new to the forum, needs help. Heart problems? anxiety?

[moumoune]

Hello all,

I'm a 29 year old female. I've had anxiety symptoms since I'm a kid, my parents took me to a psychiatrist when I was very little but nothing came out of this. I starting getting counselling after I lost two friends in the Paris terror attack two years ago, as my anxiety got massively worse.
The reason why I had counselling was for the following:
-I was always worried about my health (Ive always been a hypochondriac), but I would spend nights googling symptoms
- I was always worried that my loved ones would die. If my boyfriend went on a bike ride I would not be able to do ANYTHING until he was back (even watching TV)

I feel a lot better since I had counselling#, but I am experiencing different symptoms for a few months now ( I have been promoted which is great, but also means I have my own department to manage and is sometimes extremely stressful as I don't have much self confidence)
The symptoms I am getting are:
-a feeling that I can't really breathe properly, as if I always have to yawn to get some air. I feel like it happens a lot at work and not much at home
-my palms go extremely sweaty and breathing almost 'hurts' (but doesnt really hurt, its hard to describe) and I feel like my heart is going really fast. This happened today between two lessons (Im a teacher) for no particular reason. I had a stressful meeting two hours before but thought I was fine about it.

So..? Am I experiencing anxiety? stress? both? is it a different type of anxiety compared to what I thought I had before?
I thought I was much better. I can now go back to Paris. Fly. Scuba dive! I am happy at work, happy in my relationship. How come I suddenly start having physical symptoms for no reason? (I do have a really stressful job and the past year has been challenging professionally)

Or am I actually ill? I asked a GP who said that it was linked to anxiety. That was 3 months ago. Shall I go back? I thought it could be my heart (health anxiety is the worst of my worry), but everytime I talk about it to somebody then the symptoms go away....My dad has a heart disease and I know for a fact that if your heart starts messing around, it doesnt go away like this!

I just feel lost. I am back to counselling on Friday. I feel like I am failing after all those years of counselling and now experiencing physical, new symptoms. Registering to this forum , I hope, will bring me help.

Good luck to whatever you guys are going through, It sucks! Thanks for reading,

[AnxietyZT]

Hi, hope you are well and feeling better. I’m so sorry to hear about your friends.

I use to have terrible health anxiety (recently am struggling with a flare up) but overall a lot better. First off, do not let yourself think “oh my gosh, I’ve lost all progress that I made”. You said you “thought” you were much better but provided evidence to show that you actually are, which is great!

Physical symptoms happen to me all the time. Like you stated, you don’t feel overtly stressed but sometimes your symptoms show otherwises. I think it stems down to our bodies being use to feeling anxious, like something is wrong. Whenever I’m not anxious, sometimes it’ll cause me to panic simply because not worrying feels uncomfortable to me in a sense. The next time you feel like your heart is racing or your breathing is off say in your head “this is a deceptive brain message” and then shift your focus. Shift it to work, going for a walk, anything that is more productive than worrying. You still might worry while doing this but stay at it and keep repeating “this is deceptive” and refocus. There is a huge difference between our brains and who we truly are, always remember that in your worst moments. Keep at this, it will help. Wish you the best and hope this helps.

PS. If you want to go to the doctors, that is your call. However, reassurance only provides instant relief. I doubt anything changed from the last time you went theee months ago.