Session 3 Heart Attack Anxiety

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mercuryme
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2013 12:50 am

Session 3 Heart Attack Anxiety

Post by mercuryme » Tue Mar 26, 2013 12:04 pm

So I have just started Week 3 of the program. Listened to the first CD yesterday, and I was doing great until the woman on the CD who says she had a heart attack at 46 and it was caused by stress. The second I heard that my stomach dropped and I started getting the hot/cold waves and pounding heart.

One of my major "catastrophic fears" is that something is wrong with my heart. I get really bad tension in my chest muscles and the pain is so intense. I tell myself that it's just my muscles tensing but sometimes then I get a heart flutter, like someone is doing the jig in my rib cage. And then I start thinking, well, maybe it isn't just muscle tension. I start feeling my pulse, obsessive over every sensation in my chest, back and arms.

I have some relatives, my uncle and grandpa, who died of sudden heart attacks. One was in his forties, the other in his fifties. They were both heavy smokers. I try to tell myself that I'm healthy. I exercise. I'm not overweight. During my worst "emergency room level" attacks I was hooked up to a heart monitor and nothing was wrong. But then the thoughts come in...if stress alone can cause a heart attack, maybe I'm going to have one anyway.

This anxiety over last night's session has carried through to this morning and I am wigging out at work. Had to take .25mg Xanax. But I had already taken 2 capsules of passionflower this morning, about 1.5 hours before the xanax. Then I started thinking I shouldn't have mixed them, and googling wither it's ok to mix them. And now I'm anxious about that.

I'm afraid to listen to session three again. I know I have to face this fear and overcome it. It's really hard. Does anyone else have this problem with session 3 and fear of heart attacks? I kind of got mad that they put that trigger on the tape. But then I thought maybe it was intentional to make the listener face that fear and realize that the fear of a heart attack can make the real possibility of a heart attack worse. But it's triggered this vicious anxiety cycle in me. Fear of the heart attack is causing fear that the fear will create a heart attack!!!

Ledard420
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 10:55 am

Re: Session 3 Heart Attack Anxiety

Post by Ledard420 » Wed Mar 27, 2013 12:27 am

Yep and I always feel like I'm having a heart attack

mercuryme
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2013 12:50 am

Re: Session 3 Heart Attack Anxiety

Post by mercuryme » Wed Mar 27, 2013 12:23 pm

I am feeling better today but am anxious about listening to the session again tonight. I actually made an appointment with a cardiologist, just because I thought it would give me peace of mind to get checked out. And they do recommend having everything ruled out when you're having chest pain.

It's such a cruel thing to be having these symptoms and not know if they're real or not, or not know which came first, the heart palpitations or the anxiety. It's enough to drive a sane person crazy. Because I think to myself, well, I have anxiety, but what if there is something wrong with my heart and that's triggering the anxiety attack. Sometimes it seems like I'm just getting these heart palpitations out of nowhere, and then the anxiety attack starts because it scares me so much.

All I can do is tell myself that it's probably from all the excess adrenaline floating around in my system, and sometimes I may or may not feel that adrenaline before my heart reacts to it. That it's ok to be scared about it, and the feeling will go away. And it's ok to go to the doctor and get it checked out too, just in case.

But right now, in this moment, I am ok, and there is no danger. :D

jodilyn
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2018 2:24 pm

Re: Session 3 Heart Attack Anxiety

Post by jodilyn » Wed Mar 20, 2019 10:58 pm

I just noticed that this post is old, but I relate to it so well. I'm curious how you are doing now. I just got home from the ER because of a racing/pounding heart. It happened last month and I was able to wait it out at home, but this time it bothered me so much that I wanted to go have it checked out. This was the first time I've gone to the ER for anxiety issues, surprisingly, and I've had anxiety and panic attacks for many years. Everything checked out perfect, which I assumed would be enough relief to make all of my anxiety go away, but nope. I'm definitely better than when I went, but I'm still feeling a little uneasy tonight.

katieshrp@yahoo.com
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2018 4:46 pm

Re: Session 3 Heart Attack Anxiety

Post by katieshrp@yahoo.com » Mon May 04, 2020 11:41 pm

I’ve been having panic attacks for two months again. I also have anxiety all the time if I’m not distracted with reading or googling forums and things to feel validated for how hard this is. My chest tightens up and I start having all kinds of what if feelings and thoughts and then I have to have my husband calm me down. I am restarting an antidepressant which also causes panic attacks. It’s been brutal for two months.

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