Terrified of having a heart attack (16 y/o female) Please Help.
Posted , 5 users are following.
Hello, I am a 16 year old girl and I do suffer from health anxiety but please don't brush this all off as "my anxiety getting to me", i'm genuinley concerned. I have been scared about my heart before and have been to the doctor and gotten an EKG which came back fine but the anxiety still remains. It started off with heart palpitations every now and then then when I started noticing them, they began to happen everyday and now I am constant fear that I am going to have a heart attack or go into cardiac arrest. I feel pressure above my left lung, close to my collar bone and sometimes feel pain near the left side of my heart. What worries me most is that my left arm has been feeling weak and sometimes has pain but I can't tell if it's from my anxiety or from an actual problem. I am a generally healthy and active person, I am a dancer and would love to pursue it but I am terrified my heart is going to give out on stage. This anxiety has affected my life so bad as it has changed my breathing habits (since i am very observant to my breathing) and makes me so scared to the point where i can't eat so if anybody has anything that might help to relax me, please reply! If you have any questions that might help to solve what's going on with me, ask away! Thank you so much.
0 likes, 8 replies
dannyf anxietygal102
Posted
hello im a 16 year old boy with health anxiety and i thought i was having a heart attack the other day went to the er and they ran a ecg on me and it came out fine the doctor told me ik to young to have a heart attack so therefor you are too just try and remember its just anxiety
anxietygal102 dannyf
Posted
What made you think you were having a heart attack? Also, what are some general anxiety symptoms that you get? if you don't mind me asking cus I literally feel like i'm having a heart attack everyday
dannyf anxietygal102
Posted
pain in my chest hard to breath
jan34534 anxietygal102
Posted
remember that anxiety symptoms can mimic health conditions. it can cause hundreds of scary symptoms, including
the ones u have. weakness, numbness, tingling, pain, heart palpitations, etc. No anxiety symptoms can hurt you,its just adrenaline . PLEASE LISTEN to the meditations below!
you need to fact check first. your ekg was normal, you are generally healthy and active,a dancer. but you have anxiety.
if u need to calm down right away, there are great meditations for anxiety and panic i highly recommend.
two i really like ARE called "Stop panic attacks now guided visualization". and "Dont panic"
ALSO i really recommend listening to short meditations for proper breathing during anxiety. its the key to managing this!!
"Mindfulness breathing guided meditation 10 minutes" is great. so many more too!
you are going to be fine. ADRENALINE can cause so many symptoms.
also, Laura Ostrowski on you tube has great calming meditations. i like one called "Its OK"
do things to keep busy, and things u enjoy. we are here for you! ❤
anxietygal102 jan34534
Posted
I know that you said anxiety has hundreds of symptoms but out of curiousity, is being out of breath a lot one of them? I can be laying down and it starts to feel hard to breathe or anytime i get up and walk up/down the stairs, my heart is pounding and I feel out of breath. I also feel really disassociated a lot, it feels like nothing is real sometimes or I feel I could faint at any moment. Is that anxiety too? Because that's what scares me the most.
jan34534 anxietygal102
Posted
ABSOLUTELY! I have had anxiety for 30 years and I CAN tell u that feeling short of breath , heart pounding, dissassociated are very common! THEY WILL NOT HURT YOU! Its caused by the adrenaline your brain puts out when anxious. i have survived. theres been times where i felt so weak and short of breath that i couldnt get off the couch.
what happens is that stress takes a toll on the body and mind so we can feel weak, breathless, etc.
Disassociated feeling is the brain trying to protect u from stress, so it blocks things out. not harmful.
the main thing is to take care of your health, proper breathing, possible counseling for cause of anxiety.
theres great short meditations on breathing (very important) on you tube called Stop panic attacks now, guided visualization. good one!AND one called Dont Panic. good, gets u in control.
you will be ok. do things that relax you, and make u laugh. u can trick your brain. ❤❤❤
jan34534
Posted
when u feel fainty, go right to the Dont Panic meditation .
Stiffers anxietygal102
Posted
I've been in the same position and got cleared. The problem is health anxiety, you get so worked up over these symptoms that you notice the slightest pain which usually wouldn't bother you at all. Chest pain can be caused by so many other things, when im anxious I notice I get bad Acid Reflux which causes me chest pain, this made me worry even more and it causes a vicious cycle. For me I got over it by working out in the gym, I realised how hard I could push myself and had no problems at all. Try to forget about your symptoms for a while, workout carry on with what youre doing. It can be very hard to take your mind off the symptoms but you have to realise the vicious cycle you're getting into. Try to get referred into CBT, it helped me massively to break the cycle.