Obsession with heart

[honeydew3]

HI everyone...been doing the program and definetly seeing progress but I have such an obsesson with my heart. Feel every beat and check my pulse all the time. I do feel it skip see a cardiologist and he says I am just fine. Put me on a beta blocker to slow it down and sometimes it helps. I just don't know how to finally give this up!! I don't want to care about my heart...no one else is so focused on it. I have exercising because it beats so fast and I get scared. Doc says to bungy jump!!! That would be fun but..... you know..too scared! Anyone else have this and I just want to get rid of it once and for all. I don't want to be limited anymore..I am tired of this!

[Emilie]

Honeydew,
You are not alone. I think everyone of us on here can say that we have heart issues. But rest assured, it IS the anxiety (especially since you have gone to doctors with no results). Palpitations, thumping heart beat, constant awareness of your heart beat, are all common symptoms of anxiety. My advise to you would be to accept that your heart is beating what seems to be heavier and faster to you, and float with it. Take your finger off your pulse. The more you feak out about your thumping heart, the more adreneline gets pumped out which creates...a harder thumping heart! So if you put a stop to it and focus in on your heart, loosen up your body during the feeling and just allow it to thump away. At this moment float through the anxiety...like floating in water or a cloud, and just ask yourself "how bad is this really?". If your leg was broken, and it hurt to walk, you would still walk on it because you needed to, and you would just know that this is pain from the break and you would power through it. Same story about your heart. Thumping from the anxiety. Eventually your heart will not seem to thump so badely, and you will get out of the anxiety adreneline cycle. It will heal like a broken leg will. Just relax your body and let your thoughts drift out of your mind, like walking out of your ear ( a small visualization). I have found a book that talks about this method and from what I've read, and from testimonials online people are raving that it is so beneficial. I have suffered from anxiety for 10 years now, I have also gone through the program. I have a much better handle on things, but I still need some help. Read this book "Hope and Help for your Nerves" by Dr. Claire Weekes. I just got it in the mail yesterday and it inspired me to write to you today. I hope some of this can help for you. And remember, give your heart a break! It's a good heart, and is doing it's job for you:).
Best Regards and blessings,
Emilie

[DerikForChrist]

The only thing limiting about this are your thoughts. Trembling legs will still get you where you're going. honeydew is doing this to herself. Emilie hit the nail on the head. I love me some Dr. Weekes. She understood us more than we do.

[Verticious]

DONT FEEL YOU'RE PULSE! resist the urge! I used to do it all the time and naturally stopped while going through this program. I think I used to monitor how I thought I felt by how my heart rate was. Best thing to do is catch yourself before you're about to check it and resist. at least practice cutting down on checking.

[bklynbee]

I have been having this same problem since last June. I am constantly taking my pulse. My usual pulse is 88 when standing and around 70 when sitting. When I stand up if my pulse is over 88 sometimes in the 90's to 100 i think this is to fast and i will not leave my house. I actually will not get out of my bed. I have been to the docs about it and they say nothing is wrong and just to ignore it. It is very hard to ignore when you feel your heart pounding. I have gotten better about it over the past few weeks. I have been trying to go out even if i feel my heart rate is to fast. Once I get outside I tell myself if it is still fast after 5 minutes of being outside i will go back home. Usually I am able to get through it and it calms down after a few minutes. It has gotten so bad for me that I put my fingers on my neck or wrist to take my pulse outside without even realizing im doing it. If i dont take my pulse when i really feel i need to it causes me more anxiety. This is a very hard habit to break and honestly i dont know if i ever will be able to stop doing it. I do know that the more you concentrate on it the faster it gets but it is a very hard thing to ignore. Hopefully we will all get over this soon!

[staceyclodfelter]

I'm reading Honeydew's post and it sounds like I wrote it myself. All I do is worry about my racing heart. Now I've gotten to the point that any ache or pain I have in my chest, arm, neck, shoulder, etc I think it's a heart attack and I'm going to die any minute. I do allow myself to exercise and it too scares me when my heart starts pounding so I never workout to the best of my ability. I have been checked by a cardiologist, had a physical by my regular doctor, blood work looked great, blood pressure is good, etc and I still worry constantly. I too check my pulse all the time. I try and do it so no one around me can tell what I'm doing. I will pretend like I'm scratching my neck or something. CRAZY. Right now I'm doing the workbook and reading my scary though 10 times a day to try and make it seem unimportant. I hope it works. I'm really starting to get so depressed over this condition.

[lindatenney]

Years ago I used to obsess about my heart all the time. I could always hear it beating fast and hard and jumping around like a frog inside me. I thought I was going to die any second. But I am still alive and my heart rate is still high but the heavy beating and jumping around have gotten some better since I started on some supplements. I know it is a scarry place to be in. But we have unbelievably strong bodies. Just try to let your heart do its thing and go about doing your thing.

[JRMILL]

When I started showing symptoms of panic and anxiety was when I came out of the hospital for and intestinal infection. My stepfather had just had a bypass done and I started to think I would have one too. After my first panic attack, I started carrying a wrist blood pressure tester and used it every 5 to 10 minutes. That was about 8 years ago and I've since lost the thing.
I guess the thing that worked best for me is to think of how many times I felt that way and what happened because I felt that way. Well, I felt that way more times than I could remember or count and nothing happened because I felt that way.

[peaceandjoy7]

I always thought I was so weired because no one I knew was worried about their hearts, now I know I'm not a long. This fear of mine started when my father passed away. He had a stroke when I was only 18 and he lived, but four years later he had a heart attack and than another stroke and was intensive care for a long time. I wasn't away his condition was so bad in t hospital. Someone close to me said he was in Icu because they were just taking precautions. I went to the hospital and walked into the ICU without calling on the phone first and was looking for my father. I saw the name on the door and could see into the room my father with all kinds of tubes on him. It was terrifying. At that moment I freaked out and started crying hysterically and a nurse ran over to me to comfort me. I remember going into see him one time with my mom and the nurses were getting ready to take the tube out of his mouth and he was moving a round a lot like he wanted to tell me something. My mom was worried I might see something (I think) that would upset me so she had me leave with her. I still till this day feel so much fear about seeing him so close to death, being in the hosptial bed with machines on him and imaging his suffering of not feeling in control. This is pretty much when my heart obsession began. Now, I think about it more than any ordinary person. I like to walk, but I am afraid to jog/or run for a f ew seconds, go up the stairs, or intently exercise becasue when my breathing increases and my heart rate goes up I get freaked out. I wish this would end.