pablo
09-09-05, 17:55
Hi Guys,
Hope everyone is well. I've not visited the forum for a while but wanted to put a little note here about what happened today as feeling a little worried. Sorry if it goes on a bit...
There's already a post on here about my background, but basically had my first panic attack back in Nov last year. This manifested in panic episodes, a bit or agorophobia and a lot of health anxiety, particularly around my heart and palpitations / irregular beats and fear of sudden death, etc.
Like many of you, I have been battling with it since, going thorugh the different manifestations and having good periods and bad. Lately (last couple of months) I've felt able to better control it, alythough worries about health are never far away.
Anyway, I decided if I had a full "MOT" as it were (in the form of a private health assessment from Bupa, that is) I could get the final word on my general health and it would help me put all this worry to bed. My appointment was today.
They were very nice and did loads of tests - Blood profile, urine, lung capacity, BP and full examination including ECG. All came back normal, except the doctor reckons he can hear a murmur in my heart. He said the ECG they took looked ok, but he could definitely hear a murmur. They have sent ECG to cardiologist for further investigation.
The thing is, when my jumping heart beats / palpitations were at their worst back in January, I went to a cardiologist who gave me the full works. He said everything was fine, although there was a slight murmur at the base, but he said this was "probably" of physiological origin and did not seem to indicate that it would cause any issues. Since then, I have been examined at least twice by doctors who have listened to my heart and said everything was ok, up until now. Just when I was beginning to get my head around the fact the jumping heart was due to excess adrenaline or something anxiety related, it turns out mine may be due to something else.
My worry is that whatever is there is getting worse and initially may not have been apparent to a doctor using a stethescope, but now it's gotten worse and they can hear it more easily.
Another thing is that, apparently, one of the symptoms of a murmur is fatigue. And as it happens, over the past few weeks I have been feeling very tired and almost "spaced out", usually in the afternoon / early evening - mainy while at work. I have been sleeping ok though. So, you can guess the way I'm starting to think, I don't need to say any more...
Has anyone else had anything similar suggested to them? Or does anyone have any advice? Second opinion ECG results aren't due for another 2 weeks and I'm starting to get scared..
Another thing is, in order to face my fear of flying, I'm going to greece with my partner next month and now I've heard all this, I'm starting to get concerned about going... All I was worried about before was controlling my panic on the plane, but now I'm worried about maybe having a heat attack thorugh panic, partuicularly if they have indicated that I have this damn murmur....
Sorry for going on.....
Paul [V]
Hope everyone is well. I've not visited the forum for a while but wanted to put a little note here about what happened today as feeling a little worried. Sorry if it goes on a bit...
There's already a post on here about my background, but basically had my first panic attack back in Nov last year. This manifested in panic episodes, a bit or agorophobia and a lot of health anxiety, particularly around my heart and palpitations / irregular beats and fear of sudden death, etc.
Like many of you, I have been battling with it since, going thorugh the different manifestations and having good periods and bad. Lately (last couple of months) I've felt able to better control it, alythough worries about health are never far away.
Anyway, I decided if I had a full "MOT" as it were (in the form of a private health assessment from Bupa, that is) I could get the final word on my general health and it would help me put all this worry to bed. My appointment was today.
They were very nice and did loads of tests - Blood profile, urine, lung capacity, BP and full examination including ECG. All came back normal, except the doctor reckons he can hear a murmur in my heart. He said the ECG they took looked ok, but he could definitely hear a murmur. They have sent ECG to cardiologist for further investigation.
The thing is, when my jumping heart beats / palpitations were at their worst back in January, I went to a cardiologist who gave me the full works. He said everything was fine, although there was a slight murmur at the base, but he said this was "probably" of physiological origin and did not seem to indicate that it would cause any issues. Since then, I have been examined at least twice by doctors who have listened to my heart and said everything was ok, up until now. Just when I was beginning to get my head around the fact the jumping heart was due to excess adrenaline or something anxiety related, it turns out mine may be due to something else.
My worry is that whatever is there is getting worse and initially may not have been apparent to a doctor using a stethescope, but now it's gotten worse and they can hear it more easily.
Another thing is that, apparently, one of the symptoms of a murmur is fatigue. And as it happens, over the past few weeks I have been feeling very tired and almost "spaced out", usually in the afternoon / early evening - mainy while at work. I have been sleeping ok though. So, you can guess the way I'm starting to think, I don't need to say any more...
Has anyone else had anything similar suggested to them? Or does anyone have any advice? Second opinion ECG results aren't due for another 2 weeks and I'm starting to get scared..
Another thing is, in order to face my fear of flying, I'm going to greece with my partner next month and now I've heard all this, I'm starting to get concerned about going... All I was worried about before was controlling my panic on the plane, but now I'm worried about maybe having a heat attack thorugh panic, partuicularly if they have indicated that I have this damn murmur....
Sorry for going on.....
Paul [V]