Heart worriers/Cardiophobic Roll Call

[Kimberley]

Well first off, congratulations on your baby.

I've never been pregnant, but it causes a LOT of changes in your body, and with all the extra hormones you're probably bound for some extra anxiety as well. Now, I'll tell you what I tell everyone--it's not in anyone's interest, least of all your doctor's, to lie about the health of your heart. You could sue them into the stone age if something was actually wrong with you that they failed to diagnose, and they know that.

Panic attacks can cause your heart to look wonky on some tests. But if they ran extra tests and nothing came of them, you're fine. You're not going to be 31 and suddenly drop dead of a congenital heart defect. Those usually surface much earlier in life.

Heart disease does not exist in absence of all other symptoms, no. You usually have blood pressure or cholesterol issues at least. At 31, if nobody in your family has spontaneously died young of heart problems, the chances of you doing so are ridiculously remote. You don't smoke, which is the BEST thing you can do when you're worried about your heart. You're at a normal weight for your height, your blood pressure is fine. What you have is an anxiety and panic disorder, not a heart condition. You're having palpitations, which causes you to be hyper-aware of your heartbeat. Anxiety is the biggest cause of those, and then they cause your anxiety, so it's a cycle. Panic attacks usually strike me when I'm asleep too, I hate that. If you notice them more when you're on one side vs. the other, that may be because at some point you heart the (untrue) myth that sleeping on your left side can cause heart problems. I know it plagues me even though I know it's completely unfounded. And now that you're pregnant, you're entering into the wonderful world of acid reflux, which is going to be a burning pain in your chest and throat, especially when lying in certain positions at night after eating. You may feel that and start to get nervous, which means more palpitations.

I suggest you speak to your doctor about your anxiety issues if you haven't already. You may be out of luck on medications because I don't know what's safe to take, especially this early in your pregnancy, but there may be options. Therapy may be a really good idea for you, learning what's at the root of this fear about your heart and how to deal with the cycling thoughts and the physical symptoms they cause. What you need to do right now is learn to relax and deal with these anxiety attacks, because the extra stress isn't good for you or the baby. Believe me, it will stress you out enough once it's born. Talk to your doctor and see if you can find a therapist that specializes in cognitive behavior therapy and panic disorders. You might find some real help there, and there's no side effects like with meds.

Short answer, no, this pregnancy is not going to overstress your heart and kill you, although you may wish it had once you hit labor, from what I've heard. No, you're going to be fine, but you need to find someone to speak with about this panic, because it's not doing you any favors and this baby does not need an anxious mother right off the bat. Find some help for this, because this is extra stress you don't need.

[CMoore124]

Pb - it seems you have had the tests till reassure your heart looks good. I'm sure heart disease would have shown during one of those tests. I'm surprised to read your stress test was abnormal because if too many pacs. How many did you have and were they during test or in recovery? I had 3-4 pvcs during stress test and tons afterwards but they didn't seem the least bit concerned. I've stopped exercising all together for fear of them

[Kookey]

Hi ashcrash85, I'm Kookey, and I'm only 13 (but mature for my age)
I have palps every now and then, but whenever it happens my anxiety kicks in, and I always think I'm going to have a heart attack, even though I've been reassured multiple times that my chances for getting one are slim. I'm overweight (and currently working on losing some), so whenever I think something's wrong that I think has to do with my chest, I panic. I know how it feels to be scared at nearly all times, waiting for something to happen that probably wont. I try to keep myself occupied so i can get my mind off whatever's bothering me.
Wish you luck :]

[yhaen]

Happy Holidays guys.

Kim, I went to my dr and he prescribed me another 100 pcs of carvid. He had checked mu bp and its 130/90. Not bad right? By next year, Ill have another blood chem to check my cholesterol levels. I hope it already decrease this time. Kinda nervous again and my jaw is aching. Another anxiety symptom. (

[CMoore124]

I'm really struggling this week. Been having  and pvcs for hours every day this week. Been horrible. Some days I can barely go on and it's wearing on me so badly. I know it's benign but it's just not fair I have to deal with these every day. It sucks and I want my old life back. I'm tired of being petrified all day. I stay in bed as long as I can and my kids and marriage are suffering. Thanks for letting me vent

[novangel]

I too suffer from PVC's due to anxiety. Very scary.

I have a very long and complicated story but in the end of this journey I have developed cardiophobia which I am now learning to cope with. I used to have 24/7 anxiety and several panic attacks a month. I have gotten that under control but now I avoid anything and everything that will accelerate my heart rate because it triggers massive panic attacks. Exercise? Forget it. As long as I don't get my heart rate up too high I can pretty much go about my life now. I'm thankful to have gotten this far, but I would love to be able to exercise again.  Unfortunately I had such severe anxiety/panic for so long that my brain now automatically thinks racing heart means time to panic!!  I suppose at some point I can/will defeat this issue as well...this is beans compared to what I was going through a few years ago.

