nlh
26-12-05, 11:55
I'm a new member desperate for reassurance that I can beat the anxiety I am suffering. I will give you my history - sorry it's a bit long but please stick with me.
It all started 3 years ago when I was training for a marathon, two days after a 20 mile training run I nearly passed out after running up a flight of stairs at work. This really shook me up since I had always been fit and participated in sport regulary all my life. I saw the nurse at the GP's surgery for a check-up and was told just to rest for a few days before training again. I continued training and completed the marathon a month later with no problems. However, during the weeks following the marathon I started monitoring my health more closely, especially my heart rate after climbing stairs. I felt my heart pounded strongly I quite often felt light-headed and just didn't feel right. I also read that someone had died of a heart attack in the marathon I had run it and this just made me worse. I booked an appointment with my GP and she thought she could hear a slight heart murmur and booked me in for an ECG. The results showed a slight abnormality and I was referred to a cardiologist.
To cut a long story short I had many ECG's an echogram, two 24 hour monitors and a stress test - the results showed the murmur was very slight and was just a benign flow murmur, the ECG abnormality was slight and could be due to stress, the near fainting episode before the marathon was put down to blood pressure change after running up the stairs and was not dangerous and would probably never happen again - everything else was normal and I was discharged from the cardiologist effectively with a clean bill of health. But during this period the anxiety had taken over due to the health worries and even the reassurance from the specialist did not help, I was still convinced I would pass out or have a heart attack and die. Mild exercise became impossible for fear of what might happen and I ended up being off work for 6 weeks virtually housebound.
I was put on citalopram by my GP accompanied by cognitive behavioural therapy. Things gradually improved, I returned to work and started exercising again but not to the intensity of before. I eventually came off citalopram after 9 months and was fine for about 2 months when I relapsed again, I went back on the citalopram (+ CBT) and was on it for 9 months again until I came off it in July this year. Again I felt well and completed the Great North Run half-marathon in September this year with no problems, but during the race 4 men died and this again started the thoughts that it could happen to me. The anxiety returned and I am again scared to exercise (just 3 monts after running a half-marathon!). I'm back on the citalopram and recieving anxiety therapy again. My life is again being disrupted by this anxiety, I seem to be able to just about live my life but cannot enjoy it.
Has anybody else suffered like this? Can I ever get back to how I was before where I could exercise without any worry of collapsing and having a heart attack?
PLEASE HELP !
It all started 3 years ago when I was training for a marathon, two days after a 20 mile training run I nearly passed out after running up a flight of stairs at work. This really shook me up since I had always been fit and participated in sport regulary all my life. I saw the nurse at the GP's surgery for a check-up and was told just to rest for a few days before training again. I continued training and completed the marathon a month later with no problems. However, during the weeks following the marathon I started monitoring my health more closely, especially my heart rate after climbing stairs. I felt my heart pounded strongly I quite often felt light-headed and just didn't feel right. I also read that someone had died of a heart attack in the marathon I had run it and this just made me worse. I booked an appointment with my GP and she thought she could hear a slight heart murmur and booked me in for an ECG. The results showed a slight abnormality and I was referred to a cardiologist.
To cut a long story short I had many ECG's an echogram, two 24 hour monitors and a stress test - the results showed the murmur was very slight and was just a benign flow murmur, the ECG abnormality was slight and could be due to stress, the near fainting episode before the marathon was put down to blood pressure change after running up the stairs and was not dangerous and would probably never happen again - everything else was normal and I was discharged from the cardiologist effectively with a clean bill of health. But during this period the anxiety had taken over due to the health worries and even the reassurance from the specialist did not help, I was still convinced I would pass out or have a heart attack and die. Mild exercise became impossible for fear of what might happen and I ended up being off work for 6 weeks virtually housebound.
I was put on citalopram by my GP accompanied by cognitive behavioural therapy. Things gradually improved, I returned to work and started exercising again but not to the intensity of before. I eventually came off citalopram after 9 months and was fine for about 2 months when I relapsed again, I went back on the citalopram (+ CBT) and was on it for 9 months again until I came off it in July this year. Again I felt well and completed the Great North Run half-marathon in September this year with no problems, but during the race 4 men died and this again started the thoughts that it could happen to me. The anxiety returned and I am again scared to exercise (just 3 monts after running a half-marathon!). I'm back on the citalopram and recieving anxiety therapy again. My life is again being disrupted by this anxiety, I seem to be able to just about live my life but cannot enjoy it.
Has anybody else suffered like this? Can I ever get back to how I was before where I could exercise without any worry of collapsing and having a heart attack?
PLEASE HELP !