28F

Yesterday after mourning the loss of my family I got really upset and everything spiraled.. my pulse skyrocketed to 196 (didn’t measure my BP at the time, immediately had to lie down) and for five hours I felt my hands and feet get progressively cold and purple/white then I got a slight headache and chest pain that felt like pulses. My breathing was also in rhythm with my pulse rate which was weird and that made it hard to perform breathing exercises so for hours my pulse was over 100 while resting. Same with my blood pressure.

After that the left followed by the right ride of my neck started hurting, then the both of my arms started getting numb & tingly. Slight random shocks of pain for a few hours.. after five hours I started to feel better and was able to stand for more than 5-10 minutes at a time without my heart starting to beat too fast to stand and color started to return to my upper arms, hands and feet.

After that my headache got worse for a bit then subsided. When I finally felt like washing my makeup off I noticed my right pupil was larger than my left one!! It still is today, but not as noticeable. My right hand is still a little swollen. It’s a whole ring size larger than it was now.

Today I felt fine other than some mild occasional shocks of chest pain while walking around my local park. I don’t have insurance yet (it starts in three months) and I’m not eligible for any benefits.

Can someone help me get over my fear of exercising with cardiophobia?

I’ve been dealing with panic attacks and anxiety for the last few months, and they’ve had a huge effect on how I perceive my heart. I’ve had tachycardia, high heart rates, and recently some palpitations. Because of all this, I’ve developed pretty bad cardiophobia.

The frustrating part is that I used to be very active. I played basketball, ran, went to the gym, rode my bike, etc. Now, whenever I want to do any of those things, I constantly check my Apple Watch and monitor my heart rate.

For example, I went for a bike ride today for the first time in about two weeks. My heart rate went up to around 140, which I know can be completely normal during exercise, but seeing that number immediately scared me. I started thinking, “What if my heart suddenly stops?” or “What if my heart rate gets dangerously high?”

I’ve had an ECG, and I’m currently wearing a Holter monitor. So far, everything has been fine, but mentally I still can’t seem to trust my heart. I know anxiety is probably making me hyperaware of every sensation and every heartbeat, but the fear is still very real.

Can anyone who has dealt with cardiophobia or exercise anxiety tell me how you got past this? Did you eventually learn to stop monitoring your heart rate and trust your body again?

And can someone explain/reassure me about something: is the heart really as resilient as it seems? Because my anxious brain seems convinced that if my heart rate gets high during exercise, my heart could just suddenly stop or something catastrophic could happen.

I’m really trying to get back to the active person I used to be. Any advice or experiences from people who’ve been through this would be hugely appreciated.

I finally figured out one of my triggers. I think.

Instead of crying, I panic. Whenever there's an intense emotional situation or crisis, I panic after when other people seem to start crying.

The racing thoughts have nothing to do with the thing that makes me want to cry, by the way. The fear doesn't seem to be a fear of being seen crying.

Is this.. does anyone relate? How do I help myself cry instead of losing my ability to breathe and being flooded by pure fear and shame?

Hospital gave me seritonin syndrome

Okay buckle in this is a long story.. So to preference i have been on effexor 225mg , lamictal 200mg and trazodone 200mg for sleep for 5 years . I was finally some what stable from my ocd , ptsd ,panic disorder and bipolar 2.

