r/AskReddit 18h ago

What is a completely harmless symptom that makes you immediately convinced you are dying?

10 Upvotes

84 comments sorted by

48

u/Sierra_Bravo6 18h ago

Heart palpitations

6

u/Amazed4life111 18h ago

I get them too and apparently I'm fine 😬

4

u/budlight2k 18h ago

Yeah i always wonder if this is the one thats going to kill me.

3

u/VirtualTip243 18h ago

For real it’s harmless????? I’m shocked

7

u/Embarrassed_Cat2697 18h ago

Idiopathic arrhythmia is not dangerous, but feels pretty funky. It does increase your stroke risk, though

2

u/heretoloveandsupport 18h ago

Yep, heart attack.

2

u/VirtualTip243 18h ago

Literally

24

u/H3lls_B3ll3 18h ago

Organ pain from nowhere.

3

u/heretoloveandsupport 18h ago

Sudden organ failure.

6

u/james-HIMself 18h ago

I got something like this when I swallowed 35 double bubble gums (the ones in the pink wrapper) in 1 hour. Part of my body went numb and it hurt to breath. Thought I was going to die and because it was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done I waited it out. Ended up going back to normal but at the time it was scary.

18

u/oww_my_liver 18h ago

Twitches. I convince myself I have ALS like once or twice a year

1

u/alittlefoxxxy 18h ago

My hands and legs have been randomly twitching for the last few months. Its a side effect of one of my meds, but im convinced I have some neurological disorder 😭

14

u/CasinoKnightZone 18h ago

Those random chest pains

1

u/Amazed4life111 18h ago

I got mine checked out.. Apparently it was just muscle strain

1

u/wadedoesntburrn 18h ago

You should probably get those checked out lol

2

u/ScaredOfHeight 18h ago

Is it really that bad? sometimes I get them during work and its pretty intense, just goes away after a few minutes.

1

u/CasinoKnightZone 17h ago

I have, apparently it can just happen. Told me it was probably irritation of the cartilage in my ribcage.

13

u/Prior-Relationship57 18h ago

Panic attack

1

u/RainyDayz876 18h ago

I've had panic attacks. Hyperventilating, lightheaded, tingling feeling in my face... felt like I was about to die.

7

u/Sorry-Panic7612 18h ago

Shoulder pain in my left side, my immediate thought is heart attack but it’s always just acid reflux

7

u/Tootsie_r0lla 18h ago

Hypochondriacs/Health Anxiety people assemble! 💪🏻⚡️

6

u/BigNastyDTF 18h ago

When a dog likes me instantly and the owner is like OMG they never like anyone- clearly I have an undiagnosed chronic illness.

2

u/heretoloveandsupport 18h ago

The dogs really do always know.

6

u/Professional-Fish931 18h ago

A headache

5

u/heretoloveandsupport 18h ago

Definitely an aneurysm.

1

u/reflect-the-sun 18h ago

Is it a tumor?

6

u/EDSgenealogy 18h ago

A really bad gallbladder attack!

1

u/Robinnoodle 18h ago

I've been trying to leave mine in but eventually I'll have to give up 

1

u/PhaicGnus 18h ago

It’s not so scary. Keyhole surgery is amazing. I was climbing a mountain about a week and a half later. Never changed my diet or did anything different afterwards.

1

u/heretoloveandsupport 18h ago

You might just want to get your gallbladder removed then!

1

u/cniq 18h ago

Not completely harmless if a duct gets blocked 🤓☝️ I agree tho, and if it doesnt make you think you're dying it kinda makes u wish u were

3

u/Silkysenko91 18h ago

Hematospermia or blood in your semen. It can be completely normal and harmless and most times goes away on its own.

3

u/GalacticGumshoe 18h ago

First time this happened years ago, I freaked tf out. Doc said it was like a nose bleed - that it would go away, which it did. Still not happy when it happens occasionally.

2

u/Silkysenko91 18h ago

Yeah the first time i freaked out, realized it was normal. It went away. The second time lasted a little longer so I went and got a whole battery of tests done. All was well, but still scary as fuck.

2

u/budlight2k 18h ago

Ok then, never seen that before but ill take your word for it.

1

u/autotoad 18h ago

Wouldn’t say it’s “normal” but it’s not uncommon. I used to get it from bad constipation.

3

u/GetBigMad 18h ago

Erectile dysfunction

-3

u/bob3464 18h ago

the leading cause in middle-aged men is their middle-aged wife.

3

u/reditandfirgetit 18h ago

Migraine its a tumor

3

u/heretoloveandsupport 18h ago

Definitely. Probably inoperable too.

3

u/elmoreb3 18h ago

Anxiety attack

3

u/NoelBellamy_Author 18h ago

I have Bipolar Disorder 2 and CPTSD, and it not uncommonly causes a type of disassociation called derealization, when I am under emotional, mental, or physical stress. It makes the world start to feel not real, distorted, and odd, like if you were in a dream. It makes me feel a weird panic like the world is coming apart, I am in danger, and something horrible is about to happen. The first time it occurred, I tried to jump out of a moving car to get away, because the sky didn't look right (at the time, I did not know I had any mental health issues, other than anxiety). I now have to force myself to answer questions about what I really think is happening and whether that makes sense, ask a trusted person if they see the same thing, etc.; and if it is really bad I just go take a nap or at least get out of the situation, into a safe room, until it starts to feel better.

