Pounding heart .. Anxiety symptoms?

[Gg22]

Hi everyone
I've recently been diagnosed with anxiety and suffer with health anxiety. I have started seeing a psychologist and my GP has done lots of tests to rule out a medical condition based on various symptoms I've experienced. I was feeling pretty good but the past week a couple times i have been relaxing in bed and suddenly my heart starts beating fast (120bpm) and is very strong and I can see it pounding in my chest. This really scares me. Afterwards I get the shakes.. can anyone tell me if this is a common anxiety symptom? Can it occur even if you aren't feeling anxious or thinking about anything in particular? This has caused my health anxiety to go into overdrive and I think I've got a heart problem. I'm going back to my GP in a couple weeks to discuss the heart symptoms but just looking for some reassurance in the meantime.. thanks

[blondguy]

Hello Gg22

Welcome and for having the courage to post too!

you are proactive with your health by seeking your GP's help on the pounding heart symptom. I understand what you are going through as my first symptom of anxiety were heart palpitations and yes they are awful to experience for sure Gg22

This is a very common physical symptom to have even with low level anxiety...If our symptoms begin to have a detrimental effect on our daily ability to function at work, school or our personal life then frequent appointments may be required

Any questions are always welcome Gg22! The forums are a safe and non judgmental place for you to post

I have attached a thread link below that has been a huge help to others with similar symptoms. You are not alone with the heart palpitations

The thread was written by Annabay in 2019. I really hope you can have a look!

www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/anxiety/what-physical-feelings-of-anxiety-do-you-get...

my kind thoughts

Paul

[Wizard1]

Hi Gg22,

I'm no expert but it sounds common to me. I've recently been diagnosed myself and experienced the exact same thing. I'm perfectly healthy person psychically and even my blood tests show perfect results all-round. Yet, I get anxious about my health including my heart.

The symptoms I've experienced thus far is:

Pounding heart, tightness in chest, hands face and feet tingling, shakes and jitters, sweating.

I got so bad I stopped exercising. But I've been seeing psychologist and improved quite a bit since. I'm now back to exercising regularly. Still got a way to go but I'm definitely improving.

So keep seeing your psychologist and do what you must to get well.

cheers, Wizard.

[Wizard1]

Btw when I said psychically I mean physically. Stupid auto correct! 😃

[blondguy]

Hi Gg22....sorry to Hijack your thread for minute

Hey Wizard1...thankyou heaps for providing support for Gg22!..Your symptoms are the same as mine used to be when you mentioned 'Pounding heart, tightness in chest, hands face and feet tingling, shakes and jitters, sweating'

Just for your info there is an excellent thread topic by a member..Annabay asking people about physical symptoms of anxiety..The live link is above in my last post...Here is the link again below...Your thoughts are welcome...Cool profile pic by the way 🙂

http://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/anxiety/what-physical-feelings-of-anxiety-do-you-get

Paul

[Emmen]

Hey Gg22,

I see our members have provided you some sound advice.

I've also suffered symptoms of anxiety that have caused me more anxiety, fearing a health problem. The one takeaway I've had from that experience is that whenever I feel something wrong with my body these days, whether it's a pounding heart or breathlessness, I'd take some time to do a mindfulness exercise and tell myself that it's just anxiety. Usually, I'll feel the symptoms lessening momentarily during the exercises and that convinces me that is definitely an anxiety symptom. That knowledge calms me more.

Going back to a GP to get your symptoms checked is definitely a good idea, because you'll get some peace of mind. But until that visit, do take care and try some relaxations exercises so that you don't get more anxious over the symptoms.

Take care,
M

[White_Rose]

Hello Gg22

You were talking about having these symptoms even though you were unaware of any anxiety or problem. So why do you have these symptoms? The brain decides for some reason you are stressed and goes into flight/fight/freeze mode. You are often unaware of anything being wrong or of being triggered by something. It sounds crazy I know. Why would you feel panicky when there was nothing amiss?

Your psychologist may be able to explain this but for the moment please accept it just happens. I have been to hospital on several occasions because I thought I was having a heart attack. (By the way, paramedics are so reassuring) After a while I learned to recognise these events as panic or anxiety attacks. When I was calm I worked out a routine to manage this fear.

1. First of all I told myself it was a panic attack and could not harm me.
2. Then I tried to relax by seeing myself floating down a stream in a little boat.
3. The panic (a nasty spiky thing) was jumping up and down on the bank of the stream trying to frighten me.
4. I stayed in the boat which drifted on and had a bit of a giggle about the enraged panic monster.

It does take time to recognise what is happening and to develop your way of coping. Moving to your coping mechanism can take time to learn but I think once you start trying it does get easier. Doing something helps to dissipate the fear.

One more suggestion. Get a book called Living with IT by Bev Aisbett. IT is anxiety. It's a small, easy to read book. No great psychological chat, just a discussion on how we feel and react. There are even some cartoons. I found it very helpful. There are two more books in the series if you find the first one helpful. Living IT Up and Letting IT Go. I hope they give you help and hope.

Mary