Re: Panic attack today
Originally Posted by
anxious_thoughts
I get scared my heart is damaged by being sick. I’m 28 and overweight. I get scared any moment I have to move more than usual and my heart starts racing. I start hyper focusing on the heart beat and how fast it goes.
Then I get other symptoms like pain in my upper back and pain in my left shoulder and arm and totally start freaking out that it’s a heart attack.
Can anxiety really be causing this? It really blows my mind…
Yes.
The heart is supposed to pump faster when we move. Mines at 76 now (I'm drinking and typing) but it will fly up to about 90-100 when I walk upstairs. This is the heart working as it's supposed to. The heart also pumps faster when we're in pain and when we are experiencing anxiety and when we experience prolonged anxiety, we become a lot more sensitive to the sensation of our heart beats.
Health anxiety is when we misinterpret normal bodily symptoms & sensations. We become hyper aware & highly anxious and the body can actually creates symptoms to fit the disease we believe we have. Or we misinterpret real ones. In your case, it's your heart so a pain in the shoulder (which is most likely a pulled muscle due to tension or sleeping on it in a funny position) and nothing at all to do with your heart but you know it can be a symptom of heart attack and so this feeds into your belief that there's a problem with your heart.
I'm presuming you've seen your GP re this? If you have a concern about your heart because of your weight then see your GP. This is common sense. I get (new for me) heart symptoms checked out but it's always been due to anxiety or my fibromyalgia. Heart fears are very common with people who suffer with anxiety because fear makes the heart pump faster and this especially feels at odds when we're not moving, right? Your GP will listen to your heart there and then. Some practices do their own ECGs but, again, having one doesn't mean you have a problem. I've had numerous ECGs, and an ECHO, and my heart is doing a great job in keeping me alive..
But once you are told that your heart is healthy, then you have to accept this as being anxiety, and yes, anxiety can absolutely do all of this (and much more)
If you've already had the all clear re your heart, then now is the time to start working on your health anxiety..
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A thought is harmless unless we believe it.