Anyway, my point is..anxiety triggers PVC's, and PVC's trigger anxiety. The anticipation of a PVC triggers anxiety. Vicious never ending cycle that I know all too well. I AM NOT A DOCTOR, however a doctor told me that taking 250mgs of Magnesium a day will help with PVC's. I did and after a while it worked. *knock on wood. I went from having several a day/month to almost none which minimized my anxiety a lot. So talk with your doctor and give it a try. Hope this helps. 

[steezy]

Hey my names Stephen and I'm new to this website as well as health anxiety.  I constantly fear a heart attack although im only 21 and in good shape.  my blood pressure is 150/85 but im working on not eating out so much (college kid) to lower it in a few months.  I get chest pains and left arm pains all the time, not as much freaked out by palps although i do get them.  also i get pressure on my chest and feel i cant breathe.  i freaked out so many times and thought i was dying.  My dads a doctor and he drew my blood everything including thyroid and cholesterol was fine.  ive never had an ekg but my dad says my heart is fine because i can exercise vigorously with no pain, in fact it often makes my symptoms better.  i am still worried i will die from a heart attack, i just need some support from ppl like me so this thread is awesome.  ive only had anxiety for about a month so its very new and scary to me. if anyone has helpful advice please let me know! also is it bad if your left arm hurts but you have no chest pain? that happens to me sometimes and it really scares me.  another thing is im never satisfied with my resting HR.  sometimes its around the sixties and other times the 90s and if its high i think my heart is going to explode and if its low i think my hearts just gonna stop :'(  so scared plz help me!

[ashcrash85]

HI steezy,

My very best advice? You may shake your head at this. But the best advice you can get is to push through your fear. The heart is not made to just stop or explode. A few pages back I even posted the percentage chance of sudden cardiac death that I calculated which is .1% for any given year. That is nearly a 0% chance hun!

Keep exercising, don't hold back any of your life or behaviors. Otherwise the fear will just grow and grown and limit you more and more. It's no way to live.

Of course, if you haven't seen a doctor for a full physical recently you should do so just to be on the safe side. Then work on moving on. 

[kes2010]

The heart was actually my original anxiety. Now it just kind 0of rotates.

It started when I was about 19. I too had been pretty healthy all my life. I use to lift weights with the football team and was in decent shape. In the summer of '89 I started working for a state golf course. Part of my job was taking sand traps to keep the sand fluffy so it would eat the golf balls when they landed in there. It is a hard, physically taxing job as you have to pull lots of sand with your rake which can get heavy. One hot day I was out carrying out my duties when all of a sudden my heart felt like it flipped in my chest. I stopped and was like....WTH? I stood there for a few seconds and then continued to rake. After awhile it happened again. I managed to get through that day with the intermittent issues.

As the days progressed those palps got worse and worse. Then I started feeling....congested is the best way I can explain it. I got to where I was afraid to move hardly for fear of having a heart attack, if I wasn't having one already. Well I made it through that summer (I didn't work 3 months out of the year).

The summer of that next year my job changed to working in the Pro Shop so I  basically sat on my butt and watched TV and ate snacks and drank Cokes. So I had few palps because I wasn't doing anything, but I still had them and the fear was still there. Then around July of that year we got a call that my grandfather was in the ICU. That scared the crap out of me. I managed to hang on the trip to the hospital. When we got there a lot of family was there of course. I sat there having trouble breathing, but no one knew. All of a sudden my mouth got extremely dry. So I told my sister's bf (her future husband) that I needed to go find a water fountain. The whole time inside I was freaking out.

When we got to the fountain I drank and drank and drank. But apparently that was the wrong thing to do as it sent my heart into overdrive with the palps. It felt like it was flipping and flopping around in my chest nonstop. I told my friend we needed to get back to the ICU waiting room ASAP. He had no clue what was going on. When we got there I sat down and my mom looked at me and said I looked pale. She asked if I was okay and against my nature, I had to confess that no I was not okay. That was the first time I told ANYONE what had been going on with me for over a year.

She decided she wanted to take me over to the ER. She held onto my arm and off we went. Now, the ER was really just up the hall but with every step it felt as if my heart was flopping worse. By the time we got to the ER my mom was practically having to hold me up. The ER staff scrambled and immediately put me in a room where they found my heart was racing VERY fast. After an examination and a shot of something that was ever so nice, I was diagnosed with Anxiety Tachycardia. Thus, my first experience with anxiety. So the heart was my beginning.....

[ashcrash85]

Wow Kes, i didn't know that's how you started on your anxious road! Man we have a lot in common. Plus a love for whacking people with fishes 

[BlastOffMoony]

For about a month now I get chest pains below my left breast.(I'm male btw.) I also have a sensitive chest and ever sense I started Zoloft I can hear/feel my heart beating and I tend to wanna check it/feel for it every few hours. As such, I've become  heart phobic I think. I've never had issues with my heart so I don't know why I'm so worrisome, i'm 24.

