Cardiac health anxiety

[Ben1983]

Hi all, I'm new to this and looking for some advice for some one that has been through what I'm going through.

To keep it short it started about 3 months ago now, I went to see my Dr with a bit of chest discomfort and as my heart rate was elevated he called an ambulance to take me straight to the closest hospital. Upon arrival they did a ecg, ct scan and blood test which all came back clear. They desided to admit me into the cardiovascular ward as my heart rate was still over 100. From there I was monitored 24 hrs, had another ct scan and an echocardiogram all which came back normal.

A month later I was back in the emergency department as I had my first heart palpatation that felt like my heart was jumping around, to me it felt like I was having a heart attack. They did bloods, ecg and it all came back normal, however they wanted me to conduct a holter monitor test. I did the test and it came back that I had 24 pre beats in the 24 hr period and that my heart was perfect from an electrical side of house.

Since then I have now been checking my pulse religiously as I have felt weird pains and tightness around my chest, tightness in my neck, light headed from time to time, have even noticed a visible heart beat in the hollow part of my neck.

I have even started to notice that some times when I'm standing up for a period of time my heart rate remains over 100 even though other times it has returned to normal.

Since then I have had a few panic attacks and developed anxiety over this.

My issue is that even though I have been told and reassured from my Dr that every thing is fine with my heart, to me it still fells like something is wrong especially when I notice my heart rate doing weird things and or feeling the physical symptoms as I have mentioned earlier.

I've tried hard to believe what the Drs tell me but I still can't shake the feeling or thoughts that there is something wrong.

This is starting to control my life as all I do is worry about it.

Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated.

[Ace1988]

Hi Ben,

fellow cardiac health anxious member here. It’s comforting to see that I’m not alone in this particular type of scenario. I too have become obsessive over my heart health to the point of checking my pulse (on my neck) religiously for the past several days.

I have had the all clear On several occasions in the emergency department as well but still, whenever I feel these pains and sensations, I think there surely must be something wrong or something they’ve missed. Deep down I know that isn’t the case but it definitely does take over your mind and body (it’s bloody exhausting)

I’m not sure if I can give you any answers or anything but one thing I try is to stay off google. Google is the devil for people like us. I also try to do breathing exercises/meditation and find something to watch or read. It doesn’t completely rid my body of those symptoms but it lets me think clearly and tel myself that these pains are nothing, that I can feel them, I’ve acknowledged that they are there, but they aren’t hurting me.

We’ve got this! Stay strong.

[Here_I_am]

Hi Ben1983,

I can only imagine what it feels like to be so certain something is wrong and to have people constantly telling you you're fine. Ace1988 has given some really useful tips here on some activities that might help with taking your mind off your heart, and I want to second Ace1988's suggestions. Breathing exercises and meditation are a wonderful way to bring our overall state of arousal down and back under control. One of the methods I use when my anxiety is creeping up on me is to focus on the tip of my tongue as I breath (that is where I 'feel' the air entering my body... for some it's the tip of the nose, or they feel their breath in their chest or stomach... wherever it is, focus on it!). I count ten breaths, one for in, two for out... all the way to 10, and then start again. This is a great mindfulness activity you can do anywhere at any time and nobody knows you're doing it! If your thoughts wonder, just come back to breathing in (1), breathing out (2), in (3), out (4). The more we practice these mindfulness/breathing exercises, the better we get a them. We become more focused on breathing and we get less distracted, which is what we're trying to achieve! 🙂

You mentioned that your pulse checking causes you concern when taking your pulse from a standing position and finding your heart rate is around 100. I don't know if it's any consolation to you, but this is a perfectly normal heart rate for an adult male. Standing heart rate is different to resting heart rate - standing is an activity believe it or not - and resting heart rate for an adult male is between 60 and 100. Concern zone = 148 or over when you're not doing anything vigorous; stress alone can increase our metabolic rate and cause us to sweat, produce adrenaline, and raise out heart rate quite easily to 120 - and that's just from talking on the phone to a particularly difficult person.

I hope you achieve some peace from your health anxiety, and find some ways to put it aside for a few minutes at a time at the least.

Hope to hear from you soon regarding your progress.

[Nurse_Jenn]

Hi Ben1983,

Welcome to the forum. I thought I would acknowledge Ace1988s and Here I Am's suggestions of practicing Mindfulness. I just practiced the 'air on the tongue' strategy that was suggested and it really does help you focus (great technique!)

Health Anxiety is really common. I see posts almost daily on the topic here on the forum. You are definitely not alone. It is important to not neglect your physical health symptoms while also keeping in mind that tests have been done etc. It is such a hard balance to find. I always recommend you follow your instincts. If you can calm some of the worry, you might find some of the symptoms reduce. I wonder if you have mentioned the panic symptoms and worry to your GP and if there was any strategies recommended for to you to address these? I will offer a few free support services but it might be a good idea to have a conversation with your GP about your ongoing worry. By working together with your GP, you might establish a plan so you feel less worry and are also getting the right support for your symptoms.

