I have bad anxiety & this scares me of heart damage. I'm pretty healthy & in good shape, (had cardio total workup, etc. & eat/exercise, etc. very well daily) but I am OCD about my heart, & these stress/Type A/anxiety/impatience/hurried personality traits that I can't seem to calm down daily. So any help? Thanks.
I can help by saying I know how you feel. I started getting skipped heartbeats about 7 years ago and since then I have had every single heart test imaginable. All came back clean, yet, I can't shake the fear of my heart having a problem. I constantly check my pulse, have images of my heart stopping and me dying. Therapist says it my generalized anxiety disorder. Makes sence, but I still don't like living like this everyday, it gets very tiring. I have been in cognitive behavioral therapy for 16 months. While it helps, it is a long and slow journey. (everyone's experience is different, though)
I am def in the same boat as you all, so hard to deal with. My new one if constantly checking my pulse rate.
I check my blood pressure approx. 5-7 times per day. I have also been in CBT for almost 2 years. While it helps some as do the meds, I find that it still is not enough. I just have this incessant fear about my heart and dropping dead from a massive heart attack. It is comforting to find others who suffer with this fear. For the longest time, I thought that I was the only one who had this particular fear. I use to have a fear of throat cancer and I would lose my voice for days for no reason. Now, my heart concerns seem to override the constant throat cancer thoughts and I don't lose my voice as often as I use to but it still happens from time to time. Now, everything seems to be centered around my heart.