[kes2010]

Yep ash...that's how it all started. BAZINGA!

*whacks ash with a blue marlin*

[ashcrash85]

epic win

[scared2011]

I'm doing better.

[JayKay]

Add me in. I could use some support.

I'm 37, female. I've had palps, "skipped beats" for about six years. Had a number of EKGs, echoes done in that time (the last in the fall), and have been told all looks well. (Plus, I've had two kids, natural childbirth, with no problems.)

But in the past two-three weeks, the palps have gotten worse. I'll be fine and then ... WHAM! ... I'll leap out of my seat. No chest pains, just that "skipped beat" sensation.

My husband tests my pulse and says it's steady and fine. He generally talks me out of the emergency room and reminds me about all the tests. I worried they've missed something, and I'm scared to death I'm just going to keel over in front of my kids.

I was on a medication (not heart-related) I just learned can cause palps, and stopped it Thursday. Still having them, though ... several today.

Heart defects don't usually show up out of nowhere at 37-something ... right? Something would have shown up before now ... right?

Ugh.

[ashcrash85]

Even though I'm usually the calm voice of reason in this thread I just had 2 and it has me anxious. I also am keeping in mind that I've been 2 days off of my meds so I'm likely withdrawing now.

I'll tell you what my daughter's cardiologist told me " If a child is born with a healthy heart they can play a full deck of cards. There is no reason to worry, the heart doesn't just up and randomly have problems. The only reason adults get heart problems later on is because, frankly, they just don't take care of themselves."


I've had all sorts of scary rhythms for 11 years and I'm still fine. I've even given birth to 3 kids during this time. Most times, if there is an undetected heart problem it is most often found during pregnancy. Pregnancy is a huge stress on the body.

Heart problems don't just pop up. They just don't. You're either born with issues, or you are older and have had years on years of precipitating factors.

Anxiety and stress, fear, obsession, and even the thought of palps can bring them on. There are many things that can feel like palps but it's not. Gas, bubbles moving around, esophagus twitches/spasms, etc. EKG and echo are great tests. EKG tests much more than you think and the Echo physically shows the heart structure and blood movement.

I've had times where i was sure I was in some awful rhythm had my husband feel my pulse and he said it's just fast. There have been other times where I thought I was in some dangerous super fast rhythm, hubby just said it's fast.

i can understand the fear, but more often than not, palps aren't a sign of something serious.

[Jamiec]

Anyone else creeped out by all these heart attack awareness commercials? I saw one this morning and I am so wound up!

[JayKay]

Thanks, ashcrash85, for the thoughts. I'll admit I could have taken better care of myself ... overweight, like most of my family ... but all my bloodwork, etc., has always been good. And I'm working on it. Stress (mostly work) has been ridiculous the past few months, through. I thought I was dealing with it well, but ...

I cut out caffeine starting yesterday to see if that helped. I think the palps decreased. I guess I'll continue on and see how it goes.

I have my hubby take my pulse all the time, too. Thank god  he's there to talk me down sometimes. 

[DreamsDeciphered]

It seems as thought I am one of the many. I've convinced myself many a time that I was having a heart attack or had heart disease. I've only run to the hospital twice, and I've always been told to never ignore chest pains. Now, thought, I've been much better at recognizing when it's anxiety, though I sometimes worry myself into a stupor. I tend to repeat a mantra to myself when I'm about to lose it because I'm terrified my heart is going to stop: "I'm healthy, I have no health issues. I just need to breathe." I don't know where this fear came from, as no one in my family has had any heart related problems, and certainly not any at nineteen. It's really difficult sometimes, though. It's hard to keep that fear under control. Ugh.

[zoran]

I have been there too.  Last spring I was convinced I had a blocked artery.  My younger and healthier brother   had a blocked artery.   Same symptoms I had.  My tests came up clean.  I still always monitor the heartbeat but have been very relaxing.  But it costed me a lot of money.  I'm still paying.

[TonyL1]

I too have this, has anyone experienced a Angiogram, I hear they are scary, I'm 44, and get chest pains all the time, may be the anxiety, but when ya have them without anxiety, sometimes shooting pains, and sometimes there for hours on end, it makes me wonder, had a  physical 2 weeks ago, everything appeared fine doc wise
, does anyone get pain in one certain spot, I do, just near and under my left arm pit bout 4 inches down, probably a muscle, I dunno lol....   

