terrified of having a heart attack

Posted , 4 users are following.

hi everyone im currently 16 years old and im very very scared of having a heart attack. it all started on tuesday this week when i was with my brother and then my left arm started hurting. at first i thought it was nothing bc about last year i went to a cardiologist and was diagnosed with costochodrites. then my chest started to hurt for a couple seconds and went away. then for a sec my jaw was stinging. thats when i began to panic but my mom told me to calm down and its just my anxiety. the next day my left arm and neck starter to hurt and began panicking again. later in the day i went out and my heart started palpitating so fast i really thought i was going to die. i kept crying to go to the er but my parents didnt want to take me because the week before that i thought i was going to have an aneruysm and went to the er and everything came back fine and they said it was just my anxiety. after that under my rib cage began to hurt and so i decided to make a docters appointment. when i went they checked my blood pressure and listened to my heart with a stethoscope. they said that everything looked and sounded normal and that i shouldnt be worrying for something like that at my age. they said it is my anxiety. this calmed me down for a couple hours until the middle of chest felt warm and felt a little burning sensation. i began to cry and panic again begging my parents to take me to the er but said no bc my docter said i was fine. the middle of chest stills burns and it keeps causing me anxiety bc google tells me that imma have a heart attack. please help me somebody..

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3 Replies

  • Edited

    i’m sorry you’re going through this Ariana. I’m sure it’s very scary for you. But please remember that there are Other things that can cause The sensations that you are feeling. anxiety is definitely one of them! When we have anxiety we are telling our brain that something is wrong even though there’s nothing wrong. The brain sends out something called adrenaline which is harmless but it can cause some of the symptoms you are having such as the rapid heartbeat.just about everybody who has anxiety gets rapid heartbeat once in a while including myself. it won’t hurt you. i’ve had that happen on and off for many many years and I’m very healthy.anxiety can also cause pain anywhere in the body including the chest, arm, jaw etc.

    costochodrities can definitely cause pain.

    One thing that’s important is that the more you worry the more symptoms you were going to have because you are once again telling your brain that something is wrong. Try to relax your mind as much as you can and you will start to notice things calming down. YouTube has some great relaxing meditation for anxiety. When you Google symptoms you’re not going to be able to diagnose yourself. they always give the worst case on there so please don’t make yourself miserable for nothing. You can take just about any symptoms and it can go with just about any condition so it’s really a waste of time. what you are experiencing is most likely a combination of sensations from costochondritis and also anxiety.

    Remember you have been checked out and everything is OK! The medical staff is correct when they say at your age it is extremely rare for you to have a heart attack. Extremely rare. listen to them and also to your parents. you are OK!

    you are most likely experiencing anxiety and then it gets intensified when you overthink things and worry. Take some deep breath‘s and slow down your thinking. BREATHE, RELAX. and REPEAT! ❤ One day at a time and take care!

  • Posted

    Don't be scared, it really is anxiety.

    Ask your parents to get you the help you need for your anxiety. I was exactly the same at your age, my anxiety was out of control. I'm now 49, so do your maths and count how many years I have wasted. PLEASE don't do the same as me.

    You can be given reassurance about your heart but that will be useless because then it will be an aneurism, or cancer, or MS...what you need to do is nip the anxiety in the bud while you are still young.

    Good luck!

  • Posted

    I'm sorry to hear you're experiencing this!

    Something that made these experiences a little easier for me to understand, I'm twenty-one, was that I was not alone, and I truly thought I was the only person in the world going through this! My best advice, although it proves reassuring in the short-term would be to try not to get friendly with Dr Google, as he turned out to be my worst enemy and arguably made my anxieties worse, but I completely understand why you've turned to it! 😃

    If I had genuinely had a heart attack every time I thought I was having one, I would probably have had about 3000! 😄 I'm really pleased you did get things checked out, and the doctors have reassured you that you're going to be okay, meaning, I believe what you're experiencing is perhaps the physical manifestation of anxiety. I experience this too, and I am still here! If anything, some therapy to challenge these horrible catastrophising thoughts might be a route to explore?

    I hope you feel better soon, do try and relax, I know it's easier said than done 😃

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