It was thanks to this forum that I got better

[LondonRain]

I am 33 now, Back when I was around 25 I got up one morning at 5am to go to my early morning part time job, I was walking in the dark to get there and all of a sudden I started to feel weird, clamy, sweaty, heart beating fast, feeling like I was going to pass out alone in a dark London street... I panicked massively and my heart was beating fast. I felt a weird tennis ball type pain on the left of my chest..I thought that was it..I was going to die of a heart attack right there and then. I turned around and went home, locked myself indoors terrified, googling my symptoms (they all said it was things related to heart failure). I started to go insane, I was now 100% convinced my heart was going to fail at the age of 25.
I didnt want to go out, I stopped working out, I started measuring my heart rate constantly throughout the day, I thought if I make my heart race just a little bit I will drop dead. Eventually I went to the doctor, He sent me for a heart test etc and that's when they finally told me I had anxiety and acid reflux.

I couldn't accept it was just that..I went home, I was never told I ever had anxiety in my life..I started looking online and studying the effects of anxiety and found this forum. I was a wreck I couldn't be out without panicking, I couldn't stop worrying about my heart and health.

Eventually with time, and reading and posting on here I stopped caring about my symptoms, I started going out and ignoring them and made an absolute full recovery.

If it wasn't for the knowledge of other anxious people on this forum I wouldn't have known my symptoms were totally normal, I would very likely be on depression and anxiety medication and would have been in a vicious cycle and a wreck probably for the rest of my life.

I am forever thankful, I still have some really bad anxious days but I know everything now ..I just battle on and my life is good!

Thanks to everyone here.

[NoraB]

Great post, London.

Really good to hear that NMP helped you to get to a better place (But you did the work)

Also good that you've come on to thank people for their help and support; not everybody does that, so good on ya!

Better still if you are able to take what you've learned and use it to help other people try and get control over their HA.

[Carnation]

Absolutely wonderful news and thank you for posting.

[pulisa]

Stopping caring about any symptoms is what it all boils down to really. It's a big psychological step and decision to make but you've proved that it can be done and adhered to although it takes strength, determination and perseverance.

It's great that you're able to manage your anxiety so successfully even through the more difficult times. Thanks for starting the thread and Happy New Year!

[ankietyjoe]

Good for you.

It's so vital to remember that feeling anxiety is as normal as feeling cold or aroused. It's part of the human condition.

If you're feeling anxious all the time, it usually means that something other than the anxiety actually needs fixing, and to not focus on the anxiety. The moment you focus on anxiety, the problems start.