[peachyJess]

 Hello everyone. So i'm totally new to this whole chat group forum support thing lol. I just want someone to hear me out.
It started in July 2011, i was at work and suddenly i notcies i had pain across my chest (below my breasts)...and it was almost as if i had released a chain of events...I started feeling dizzy, faint, my face went white, and my heart started RACING. Luckily enough i work in a seniors village, surrounded by nurses, as i am one myself. They tookd my blood sugar, gave me oxygen, took my blood pressure, then called an ambulance to come get me. My BP was 170/ 90.....the highest iv ever seen it. My pulse was through the roof.
Usually my blood pressure is completely normal....120/70... Long story short, when i went to the hospital the doctor asked me if i suffer from anxiety...
I wasn't sure what to say really. I v always been a worry ward, thats jsut a part of who i am. But this had never ever happened to me before, which is why it scared me.
Im only 23 years old. In t he past year and a half, iv lost my grandmother and two pregnancies.  Since this panic attack, iv had numerous ECG'S and even a holster monitor on for 24 hours. All my tests come back normal.
Here and there i experience the stranges pains. (Im a hypochondriac). However, ever since then iv experiences what i think are heart attacks. Randomly, our of nowhere i could be feeling completely relaxed and fine, and all of a sudden i get a strange fluttering in what feels like the center of my chest. I cant even explain what it feels like, then it is followed with a fast heart beat/pulse. then after a minute, it goes away...and leave me SCARED to death. It's almost as if i'm constanly waiting for the next one to happen. Also, it makes me more concerned when i have a regular headache, or a sore arm.Im constantly thinking that something is wrong with me. I havnt been to work since November 2011...left on stress and medical leave. Im scsared to go back and have it happen again. Also excersizing scares me. i find it happens after i go for a walk. I quit caffiene, and smoking and drinking alcohol. Im living in complete fear. My doctor gave me Cipralex for my anxiety. But after taking it for 3 days ...i had a huge panic atttaack. I felt almost as if i was "high". Should i find anothermedication to go on? gahhhhh i jsut dont know what to do anymore. Its stressing out everyone i love the most that surrounds me 

[Otherartist]

   I have had "classic" panic attacks. -Racing heart, tingling limbs, hyperventilation. But recently I've experienced a few episodes of bradycardia with my anxiety. I've found my resting (lying down) pulse as low as 45bpm. In one case it scared me into pacing and calling my wife 4 times over the next 5 minutes. In the other case, I was starting to get very worked up so I took .5mg of Xanax (almost never take more than .25mg at once) and laid there for the next 20 minutes and noticed my pulse increase slowly back up to 62bpm or so as the tranquilizer took noticeable effect. I've had an ECG and shared these experiences with both my GP and psychiatrist. I'm in good physical condition at 5'10" and 150lbs and have always been very active (until my recent phobia with exertion developed about 2 months ago.) My doctors aren't concerned. So I'm wondering if anyone has had experiences with slow heart rate and anxiety? I've found a few online sights that briefly mention slow heart rate as a symptom of anxiety and I'm well acquainted with the laundry list of weird physical sensations caused by anxiety, but I'm the first patient my doctors have seen whose body performs this particular act. I'm trying to trust them. My only physiological explaination for this is perhaps an unbalanced parasympathetic nervous system? Is my vagal nerve responding to my condition (PD w/ agoraphobia) with too much vigor and lowering my HR kind of like the way a baby rabbit's body slows down when in danger? (Yeah, I know, I just compared myself to a baby rabbit.)

[ojaj2005]

I, too, worry about my heart. Well, I go from my heart to my brain to my heart again. I think it stems from having heart disease in my family and also my aunt dying from fibrosis of the heart almost 5 years ago. I have also been to the doctors and ER thinking I was having a heart attack. I've had numerous EKGs, 2 holter monitors, and an echo everything can back great (well, in the midst of panic attacks my heart rate was elevated but other than that it was great). It's not easy believing though and everytime I get a pain I think- that's it, I'm dying. I'm on Prozac and Klonopin. I *know* realistically that  the chances of something being wrong with my heart is slim to none but when the irrational anxiety prone person is in control I can't be reasoned with.

[prwalia10]

Hi guys i might have posted this before im not sure..so i am 21 years old..my anxiety triggered in April 2011 when my dad passed away as a sudden death which the doc say was a cardiac arrest..since then i have been thinking i have something wrong in myself as well...i went to my doc and he diagnosed me with anxiety and said i had hypothyroid..he also took my EKG which was normal...in decemeber of 2011 i met with a cardiologist and he took a echo and said the report was normal..so i have good days and bad days..but from last night im having a terrible time..as soon as i got home from class i felt weird sensation in my chest and i became nauseous for an hour..my mom kept on saying it may be acidity and i took a anti-acid and fell asleep..when i woke up today it all started again and all i feel is im gonna die...i am overweight..it reminds me that my dad also had chest issues a night or two before he passed away..im really scared right now and couldnt even go to work cuz i keep on thinking this...what should i dooooooooooooo