My heart feels strange
Posted , 54 users are following.
Hi
I've been to my doctors numerous of times and she has told me everything is fine with my heart. I've had routine blood tests - came back clear apart from a little high protein (she told me this was nothing to worry about). I've also had a ECG done and that was fine. But I'm not convinced... My heart just feels strange all the time - I NEVER get palpitations ever. My heart seems to beat irregular or skips beats. I guess it's like a fluttering feeling in my chest. Also I sometimes have chest discomfort, which seems to go into my left arm and back. Does anyone else have these symptoms and are they anxiety related? I'm sick of worrying!
Thanks in advance x
5 likes, 62 replies
athol91131
Posted
These are very, very common symptoms of anxiety and will cause you no harm. It is just the result of excess adrenaline in your bloodstream. What you are feeling is the adrenaline causing palpitations. Pain around the heart is caused by contracted muscles around the heart (caused by adrenaline). The pain of a heart attack is rarely felt in the heart. If you have been checked out (which you have) and found to be ok, believe it. You are experiencing the symptoms of anxiety, that's all. It can do you no harm at all, apart from feeling uncomfortable. Your mind, however, is also in an anxiety state. It will therefore be thinking 'catastrophically'. Everything becomes an emergency (in your mind) when in this state. Do not believe it. You are ok and will be ok. Try to ignore it. I have thought I was dying many thousands of times but I'm still here and there is nothing wrong with me. This is a very common experience for people in an anxiety state. Go and see you doctor for reassurance. They may offer you some temporary medication to help with the symptoms. Propranalol can be useful as it slows your heart rate down and sometimes this is all that you need to 'step out' of the anxiety state. Good luck and don't worry. This is a very common experience affecting thousands of people every day. It is distressing and disturbing but can do you no harm. Your heart is a very strong muscle and can easily withstand very high heart rates. Be kind to yourself as you are going through this experience. Look after yourself, get some exercise if you can, distract yourself if possible. This is not a mental illness it is a temporary overactive adrenal gland. That's all.
parminder_singh athol91131
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eliana20482 athol91131
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joycemadine athol91131
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samuels athol91131
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Whilst this statement holds true for the newly diagnosed panic / anxiety sufferer or even 12 months in of this condition . You have explained it all very well, I to felt like this when I first got panic / anxiety, there are lots of reasons as to why people suffer from them, from bad up bringings, death of loved ones, food additives etc etc, research has also shown that it can be herediatary, in my case mine was caused by a snake bite and the small amount of venom interfered with my nervous system. Now up until nearly 4 years ago I have been panic attack free, I had suffered from them for 26 years with intermittent Agoraphobia. Now when it comes to chest pains , a person who has suffered for many , many years with panic attacks can differentiate between "heart " pain and an anxiety attack, for the last 10 + years doctors kept saying to me my chest pain was panic / anxiety until I saw a Cardiologist, I had to see him for a cholesterol problem and he said to me I don't think it's panic that's causing your chest pain and prescribed GTN (spray under the tongue ) this relieved my chest pain but it would come back anywhere from 2-15 days, he explained to me that it was the small blood vessels in my heart going into spasms and they can't be seen by the naked eye or even via an angiogram, as the years went on it got worse and one emergency doctor actually put a name to my condition, Prinzmetal Angina ( coronary artery spasms ) , now depending on which specialist of mine you talk to at least 2 of them have a different answer to the others. Back in 2012 I started getting my chest pain with associated left side pain radiation, ECG was normal and because that was normal I was placed out into the ED waiting room while awaiting the blood test results, about 3/4's of an hour later a doctor came out to me with a nurse and said you had better come straight in with us, nurse had a wheel chair for me, I had a mild heart attack (NSTEMI) since that day they no longer classed me as the panic / anxiety sufferer anymore, If you are a long term panic / anxiety sufferer, do not let doctors tell you that it's just that straight up,explore other possibilites, if you know it's different then it is. Since 2012 I have had 3 NSTEMI's and have 3 mild blockages in all arteries, and the last 2 occlusions occured within 4 years ( 50 - 60 % stennosis) and I have to stick to a healthy diet because of my original problem with my cholesterol, they found it to be the hereditary type ( familialhyperlipidemia ).
Here where I am panic / anxiety falls under mental illness. In charlotte's case her doctor should of explored the possibility of 2 - 3 types of different angina , you don't have to have blocked arteries to have angina, especially the unstable angina or what they call Syndrome X ( small blood vessel spasms in the heart ).
Something to think about for all the long term sufferers of panic / anxiety sufferers.
inzamam56552 athol91131
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Thanks this helped me so much I believe I'm OK now
mell62103 samuels
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I agree with you. I have had panic disorder for over 20 years . I presented at E.D on numerous occasions only to be told it was probably panic. Oh and chostochondritis once. After 2 years of this and many times I didn't go because I felt foolish one day I presented because I was also feeling breathless. End result was an emergency double bypass. Panic though uncomfortable does not hurt.
elizabeth94928 athol91131
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laura41729 elizabeth94928
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It''s helped me too, today my heart started jumping all over the place and I felt like I was going to collapse as I got dizzy. Feeling very tired now 😢
raven09332 athol91131
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Vickycam
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being caught in a house fire. After a broke my engagement to marry began to slowly feel better and less
anxious. I'm elderly now and those fears never returned. Perhaps you should seek help
from a psychotherapist to ascertain the underlying reasons for your anxiety.
Wizdom101 Vickycam
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bwp charlotte96197
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I've had anxiety issues over the past 12 months, the scariest thing was the first 5 or 6 months of not realising or believing it was anxiety.
It wasn't until i had a holiday, that right at the end of the holiday my symptoms had almost diminished. One night i was having a glass of wine with my wife at dinner and said 'WOW!' .... 'I've just realised I haven't had any symptoms today'.
I couldn't believe how great it felt to feel normal. To not have symptoms to worry about.
Now i realise that anxiety feeds anxiety. And positivity helps to make you feel better.
This latest heart feeling and weird sensations has come on the last few weeks. In the hope of being pragmatic I asked myself questions;
Have i been working too much lately? Yes. Going out too much? Yes. Stressed about things like relationships etc? Yes. Drinking too much? Yes. Has my diet been bad? Yes.
All things that i've noticed over the past 12 months that makes the anxiety worse.
Being pragmatic helps state the obvious, help me to be rational... a quality thats hard to do when dealing with anxiety.
Your body is a wonderful thing. It's just telling you to calm down, eat healthily, take more time doing the things you enjoy, get early nights, do meditation that gives your brain a rest from worrying, do yoga which helps breathing, read books, have long baths, do exercise that you enjoy which in turn releases chemicals in your brain that benefits you for the rest of the day.
All things that you might think, 'yeah right, where am i going to find time for that?'
You need to make time (not in a stressful way) if you want to get better.
It's stating the obvious but it's what i've noticed works.
I also talk to a therapist once a week, this was one of the best things i did to help releif the anxiety. The therapist will get you talking, off load, you might even cry, but the most important thing is you'll realise you are not crazy, you just need to be rational and calm your lifestyle down.
I hope this helps you X
gabriel17940 charlotte96197
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Now, I have felt an anxiety/panic attack, but it isn't the same, just if you're wondering... But it could be linked, I wouldn't disagree, but it's really weird because I don't think anxiety symptoms would stay with some one for so long, or would they?
Hope this links a little bit to what you were having or helps anyone else. Anyone's opinion would be greatly appreciated too!
rhodaramirez charlotte96197
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