Fighting the cycle of HA and heart worries

[Aleman200]

Hello everyone, here again, I've been fighting HA alot lately, I feel like I have been doing better, I no longer am chasing diagnosis' or bothering the GP on repeat.

However right now I'm trying my best to reassure myself and believe in myself but I am struggling.

A tiny bit of backstory, the other day before I went to the gym I was hit with a wave of exhaustion, I still managed to go to the gym and drive home and all that but my mind jumped to the conclusion that it was something wrong with my heart, I had a very mild ache on my chest which ended up in my shoulder. (Which ofc is probably just my body tensing and then the muscles spasming)

However my mind latched onto that and for days after when things are somewhat calm or quiet I feel the adrenaline pick up in my heart again and It feels fluttery and my chest feels tight again, and I've not been able to calm down without feeling my heart POUNDING in my chest.

I feel like I know the answers but...does this sound like typical anxiety? I don't want to go to the GP chasing things that I know aren't there.

I had ECG's/24 hour ECGs all done a few years ago and all they found was some mild ectopics so i don't think much has changed since then, i don't smoke or drink so..

[NoraB]

You have the answers.

As long as you keep adding fear to these thoughts, your heart will race. It's a physiological response to what your brain perceives as danger. (in this case, there's no actual danger, but your brain doesn't know the difference)

[Aleman200]

I agree Nora! Also thank you for replying you're always a reassuring presence!

I know it's just Anxiety, and I'm doing everything in my power to believe it is.

My HA is going "You need to get it checked at hospital! It's not normal to wake up and feel your pounding chest! You have a valve problem!" Thank you uneducated and anxiety fuelled mind.

I guess my question is does this kind of anxiety last days or even weeks? I'm guessing the more i think about it and focus on it the worse and more persistent it gets?

[Aleman200]

Today I even went for a 40 minute walk through the woods up the hills and down the hills.

If i had anything wrong internally it would be pretty obvious by now I feel. I just wish my anxiety would listen and understand these heart palpitations (poundings w/e) are normal.

[EdieP]

I really feel for you with this one; I am currently struggling with heart worries when even a GP has recently reassured me that my symptoms are anxiety related. For me, I think its because the actual physical symptoms that anxiety can produce are so physical in nature that it is as if the fear centre in my brain refuses to accept its anything other than a physical illness. Like you I have been doing a lot of exercise including walking and if we had a heart issue it would become apparent then. I really hope this eases up for you soon.

[NoraB]

I guess my question is does this kind of anxiety last days or even weeks? I'm guessing the more i think about it and focus on it the worse and more persistent it gets?

As long as you keep reacting with fear and hyper-focus on the heart symptoms while doing nothing to counteract it, you will continue to have this problem. (And believe me when I say that it can get a lot worse)

I developed panic disorder with the majority of panic attacks happening in the early hours of the morning. First one I had was a "heart attack", for sure. For months on end, my heart raced, flip-flopped and banged like a barn door in a gale. I thought my heart was coming loose in my chest - silly to say out loud, but that's how it felt to me...

It's taken a very long time to gain control my panic attacks as, at its worst, it was nightly, and for months on end. I still get them, but I no longer fear them. If I'm unable to breathe my way out of one, I work with the adrenalin and get up and go and do some housework. (The Whippet's no longer bothered when she sees me flicking a duster around at 4am, lol)

I used to worry that my heart was giving up on me, but I realise now that my ticker was working normally, it was just that I constantly had my foot on the proverbial accelerator - revving the crap out of the engine. (fearful and irrational thoughts)

My heart responded as it is supposed to do when fight or flight is triggered and with my level of anxiety it was constantly being triggered. (This led to a whole array of symptoms which all fed into my "I'm dying" fears)

When your heart starts to race, after that initial icy blast of fear (this will go in time) try and take a moment. Then, do some breathing exercises. (I use box breathing as it's the fastest way to get my heart rate down)

When your heart races, it's because the fight or flight response has been triggered. When we're in a constant state of severe anxiety, it doesn't take much to trigger the response. The most mundane of things can trigger the response, and this adds fear to the mix because our hearts shouldn't be doing this, right? (I had a panic attack once watching Mary Berry make a pie...)

Think of it as a sensitivity like when a dog farts in the next street and it sets off a car alarm in yours..

When your heart races, tell yourself to breathe slowly. (I let all the air out of my lungs, then breathe in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4 etc) (Doesn't have to be 4 secs - it can be longer if that works better for you)

Some people get annoyed at this, but it is the most effective natural way to slow the heart rate down. In breathing slowly, we turn off the fight or flight. (We're telling our brains there's no danger)

Tell yourself that this is anxiety and it feels unpleasant (acknowledging this helps because it is unpleasant) but it's not going to harm you. You're ok. (Say the words out loud or in your head, but do say/think them)

Replace the "OMG I'm dying" with the dialogue above, and repeat them every time your heart races. Play around with it by adding a funny accent. It could be Del Boy telling you, or whatever floats your boat. (I'm a huge fan of Still Game and I often use Isa's voice to carm me doon, lol)

It's the reverse psychology on what you're doing with the "Oh my God, this is a heart attack. I'm dying!!" (By doing the reverse, you're giving your brain the signal that there's no danger)

Doing this work will take time. It won't be an overnight fix because the body has become sensitised and needs time to de-sensitise. Everyone is different in terms of timescale. I pulled myself out of a mental breakdown due to HA (no meds because I couldn't tolerate them) so this is doable, trust me.