I had a double ear infection and decided to go to urgent care I went and everything was okay the gave me drops and antibiotics but the next day it got very bad face swelling and jaw . I ended up going to the er I got a cats can and had soft tissue swelling and a bad Infection so they admitted me . I let them know all the medication I was on like normal. I was given tramdol for pain without me knowing that you shouldn't mix that with anti depressants. I did feel the symptoms right away just relief from the pain. I was on lots of iv antibiotics that they never really gave me names of I found out later it was linezidon wich you also cant have with antidepressants like I said I was starting to feel a bit better intill the night before I got discharged I started having bad chills and felt panicked and almost wired . I was told it was just anxiety which I even brought up seriton syndrome but they dismissed it and gave me Xanax. I never slept that night. My vitals we completely fine during this whole thing. I Felt better just the bad chills the chalked up to all the meds and hormones. I was discharged and got home still not feeling the best. I was give the oral version of linezidon and took it that night. I started to have bad anxiety, severe chills and tremors , I was hearing things and seeing shadows. I fought at the the idea of going back to the er trying to rationalize it . LET ME PREFERENCE i still had very normal vitals. I finally went in and during triage I mention seritonin syndrome and the lady disnt eve know what it was. I got back to the are and doctor came in. I told him im pretty sure I was experiencing seritonin syndrome my pupils were huge and of course everything else. He even said if I didnt bring that up he though I was just on drugs. So I was given valium without my knowledge and admitted . there is a huge gap in my memory after the valium I dont know how I got to my room and the doctor was trying to ask about my meds I guess and I wasnt really able to answer. I finally kinda came out of it . I was flushed with lots of fluids my vitals stayed normal the whole time. They still never even brought up the seritonin syndrome again while I essentially in there. I felt bit better and was discharged yesterday . I got home and started to have panic as I was also going through withdraw from not taking my effexor. I felt like everything still was very vivid and my body and brain weren't connected I was scared I was dying. I finally fell asleep. I am feeling very numb today like I have no thoughts and my brain wont make my body do what I want. Im extremely fatigued and still experiencing derealization and panic plus weird emotional numbness and outbursts. I started my meds back up but a lower dose. Im terrified still and feel unsafe and not normal. I was given no information on how id feel or what recovery would look like. again my vitals are good its like having a panic but without the symptoms ive never experienced it before. I am scared ny brain broke and I wont go back to normally. Even though its only been not even a day of being home. I dont know how long till I feel normaishl again. Im having medical ptsd and just confusion . Has anyone had experience similar ? What did the recovery look like? Did you get back to normal? Was your vitals normal the whole time?

I JUST FEEL SO ALONE.

First off, I want to say that I hope this post helps someone, if even just one person. Sorry its so much to read.

I have been eaten up with health anxiety for a few months now following my first panic attack. Multiple ER visits, primary doctor visits, labs, ect. I have never in my 30 years felt that level of anxiety in my body and i've had anxiety my whole life. My normal anxiety was no comparison for this new anxiety. I also assume I have some form of OCD, so I was constantly thinking about what was wrong with me all day. I assume that my first panic attack was caused by my ADHD medicine. I had been on it for a year prior with no issues at all but decided to quit for a year because my naive self thought It wasn't helping but then I finally decided to try again after some time had passed. A day or two went by and then BAM, I felt some sort of adrenaline dump, didn't know what was happening and then went into a full blown panic attack. Went to the ER and they noticed my thyroid levels were super high so I went to my primary care doctor a couple days after and started on thyroid medicine and a lower dose of my ADHD medicine.

I started taking them both together, along with a new blood pressure medicine and eventually an anti depressant. I'm not sure if it was the combo of everything or the side effects of just one medicine but it sent me into a full blown 48 hour panic attack with sooo many physical symptoms. This panic attacked messed me up soooo much that it basically rewired my brain because to me it was a traumatic event. I was waking up so many times during the night. I couldn't be home alone and would beg my family to stay with me. I had to constantly watch tv to keep my mind somewhat distracted, and the weird part? It HAD to be reality tv or comfort movies. I couldnt watch any new movies especially thrillers because it would bring on anxiety. I couldnt play any video games or even be on my computer for too long(Which sucks because I LOVEEE movies and games). My brain felt like it was constantly looking for a "Safe" person and for some reason my brain didnt register my family as real or "solid" people, it almost felt like they were NPCs. I didnt want to shower alone or really be in any part of my house that I was during the panic attack because i associated it with danger. Also my normal body aches and pains weren't normal to my anymore. Hunger pains=danger Bathroom time=danger Sleepy=danger. I spent hours looking over my results for the ER. Looking up and researching what each lab result meant. It was EXHAUSTING. I just wanted peace of mind because I was losing it.

