Re: Heart worry
Originally Posted by
nicoleanna
I’ve have always had anxiety and health anxiety.
Recently it has become so bad again that I took myself to the ER for chest pains and left side tingling and “weakness.” My heart rate when I got there was 130. And leaving was 90. They did an ekg, ran blood test for clotting, d dimer, heart failure, and urine. Everything was normal. They gave me Ativan and an IV for dehydration. Which helped.
Same here, only my heart 'stuck' at 145 bpm (resting) and for several hours. Like mine, your ECG shows that your heart is functioning as it should do - just fast. It's known as sinus tachycardia which in simple terms is fast heart rate due to anxiety..
I started to become aware that my heart beats so fast when I stand up and I can’t put it out of my mind. I’ve stopped eating. I have muscle fatigue that switches from right to left and almost feels like my face on one side is numb. I feel like I can’t walk and my head is so floaty. I feel out of breath but my oxygen levels are good. So I would say I’m not actually out of breath.
The racing on standing is a thing with me too, but I know my heart is healthy and I only notice it when I'm stressed..
Stopping eating will cause more symptoms so it's not a good idea. Even if you have no appetite (common with anxiety) it's important to eat little and often to avoid blood sugar levels going awry - which will cause more anxiety heart symptoms!
Always go with the oxygen levels and if they're good, you can be sure that this is anxiety. The feeling of not being able to get enough oxygen and actually not having enough oxygen are totally different..
I’m so aware of every body sensation. I feel crippled. My question is does anyone think that an ekg is enough? Possible to have a heart blockage or something else or possible an impending stroke or heart attack or arteries blocked or bad circulation on one side to feel the tingling. I obviously need to see a primary doctor but just looking for a little advice. This also happen 3 years ago and then finally went away.
Heart failure symptoms are not vague. If the heart is struggling to pump then you'd be experiencing real breathing issues and probably water retention in the legs, ankles and feet etc. Most importantly, there is only a 2% likelihood of someone having heart disease with a clear ECG.
IF the same thing happened to you three years ago and 'went away' what does that tell you? If you thought you had heart failure then, do you honestly think it would have just 'gone away'?
There is a condition called POTS which causes a rapid heart rate on standing (my mate has this) but it also includes light headedness, dizziness, and fainting. If these things are happening aside the elevated heart rate on standing then, yes, I'd say a visit to your GP is in order. If you're not experiencing these symptoms aside the heart rate, then you probably don't have POTS.
My policy with heart related symptoms is to get then checked out of they are new for you. This is common sense. But if you've had this before, I really wouldn't worry about it..
Everything you've mentioned is common with anxiety and when we have anxiety about our health - we fixate on areas and mistake what's normal for abnormal. I've been 100% convinced I was having a heart attack in the past when it was a nocturnal panic attack and when I ended up in A&E that time, it was most likely a reaction to MSG in a Chinese takeaway I'd had (I have MCS) but every single heart test I've had done, including an ECHO, has come back normal - just a fast heart rate because now I have White Coat Syndrome too.
Try and remind yourself that the fast heart rate is the fight or flight response. What happens is that real or imagined danger triggers this response which is there to keep us alive. This means that stress hormones are released, including adrenaline, so that we can prepare to deal with the threat or run away. When we've triggered the response enough times - constantly - we become sensitised and our system stays in sympathetic mode (fight or flight) - never calming down sufficiently as we would if we didn't have anxiety. Everybody who has health anxiety will be in constant sympathetic mode and all it takes is a single thought or seeing a headline to flood the body with stress hormones which directly feed into those imaginary diseases we think we have. I become so sensitised that I started to have panic attacks just on hearing something like a tempo change in music.
It's your mind that's crippling you. Your body is working just fine, and if you reframe your thoughts to what's true - which is that your body is working very hard to keep you alive - then this might help you?
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A thought is harmless unless we believe it.