[Aleman200]

I'm glad i'm not alone Ediep! It's such a pain to deal with isn't it?

And you're right Nora, the anxiety fuels the fire so to speak and keeps this vicious loop going, when i'm distracted doing something I don't feel a thing, I wonder why that is eh? Also I love whippets, my golden retriever thinks i'm mad getting up and doing some sit ups at 3am sometimes!

I'm going to be trying to fight it more starting today using the breathing technique you've told me about, I know it won't happen overnight but if i can take the edge off it and the power away from it then I'm fine.

It's very easy to fall into the whole "I'm dying there's something wrong!" mentality but I think realistically if that was the case I wouldn't be here typing it onto a keyboard if I really was suffering.

In alot of ways it's comforting to know that for months you experienced what I'm having now aswell as just it lasting for days almost set me into a panic spiral, but again it's a vicious cycle of think about fear > adrenaline happens > heart pounds > fear confirmed > repeat. That's how it's been going lately and even though I know there's nothing wrong with me it's hard to tell my body that.

I'm doing my best of absolutely not running off to the GP about it unless i start to experience very worrying things which frankly haven't happened since this whole thing started so i'm doing that at least to combat the HA.

As it stands I wake up, and within a few minutes I'm thinking about it and then of course the pounding happens. So my body is responding to the fear, it's just breaking that cycle is going to take time i think.

I very much appreciate your response though, it's given me a whole lot of hope where previously there was very little

[NoraB]

Also I love whippets, my golden retriever thinks i'm mad getting up and doing some sit ups at 3am sometimes!

Impossible not to love Whippets. (Pretty sure mine has me hypnotised into putting her the heated blanket on every day...)

Just a thought re doing sit-ups...

Personally, I try to find the balance between discharging some of the adrenalin and creating more. (Sit-ups elevate the heart rate and increase adrenalin)

I do some light dusting or I walk slowly around the kitchen and living room, but I don't do anything more taxing than that...

I'm going to be trying to fight it

Rather than perceiving this as a "fight", maybe think of it as you working with your body. The reason I say this is that the brain takes note of our inner/outer dialogue and responds accordingly. "Fight" implies there's danger, and danger (imagined or not) will trigger the fight or flight response...

It's very easy to fall into the whole "I'm dying there's something wrong!" mentality but I think realistically if that was the case I wouldn't be here typing it onto a keyboard if I really was suffering.

During my "heart attack", I literally crawled into my son's bedroom to say goodbye to him. (Only occurred to me later that I probably wouldn't have done that had I genuinely been having a heart attack...)

As it stands I wake up, and within a few minutes I'm thinking about it and then of course the pounding happens. So my body is responding to the fear, it's just breaking that cycle is going to take time i think.

You know what's happening and why, so you're halfway there...

I very much appreciate your response though, it's given me a whole lot of hope where previously there was very little

When I went nuts (breakdown) I needed to know how to get myself out of that hellhole. I was only interested in reading about people who'd been in my position and got themselves out. What did they do? That's what I was doing at 1am and 2am when the insomnia had me in a chokehold. (I remember my Kindle shaking in my hand as my entire body shook) I tried anything and everything. If someone had told me to go stand out in the yard at midnight and howl at cats, I'd have done that. Some things worked, some things didn't because we're individuals. However, with everybody who wrote the anxiety-help books, there was a common denominator - they understood anxiety. They understood the stress response. They'd learnt how to work with the anxiety, rather than adding fear to the mix. So, I educated myself about the stress response and once I'd done that, it was like turning the light on and all those imaginary monsters disappearing...

I just want to help others get their sanity back and I'm so glad I've been able to give you some hope.

[Aleman200]

I've been taking your advice and trying the box breathing and it's actually worked to take the panic out of my system or at least calm it down, yesterday i felt barely any panic at all, today my chest is still banging around like a barn door in the wind but I know it's nothing serious because by now it would absolutely have shown itself in something sinister.

When i'm doing the breathing exercise i imagine myself breathing out the adrenaline in my system and it somewhat works, though I will say like you said it isn't happening overnight, i'm still feeling anxious about my heart but it IS calming it down and stopping me from panicking fully.

I'm hoping going forward it will eventually calm down and I can continue to enjoy myself so thank you Nora, honestly, your words were very reassuring and comforting when I was crying at 3am worried I was going to die. Hopefully things get better from here.