Cardiophobia

[louise4291]

Advice please! Last April, I suffered my first (and only) panic attack, the attack was so severe that I genuinely thought I was having a heart attack and going to die and I had to call an ambulance.

Since then I have suffered with health anxiety, in particular worrying about my heart and having a heart attack, any twinge or body sensation around my chest, neck or arms and my head instantly tells me I'm having a heart attack and I'm going to die. I have had other thoughts too, pains in legs being blood clots etc but these have subsided,

I have had counselling, and although I am a lot better I still have to fight daily to keep the intrusive thoughts at bay, which is getting me down and upset as I just want to be "normal" and the old me again before all of this happened.

I guess what I'm asking is, has anyone else experienced what I have and been able to overcome it and lead a normal life again?

Any advice is appreciated 😊

This video might help you understand why panic attacks happen and why your mind/nervous system fears them happening again;

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I'm sorry you're feeling this way, it must be incredibly stressful! You said you've had counselling, it sounds like you would benefit from carrying on (with another counsellor or trying a different type of therapy if you want to)

Hi, Yes I've had cardiophobia for a while after suffering tachycardia after an illness, best thing I found personally is exposure therapy, whenever my heart feels odd or having a palpation I will run or go up and down the stairs or something that's going to elevate my heart rate to prove there's nothing actually wrong with my heart. I've suffered with health anxiety like you for about 5 years you can definitely recover, I'm out the other side of it and just kicking a few little bits but a few people I recommend to watch on YouTube is Dennis Semsik (the anxiety guy) Trey Jones and Cherelle thinks. I also found counselling never aided with the health anxiety aspect, but I think once you've had testing for said problem and it's come back normal you are dealing with something, anxiety which is hopeful actually because you know it can be fixed. Also, just food for thought but I had many physical symptoms and discovered I'm vit d deficient and since supplementing I feel heaps better so may be worth checking if you haven't already. All the best, you can do this xx

My partner has had them on and off. His brother died aged 37 of focal myocarditis which has made it worse. He's had a barrage of tests at St. George's and his heart is in good health. He got his anxiety under control by reading as much as he could about it to understand, used the headspace app in the evenings and he's definitely better when he has regular daily exercise and it's summer time. Lockdowns and winter really didn't help him.

I'm on my second counsellor now. They say I have it under control but I just feel like I need something more or extra to get rid of it so I can start living again x

Thank you, some of my family have vit d deficiency so I'll try the supplements. I have had ecg and bloods done and all are ok. I have listened to audio books which really helped x