heart obsession

[pinkynicca]

hey everyone, im looking for some responses from people who have been down this road before, im confused what exactly causes one to literally obsess over their heart to the point the constantly take there pulse and even where there just sitting around your just waiting for your heart to skip or suddenly stop. i don't understand. i have had my fair share of palps and what not and im a terrible hypochondriac along with anxiety im quite the mix of self destruction. ive had the ekgs and the blood work along with docs listening to my heart and they say im fine. infact my doctor laughs at me. BUT perhaps he is just a mean man, im not sure yet. regardless, maybe i should go to the cardiologist with no insurance and sign my life away to get some high tech tests done that will surely give me piece of mind for at least 4 days if not a week. has anybody felt this before, its quite bizarre there is a constant worry over my heart no matter what im doing. this has been going steady for about a week now. and its wearing me out. thanks guys hope you are all sitting with your heads up.

[Maj]

Well, let's face it - without our hearts working perfectly, where would be be? No wonder some people obsess about their heart. You are not alone with this obsession. I think at some point in most people's lives they have worried about their heart, but maybe not to the extent of obsessing. It's your particular health anxiety and you are obviously feeling anxious at the moment. There's no mystery here. If you've had all the tests then I'd be reassured that you are perfectly healthy. I wouldn't spend any more money on medical tests. It's okay for the doctors to laugh, but they'd be exactly the same if they suffered health anxiety! It's not bizarre, it's an anxiety symptom that will pass with acceptance of why you feel like you do and with time. Just keep trying to reassure yourself that your heart is healthy. Don't keep checking your pulse. Keep yourself busy and do things you enjoy doing and don't let this symptom stop you enjoying life. When you are happy then anxiety fades into the background. An obsession is harmless as it's only the result of a tired, anxious mind.
Myra x

[pinkynicca]

thank you so much that brought a smile to my face, it feels so nice to read things like this when everything just seems so black and white and you feel like you will never feel that happiness again. its so difficult to live for the moment when every moment is dread. thank you again for your kind reply.

[Ella_Jayne]

I went through a time where I obsessed about my heart all of the time. I was constantly checking my pulse, I would panic if I felt my heart go fast after I would run up the stairs which led me to Google myself silly about different heart problems and then convince myself that I had some sort of life threatening arrythmia that the ECG missed.

When I worried about my heart, at first all I wanted was an ECG. I thought 'If i just had one then I would know that i was fine and can stop all this worry' but after I had one I wanted another, then a holter monitor, then an Echo... It was endless.

My doctor told me that If there was a problem with your heart it would show on your ECG. That if you actually had a problem that could change the rhythm of your heart despite how infrequent it may be, it would be impossible for the problem not to show even a trace of irregularity on an ECG. So rest assured that yours was normal.

Your heart is healthy. Please try and accept this. If I was you the first step I would take is to cut down on how many times you check your pulse, constantly checking can make you very unhappy. If you find yourself doing it all the time, try to limit or set a time to allow yourself to check it for 10 seconds and then stop. Do this until you don't need to check it anymore. Lowering the times you check it daily. I know it's hard as I was doing it constantly, but when you stop it really helps with the anxiety.

I hope you feel better soon. :)

[Utility]

This is a common one for people on this website and please be assured it is anxiety that is making you feel like this. There is nothing wrong with your heart and if you have a look down the left hand side of the website all your concerns will be explained and put at ease.

Another very good website to look at is one that has been set up a local health authority in the uk www.glasgowsteps.com (http://www.glasgowsteps.com).

[edwardthebear]

I know how you are feeling pinkynicca, I think the trouble is when you have health anxiety once you get into a certain mindset it can be very difficult to get out of it. You often find yourself taking the contrary position to the healthcare professionals in an attempt to reinforce your beliefs that you are seriously ill. My main anxiety is cardiac related too and I have been through the habitual pulse checking, scared if I can feel my heart, scared if I can't feel it, routine more times than I would care to remember.
After all these years it should have all got a bit monotonous and should have gone away. I remember having my first really bad run of ectopics when I was 19 and I was sure that I was dying. The Doctors tried to convince me that I was ok, I must have been because 28 years later I am still here, but still fretting nonetheless about pretty much the same sorts of things.

When I worried about my heart, at first all I wanted was an ECG. I thought 'If i just had one then I would know that i was fine and can stop all this worry' but after I had one I wanted another, then a holter monitor, then an Echo... It was endless.That was me too Ella_Jayne ( well it still is unfortunately!)

[janet]

HI I worry about my heart as well,when I have panic attack I take my pulse thinking Im having a heart attack.I went and worked in a cardiac unit my friend was surprised I did it but I dont worry so much now.