biggy007
07-11-08, 14:16
Firstly hello to everyone, my names Ben,
I've been reading the site for about a fortnight now, its helped alot but im still in need of some re-assurance, a chance to get everything off my chest and a good chat with some feedback hopefully,
Im 24 years old and have Health Anxiety, this has been self diagnosed and partly confirmed by my GP, there has been 2 major things that have happened in my life that has caused my health anxiety and its now become an everyday worry for me,
My father died at the age of 44 when I was only 17 years old he died of narrowing of the arteries which is a form of heart disease, straight away this made me aware of my health and aware of my heart and the possibility that I could have problems in later life due to it possibly being hereditary, (especially when you consider that his dad also died young and 2 of his brothers have had heart attacks)
Then when I was 21 years old I was rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack I spent several days in intensive care and came home a week and a half later, it turned out not to be a heart attack but Pericarditis which is an infection of the sack surrounding the heart, so again straight away my train of thoughts were that it could happen again, it could have damaged my heart, I could have heart disease and that im going to die! However I have had every test under the sun done and have been given the all clear
I had:-
*several ECG's
*a scan of my heart (not sure what there called)
*a chest x-ray
*an Angiogram
I was just unlucky in the fact that I got an infection so close to the heart, im no more likely to have another episode than your "average joe", there was no damage what so ever done to my heart. All the tests came back clear and I was told that I am fit and healthy and have nothing to worry about, my blood work was fine and my cholestoral was only 3.8
3 years on and im now 24 I have been back to A&E with 'chest pains' and "heart attack symptoms" 10+ times, to have numerous ECG's done and everything come back fine, A&E told me to speak to my GP about anxiety, I never did go and talk to my gp about anxiety but I have been to see him with 'chest pains' etc several times since, and although he has never diagnosed me with anxiety he has mentioned and hinted at it several times and even told me to research Propranorol on the internet to see if I thought that it would help me, I have never followed him up on this offer though,
I did however go back to see my GP recently for a check up, he took my blood pressure to find that it was through the roof he immediately said that he wanted me to wear a 24 hour monitor to check my blood pressure whilst I was away from the surgery,
I wore it for the 24 hour period and went back to him the next day for him to print the readings out, all 32 of the readings were very high indeed and he said the worrying thing was that even through out the night when I was asleep my blood pressure never dropped which means my heart is constantly working flat out and having no rest, since he has told me this my anxiety has been quite bad and I have now found that I am having eptopic heart beats quite regularly, I did tell him about these but he states they are nothing to worry about
So anyway he has reffered me to a cardiologist for further tests for my blood pressure, my appointment is on the 19th of November, I am very nervous about it incase I get told any bad news but at the same time looking forward to it because the last 3 years I've been constantly suffering from the usual :
*scared of dying
*scared of the unknown (afterlife or nothing?)
*scared of having heart disease
*scared of having a heart attack
*horrible thoughts
*chest pains
*pains in the neck, shoulders, left arm, back, jaw (heart attack symptoms)
*pains in the legs
*light headed / dizziness
*Eptopic heart beat
So if you put together:
*my dad dying young
*my pericarditis infection that I had
*my high blood pressure
*and more recently regular eptopic heart beats
You can see the way my mind works and the reasons I have the anxiety and panick!
I just hope that the cardiologist gives me all the tests again confirms that I am fit and healthy and that I really do have nothing to worry about, and then hopefully I can leave my worries behind me,
I am 24 years old with a well paid job, a beautiful fiance and a baby boy on the way due on the 6th of December, I have everything to live for I really hope I can get over my anxiety and that the cardiologist will put my mind at rest once and for all,
Thanks for taking the time to read my story so far,
Ben . . .
I've been reading the site for about a fortnight now, its helped alot but im still in need of some re-assurance, a chance to get everything off my chest and a good chat with some feedback hopefully,
Im 24 years old and have Health Anxiety, this has been self diagnosed and partly confirmed by my GP, there has been 2 major things that have happened in my life that has caused my health anxiety and its now become an everyday worry for me,
My father died at the age of 44 when I was only 17 years old he died of narrowing of the arteries which is a form of heart disease, straight away this made me aware of my health and aware of my heart and the possibility that I could have problems in later life due to it possibly being hereditary, (especially when you consider that his dad also died young and 2 of his brothers have had heart attacks)
Then when I was 21 years old I was rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack I spent several days in intensive care and came home a week and a half later, it turned out not to be a heart attack but Pericarditis which is an infection of the sack surrounding the heart, so again straight away my train of thoughts were that it could happen again, it could have damaged my heart, I could have heart disease and that im going to die! However I have had every test under the sun done and have been given the all clear
I had:-
*several ECG's
*a scan of my heart (not sure what there called)
*a chest x-ray
*an Angiogram
I was just unlucky in the fact that I got an infection so close to the heart, im no more likely to have another episode than your "average joe", there was no damage what so ever done to my heart. All the tests came back clear and I was told that I am fit and healthy and have nothing to worry about, my blood work was fine and my cholestoral was only 3.8
3 years on and im now 24 I have been back to A&E with 'chest pains' and "heart attack symptoms" 10+ times, to have numerous ECG's done and everything come back fine, A&E told me to speak to my GP about anxiety, I never did go and talk to my gp about anxiety but I have been to see him with 'chest pains' etc several times since, and although he has never diagnosed me with anxiety he has mentioned and hinted at it several times and even told me to research Propranorol on the internet to see if I thought that it would help me, I have never followed him up on this offer though,
I did however go back to see my GP recently for a check up, he took my blood pressure to find that it was through the roof he immediately said that he wanted me to wear a 24 hour monitor to check my blood pressure whilst I was away from the surgery,
I wore it for the 24 hour period and went back to him the next day for him to print the readings out, all 32 of the readings were very high indeed and he said the worrying thing was that even through out the night when I was asleep my blood pressure never dropped which means my heart is constantly working flat out and having no rest, since he has told me this my anxiety has been quite bad and I have now found that I am having eptopic heart beats quite regularly, I did tell him about these but he states they are nothing to worry about
So anyway he has reffered me to a cardiologist for further tests for my blood pressure, my appointment is on the 19th of November, I am very nervous about it incase I get told any bad news but at the same time looking forward to it because the last 3 years I've been constantly suffering from the usual :
*scared of dying
*scared of the unknown (afterlife or nothing?)
*scared of having heart disease
*scared of having a heart attack
*horrible thoughts
*chest pains
*pains in the neck, shoulders, left arm, back, jaw (heart attack symptoms)
*pains in the legs
*light headed / dizziness
*Eptopic heart beat
So if you put together:
*my dad dying young
*my pericarditis infection that I had
*my high blood pressure
*and more recently regular eptopic heart beats
You can see the way my mind works and the reasons I have the anxiety and panick!
I just hope that the cardiologist gives me all the tests again confirms that I am fit and healthy and that I really do have nothing to worry about, and then hopefully I can leave my worries behind me,
I am 24 years old with a well paid job, a beautiful fiance and a baby boy on the way due on the 6th of December, I have everything to live for I really hope I can get over my anxiety and that the cardiologist will put my mind at rest once and for all,
Thanks for taking the time to read my story so far,
Ben . . .