Mindfulness is really practical way to calm worry for some people. There is a thread on Mindfulness in the forum where people share all different techniques they have. It is worth using the search feature and having a look at it. You will also find that in some communities Mindfulness courses are delivered and you can do some sessions to learn the techniques. Another free way to get you started is by using an app called Smiling Mind which many people recommend. https://www.smilingmind.com.au

Mindspot is a free program you can do online and over the phone that addresses worry and low mood. You can learn about the program going to www.mindspot.org

Another free program that is available in some parts of the country is NewAccess (Developed by Beyond Blue). You can read about this program and see if it is in your region by visiting the website https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/newaccess

Sometimes talking about your worry is helpful in the moment especially if you are feeling panic. The Beyond Blue support line might be a good place to unravel your worry if required. You can reach out anytime on 1300 22 4636.

Always follow you instinct and if you feel your symptoms require intervention, then visit your GP or a health service. We are here, and listening.

Wishing you the best possible outcome,

Nurse Jenn

[44Max44]

I've been going through pretty much the exact same stuff recently...
I went to the doctors recently and they said both my pulse and blood pressure were abnormally high, which really concerned me. I have heart palpitations from time to time but not very regularly. They usually happen at random or after a lot of exercise. It feels like my heart skips a beat or like my heart starts beating really hard just for a few seconds, and the first time I felt heart palpitations I too felt that I was having a heart attack and I could literally feel the adrenaline flooding my brain because of the panic.
I also get the tightness in the neck and slight lightheaded feeling almost like I'm a little bit dizzy, so it's comforting to know that I'm not the only one in my position that experiences these symptoms. I also look down at my chest from time to time and can sometimes see my chest visibly moving slightly from the heartbeats, which I'm not sure if that's normal or not.

Since the doctors visit I've been paying attention to every ache and pain in my chest and have been putting my hand over my heart to try and gauge how fast it's beating pretty often. It seems like even when I'm sitting down or trying to relax my heart is still beating quite fast, and other times I can't feel it beating at all. I'm almost certain that it's just my anxiety causing all of this stuff but there's still that thought at the back of my head saying "what if it isn't?". Even just yesterday my concern was about my lungs, but now it's completely flipped to being about my heart. Health anxiety really sucks.


One thing I can 100% agree on is to stay away from Google. If you feel like you want to google symptoms, don't. If what's happening is really that big of a concern for you, go to your GP and tell them about it and let them gauge whether or not it's worth worrying about, because if you google your symptoms and something bad comes up, you'll start worrying about that. I've made this mistake so many times before and it's only made me much more anxious. Also not even once has the thing I've found by googling actually been the thing I've had, so googling just stresses me out for no good reason.
I've made it a habit now to go to the GP first instead of googling.

Also, I agree with learning some breathing techniques as they can really help you out. After a few minutes of those breathing techniques, you could check your pulse again and you'll most likely see that it's gone down significantly.

[Here_I_am]

Hi 44Max44,

Great stuff here, and really encouraging to read how proactively you go about challenging your own thoughts on health in a positive way.

I remember as a kid in primary school we did some activity where we had to think about our breathing, and the moment we did this, about 15 kids started to have difficulty breathing! It was quite an experience.

The reality is our 'thinking brain' (cerebrum) has nothing at all to do with our involuntary life sustaining functions; we are not meant to consciously process our breathing or heart beat or swallowing or even blinking! These are automatically regulated by our medulla, which does its job well and very much in the background without help. When we bring our cerebrum in to assist, it just upsets the whole feel of our automatic regulatory system; we're much better off just letting the medulla do what it's good at, and let the cerebrum focus on how pretty the flowers are! 🙂

Seeing your chest move with heart beats is perfectly normal, especially for people with a low body fat percentage. The heart is a muscle, and it's a HUGE one; when it flexes (beats) it will affect surrounding tissue in the exact same way a bicep flex does. So, if their is not a lot of fat covering the pectoral area of our chest, the structures around the heart muscle are more firm in the case of good muscularity, or the heart is simply closer to the external wall/outer skin layer in the case of more lean physiques. It stands to reason that when the heart is beating in an active way (i.e., not resting), then it will at times beat (flex) powerfully enough to cause visible flexation externally. Whilst this may be causing your cerebrum concern, your medulla is quietly pleased with itself! 🙂

[sb9803]

Hi Ben, 

im the exact same. i have bursitis in both shoulders, originally started in my left which causes tingling and pain that radiates down my left arm, shoulder, shoulder blade and into my chest which is a common heart attack symptom too. I have panic disorder and anxiety so no matter how many scans i get done and how many times the doctor has told me my heart is fine and its a shoulder injury i cant get rid of the anxiety. One thing I have noticed that does help when i get heart palpitations or focus on my heart to much is tapping, pretty much tap 2 fingers on your collar bones or somewhere on your body to a regular heartbeat motion. It’ll take the sensation away from your heart and help you to calm down. Glad to know im not alone in this