My intro - is this really anxiety?

[Meg_611]

Hi All,

this is my first post 🙂 not sure where I’m supposed to post etc.

At the end of June this year I had an episode after the toilet where I stood up and felt lightheaded. I looked in the mirror and could see my pulse beating. I continued feeling dizzy and my work took me to hospital. An ECG, cat scan of my head and neck were all clear. Since this episode I have felt lightheaded, random stabbing pains on my head, tight chest, swollen throat. But the main symptom is I can CONSTANTLY feel my heart pounding in my chest and a neck, but also sometimes in my fingertips. I’ve had a brain mri, carotid artery scan, echo stress test, thyroid ultrasound.
Everything has come back clear - BUT during this process I discovered I have high chlolesterol (they suspect its genetic) and thyroid antibodies with a swollen thyroid which drs say is Hashimotos. So those unexpected diagnoses have been rather stressful.
My other strange symptom is I cannot lie on my right side in bed if I do I become dizzy and feel like my heart can’t pump enough blood to my head. Sometimes when I stand up or leav over to pick something off the ground I feel like I get a build up of pressure in my head.
My doctors keep saying it is anxiety - but I just don’t believe them and feel like there is physically something wrong with me somewhere.
I am also wondering if anyone else as a silly habit of stressing about emptying their bladder before bedtime? I have for years and it results in my overstraining trying to make sure every drop is out - I hate myself for doing it- but my body won’t let me relax unless I do. It’s got this reason that I worry I have damage something internally which is now impacting my heart and/or blood flow.
Has anyone else got this habit or tips to help me ?

please it’s been 6 months straight of constant heart palpitations (forceful heartbeat- normal pulse) and i am just so sick of it 😞

[James]

Hi there,

Im super new and only posted he first time tonight as well! But reading this I thought I could offer some reassurance from my own experiences. I can’t offer much help since my analogous problems abated of their own accord or didn’t afford me much stress, but at the very least I can describe my similar sensations in the hope it feels less unusual/isolating!

I spend a lot of time working outdoors in the heat, and it’s been common for me to stand up and feel dizzy and on occasion even have my vision fade to a black/purple honeycomb sort of visage for a few seconds before returning to normal. I commonly see my pulse in my vision too (like my eye focus slightly distorts with each heartbeat) especially on very hot days.

Bending over doing animal work or just using a shovel in the heat gives me the head pressure as well, like a throbbing headache in tandem with pulse which lasts for maybe 10 to 20 seconds after fully righting myself. This one is oddly way worse when I’ve got a cold or something. Only cool weather seems to negate this one for me!

re. Bladder: ages ago I felt like this as a teen an awful lot, would try and go several times before bed despite having nothing left there at all! It’s annoying as hell, you’re certainly not alone. Starting to feel it now 10 year’s later just thinking about it again! It might sound odd, but sitting down during the act helped me get that last bit out to a point it felt like enough had been done to feel comfortable, and it seemed to be less of a strain as I remember.

Im new to anxiety, and for what it’s worth, I like to think we’ll be ok. I hope you’re travelling well in the meantime