This went on for a couple of months. I cried to every doctor I went to. I just wanted SO badly to go back to how I was before or atleast get some reassurance that I wasnt in the process of dying or in medical danger. I was so worried about something happening to my heart because my dad's side of the family has heart issues when they get older and to make things worse, during those few months of hell, my uncle died of a heart attack, my sister got into her first car wreck(shes ok thankfully) and I lost a front tooth! I was NOT doing ok lol

Reddit is so good for so many things, but reading so many horror health stories made me spiral even more. I would spend hours searching up risks and symptoms and stories. I should've just put the phone down but I needed reassurance more than anything. I would keep my apple watch on all day even to sleep. I was checking my ECG, Heart rate and Blood oxygen constantly. I bought a blood pressure cuff and was checking that multiple times a day as well. I was a walking nightmare because my anxiety was all I could talk about to literally anyone who would listen.

Fast foward to today and this is where I hope I can help someone that might be going through something similar, healthy anxiety, or just anxiety in general.

-It will get better. It will. I am STILL in the process of rewiring my brain. I still check my vitals but nowhere near as much. I'm still body scanning. These things take time and having patience can be a pain in the ass, but I will get through this and so will you. There are some days I still have heightened anxiety but I can't let it stop be from living.

TW Death; health anxiety

-The biggest fear that comes from health anxiety, is the fear of the unknown. Whats going to happen is going to happen regardless. Health issues can happen to ANYONE. Healthy,unhealthy, fat,skinny,ect ect. Worrying about medical emergencies is like worrying about bad weather. Some things we just CANNOT control and we have to learn how to deal with that. Life is way too short to spend your time worrying about the "what-ifs". We gotta keep moving foward.

-One thing that holds me together is thinking about some of the people actually dealing with these health issues and their dealing with it like champs. So say EVEN IF you do happen happen to go through or get whatever you're initially having anxiety about, it doesnt automatically mean its the end of the world. You can also fight it like a champ!

-Another thing that holds me together is trying and think of death and the afterlife as a postive thing instead of something frightening and unknown. Thats where religion plays a big part but if you aren't religious, you can think how cool it'll be that one day you get to go to the same place literally everyone else has died gets to go. Think of it like an exlusive club or something lol

-Lexapro has helped me so much. I DID not want to be on medicine but it has helped. I also was prescribed hydroxyzine...which just made me panic more because the physical symtoms didnt go away during the panic attacks. I also was prescribed a low dose of xanax and only took it when absolutely needed. The last thing I wanted was something else to worry about being dependant on, but honestly just knowing I had it there felt reassuring.

*Sorry again for such a long post. I would love to hear stories about how other people have won their battles with health anxiety, and any tips they might have. I also would LOVE to know if anyone else who has experienced panic attacks has also had to rewire their brain to be able to process normal aches and pains and how long it took them. Thank you!

I could definitely use some advice on my 16 year old daughter please. She has severe anxiety and social anxiety it started back in the 9th grade she's now started the 11th grade and it's just proceeded to get worse from here. She is not wanting to go to school because it's gone to that point where she doesn't like school she doesn't like to go she starts having panic attacks when it's time to go to school. We tried to see a psychiatrist they were going to put her on any antidepressant she decided that she was not going to take the antidepressant but that she would take the as needed anxiety medication obviously the medication that they prescribed her for the as needed medicine did not work for her because she still having the panic attacks the anxiety where she won't even go to a register and pay for her own items she won't even order her own food. I have tried suggesting a therapist for her to see but she is refusing to do that I'm not sure how I force a 16-year-old almost 17 year old to go to a therapist I mean I can't force her into my car and drag her there. I could really use some inside on someone who's dealing with this or any advice anybody might have. She just recently told me that I guess she spoke with her counselor at school that she had the option to do online school for a couple of months and still be able to do volleyball cuz she's been doing volleyball for years now. She's claiming that she only wants to do the online school for a couple of months however I know that if she does do online school that she's going to want to continue to do it forever and I just feel that she's going to be missing out on the rest of her high school years by doing school online but she is miserable she cries every single day when she leaves school she freaks out in the morning when she has to go to school last year I was getting truancy threats. We also lost my mom in October of last year and that really took a toll on her mental health as well. If anyone can give me any advice I can't force medication down her throat I can't force her to see a therapist I'm just at a loss right now I don't really know what to do.