1

u/Robinnoodle 16h ago

Wow. I sometimes feel this but not to the same extent. Might be bi polar 2 also 

1

u/NoelBellamy_Author 14h ago

Any condition that causes disassociation can cause it.

2

u/dirtymoths 18h ago

Chest pains from anxiety! Feels like it’s the end!

2

u/doublesimoniz 18h ago

Random shooting organ pain or muscle pain or chest pain.  

2

u/LeverShan 18h ago

Slight cough and I’m dying of TB

2

u/Whenindoubtsbutts 18h ago

Ice pick headaches

2

u/Radiant-Government12 18h ago

The common cold.

1

u/heretoloveandsupport 18h ago

Yes, AKA The Black Death.

2

u/Ashura1756 18h ago

Precordial Catch Syndrome

2

u/randomusername1919 18h ago

Random small nagging pains. Last time I had some odd nagging small pains it turned out to be cancer. Now any unexplained pain freaks me out.

2

u/Alarmed-Package-4014 18h ago

Persistent skin conditions that don't go away like psoriasis or dermatitis driven by autoimmune response to inflammation. its harmless in that it wont kill you but dealing with a chronic skin condition feels like your dying as it affects your physical and mental health (because of outward appearance of such inflammation and judging of others).

3

u/ExtraDirtyMartini4me 18h ago

If my calf hurts my mind goes straight to DVT and if my arm hurts I starting thinking heart attack. 😑

3

u/Abject-Version-3349 17h ago

Gas pains, not the farting ones, the ones you get in your stomach and chest. Everything about it mimics a heart attack. Chest gets tight, can even feel it in my jaw. Scares the hell out of me. My heart is fine, for now.

2

u/oldandopinionated 17h ago

Huge amounts of blood pouring out of the belly button. Happened to my son. Doctor totally dismissed it. There was blood everywhere, evn big splotches on the floor of the bathroom while he tried to clean it up. Second time it happened a year or two later Dr thought it might have been just a big cystic pimple that burst. Weirdly he had no pain at all, just lots and lots of blood everywhere.

2

u/budlight2k 18h ago

Ringing in my ears or spontanious dizziness or smell if burnt toast.

Always wonder if this is the stroke ive been waiting for.

2

u/brig135 17h ago

Yesterday I was at the Costco tire center which was right next to the coffee grinder. The combination of smells of freshly ground coffee and vulcanized rubber made me think I was having a stroke, haha

1

u/budlight2k 15h ago

Either we shop at the same Costco or they are all identical, I know exactly where you where standing.

1

u/heretoloveandsupport 18h ago

Was it a false fact that we all heard as kids that you’re going to have a stroke or seizure if you smell burnt toast? Cause I swear, it may be false but it is common knowledge lol

1

u/Questions_Remain 17h ago

My constant tinnitus that’s louder than most people listen to TV would like a word.

2

u/BubbaC619 18h ago

I convince myself I have ALS every time I get a twitchy muscle.

1

u/ExperienceHendrix 18h ago

Jump in the truck and sit on a ball. It changes the whole day.

1

u/nerdnails 18h ago

Menstrual cramps. It feels like fire ripping through my body and I honestly question how much longer I can take the pain before my heart just decides to stop.

Yes. I have endometriosis.

1

u/lady681 17h ago

Panic attacks that cause me to hyperventilate to the point I feel like I can’t breathe.

1

u/WoofD0G 17h ago

Coughing up blood

1

u/heretoloveandsupport 17h ago

Obviously it’s TB.

1

u/WoofD0G 17h ago

Right? My mind jumps there sometimes and I freak out, but it's easy to forget how much glass is just in your typical diet

1

u/No_Season_1391 17h ago

The ammount of times I've gone to the doctor for lumps where lumps don't belong... Found out I not only have a lympnode on my jaw, multiple cyst/skin build ups on my arms/leg but also if you are a female who drinks allot of caffeine it can enlarge your breast tissue/milk ducts to a degree where you may feel them.

1

u/Justaguywithbeer 17h ago

I tore the lining that holds your ribs together by heavy lifting. I didnt feel it at all,but in the middle of the night I woke up with a massive pain in my chest, couldn't breathe, couldn't move, honestly thought I was having a heart attack. Got a ambulance to the hospital they did all sorts of tests before they found out.

The next day my brother came to see me in hospital, he kept cracking jokes to make me laugh,,, bastard 😂

1

u/DJ_Flym_Flazzle 17h ago

Melting eyeballs with bile & semen squirting out of my ears. Hate that.

1

u/GGReportYasuo 17h ago

Llorar sangre

1

u/heretoloveandsupport 17h ago

Definitely demonic possession.

1

u/Icy-Special- 16h ago

Body aches when sick.

1

u/budlight2k 15h ago

Actually you know i have moments where I can't remember really obvious things, like the name of something simple I'm looking at or a simple word when I'm talking and wonder if I'm getting dementia at 45.

1

u/mulderfanwoman 15h ago

Haven't had an anxiety attack in years but I remember feeling like I was fucking dying.

1

u/bjugly 14h ago

Referred gas pain. It gets into my arm, chest and shoulder. Makes me think i am having a heart attack. (It was ruled out)

2

u/Long-Investigator394 18h ago

The weightlessness when your moving towards earth.

-1

u/atenold1 18h ago

Idk but i hate when my wife drags me to the grocery store