Kicking that one into touch was probably the major factor in getting my health anxiety under control.

[ankietyjoe]

Yeah it's common I think.

Your subconscious brain cannot tell the difference between what's actually happening and what you are thinking about, so if you google serious illness, it WILL react.

You cannot google AND recover. You choose one or the other.

[lebonvin]

Hey buddy

The heart is one damn strong organ. Let it race, let it miss beats. It don't mean nothing. And stop that Google shit

[Quinn1]

Joe, I used to have a seven hour a day Google habit. Kicking that one into touch was probably the major factor in getting my health anxiety under control.

Well done,:yesyes:

[LF87]

Thank you guys! I haven't googled, staying away from it. As you said BlueIris, it can spiral into hours of searching. I used to do the same, totally withdrawn just reading and reading. I have improved since then but found myself doing it more and more again.
I think I was a bit worried because the racing seems to like wake me up? Or it seems that way, maybe I'm waking up then expecting anxiety so I'm making it race. I don't know. I'm just not helping myself enough really, stopped training/gym about a year ago which was brilliant for my mental health and general wellbeing. Now spending a lot of time in the house and obsessing. Need to change my behaviours but in a rut. Just finished my degree in July, should have a job by now but just letting it slip past because of all these 'I'm unwell' notions.

[nomorepanic]

Hi

This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your post was moved from its original place to a sub-forum that is more relevant to your issue.

This is nothing personal - it just enables us to keep posts about the same problems in the relevant forums so other members with any experience with the issues can find them more easily.

Please also read this post:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=213239

[MrLurcher]

Joe, I used to have a seven hour a day Google habit. Kicking that one into touch was probably the major factor in getting my health anxiety under control.

BI, sorry to hijack this thread. But how did you stop? Was it down to hard work, or did medication help? I'm not googling as much as I used to, but find it hard not too when the urge comes along.

[BlueIris]

Honestly, Mr. L, it was hard work and keeping myself distracted. The one thing I did find that really worked was taught to me by a particularly brilliant counsellor, which was to keep my googling down to 30 minutes, once a day.

I never quite managed it, but I did manage to keep it to 45 minutes and eventually I was forgetting to google at all.

[ankietyjoe]

Some things ARE hard, you just need to stop. Don't do it, don't open the laptop, don't search for symptoms. If you fail, try again next time you have the urge.