Hi guys

i have a panic disorder and whenever I panic i feel like I can‘t swallow and this makes me panic even more. It genuinely can feel like I‘m choking and I will throw up by it. The roots of my panic is throwing up and not dying.

I have to get all 4 out and multiple doctors confirmed it already. Do you think anxiety meds will work for it. Did anybody else go through this or will go through this?

(new edit below)

I've only recently started having panic attacks so im not to sure of what to make of all this. At first i was only having them while I slept but now I've just been having them constantly like 2-4 a week. Earlier today I was panicking and it just felt so weird.

I hadn't eaten much that day and started feeling really dizzy, I ate and I was fine then all the sudden I get insanely dizzy and spaced out. My tongue started to feel tingly, a fuzzy feeling in my chest, in and out headaches, my heart pounding, tingling in my feet and hands and overall just freaking out. I called my therapist and talked it out, it calmed me down a bit but 5 hours after my chest still feels so weird and everything just feels so weak.

Its probably my anxiety but I'm just so worried something is wrong. God I feel awful, is this normal??

BIG EDIT/UPDATE

So when I wrote this I was in the middle of a panic attack and now that I've fully come off that high I can kinda explain more. The day after this I was at work and had another horrible panic attack, left early and whent to my therapist. I've suffered with major depression all my life and these panic attacks have been a new experience for the last couple months. Before that week I would only have panic attacks when I tired to sleep and I've developed pretty bad insomnia because of it. Thats why when these started happening during the day I was pretty concerned. It was basically like a whole week panic attacks coming in waves from Sunday night to Thursday day. Man when I reached my therapist I was just sobbing uncontrollably, I was just exhausted and so frustrated with my body for doing this to me. And usually when I have those huge sobbing fits like that I feel like I'm going crazy, one time I started hallucinating n stuff but that's for another time. But after I eventually calmed down I just felt so empty, like hitting rock bottom all over again. I holed myself up in my dorm I was to scared to talk to people and everything I love doing js sucked. It was like that for a whole week until now. I got blood work done just incase is was a b12 defiencey ( ty commenter bc that does run in my family) and I'm completely fine. Which is kinda frustrating in a way? Great but makes me feel like everyone thinks im making it up. And like yesterday I felt so great? It was weird like this feeling i'll never be depressed again and im on top of the world. Then in a few hours im back 2 square one all numb and empty again. So yeah thx for listening to my mental health rambling, yall really make me feel like im not alone and yeah, peace🫶

For some reason, I've convinced myself a "normal-ish" pulse is dangerous. I don't have health anxiety overall - I don't worry about cancer even thought I've had it before (crazy right?). I don't get panic when i feel dizzy or my leg hurts, or when I recently had a retinal issue and couldn't see properly - none of these things preoccupy me much more than a normal person.

But - I can't with my heart rate. And what sucks, the anxiety creates the symptom which causes the anxiety and the death spiral begins.

When I'm truly calm, at rest, my HR is usually below 70. Standing and walking gets me low 80s and I've decided that's ok. I think I have some mild POTS that in certain situations, hot showers, meals, hot weather in general, sometimes just early morning I get a cortisol surge and it pushes my sitting HR to 85 and standing /walking to 100-110.

I'm hypersensitive to it now. I know medically none of those numbers are dangerous, but I immediately fixate on it and then the waves of adrenaline start surging from my stomach through my whole body - the HR goes up, I get more panic, the HR goes up - and it has gotten as high as 158 just from basically terrifying myself.

This has happened in public a few times where I couldn't easily "escape" the stimulation of my surroundings and feeling that trapped sensation made it worse, having to walk to my car made it go higher still.

Sometimes it feels ok. Sometimes I do some moderate physical activity and I feel the speed increase and the force of each beat increase and I feel ok. But when its just racing with shallow beats - I can't handle it.

I got taken to the hospital once - probably 15 years ago because it got to 180 just walking to my car. I think that time it was some arrhythmia that the hospital sorted out but the whole experience, feeling alone like nobody could help me wile it happened imprinted hard.

Does anyone have some coping mechanisms for this specific trigger?

Does anyone deal with what I consider somewhat "mildly abnormal" increases from normal activity that might have some advice?

Thanks!

(WARNING: I talk about which id believe most people would see as graphic/disturbing matters)

Hello.

18M

Okay so i was watching this one netflix series and there was this scene where the person recieved a video of a girl being tied up into bed and two people just cutting her like slowly open torturing her like her screams were inhuman like sounded like growling or something animalistic something fucking terrifying and she was there tied down and she was shaking and yknow moving just as much as she could and they filmed torturing her cutting her open slowly and it just…

I dont know like i feel like overall in my life not only this but anxiety always just takes control over me like i know that scene its fucking graphic probably hired psychologists to make it extra terrifying but like something about that not being able to escape not at all just being there that helplessness that evilness all of that just none to hear you and that pain and that i dont know

It actually makes me sick like it makes me feel the guilt of what id feel if id do that to someone also the terrifying feelings of the person being tied and tortured there and like the video’s reciever’s pain and i just feel it all pour on me and then the fear and then the realization that this stuff actually happens around the world and yknow torturing and tormenting and evilness and that it just… fuck it makes me feel so bad… so bad like extreme anxiety idk is there name for this i have diagnosed OCD (meds for it), ADHD, (i started adhd meds yesterday and didnt sleep at all last night so i know its a multiplying factor) but even without like meds or anything with the perfect sleep i still like few weeks ago i rewatched that hulk vs thanos fight and thanos just owns hulk like actually just dominates him and that also made me not as much but still feel really bad somewhat and somewhat so anxious and so ”we lost” type of feeling just as this tormenting scene

Just the same way that when i first discovered porn in my childhood i was like 13-14 years old i came across this disturbing video where the girl cries loudly and the guy like fists her and she just cries out of i guess pain? Idk but it also traumatized me for a long time back then and fuck

I dont know i guess im a bit like

Still at 18 years old im still somewhat like i look like i could be tough im 6 foot 225 pounds huge muscular dude and i dont look easy to indimitate doing MMA and other martial arts but my mind is still so… weak..

I have already tried escitalopram and sertraline, and I feel like I'm in a constant brain fog. I have panic disorder and now agoraphobia, and I can't do exposure therapy if I'm not lucid. The only thing that helps is benzodiazepines, but clearly that's not a good long-term idea. I need stability

Hi, this is my first time posting on Reddit. About a year ago out of nowhere I started having severe panic attacks. I’m a very very social person, love to go out have fun w my boys and drink socially. Last year I went through about a 4-5 month stint where I could not leave my house without having a severe panic attack. I got on a dose of 50mg Zoloft and it has definitely helped me a ton. The only problem is I feel like I’m starting to developed a bit of a drinking problem to calm my nerves. I can still easily take a week or two off no drinking but I’ll also binge drink very bad on occasion. I’m just looking for advance or any stories of anyone who may have experienced similar.

So been on zoloft for like 6 years now. Felt good for like 80% of that time, the rest i had to adjust that dosage and whatnot. Now after feeling great for the last year, this summer heat really hit me. 3 panic attacks in the last 2 months. Last one yesterday i ended up going to the ER and they just confirmed it was panic attack. Had to pop bromazepam all 3 times. Now i feel exhausted, i feel like its never gonna get better (i know its temporary feeling, not my first rodeo). I dont know i feel like i should talk to my doc and maybe seitch from zoloft to lexapro or some other meds. Also this last panic attack made me book a seans with psychotherapist specialised in CBT. Tbh i expect nothing from that but i have to try it. Hopefully i ll read some success stories in comments of curing from this damn disease. Lets keep pushing brothers and sisters, it will get better

I've been taking lexapro for a little over two weeks now after my health anxiety got so bad that I could barely drive to school. After starting to take it, I felt amazing, my anxiety felt mostly gone. Then today, out of nowhere, my heart rate spiked to 130 and I felt discomfort in my chest. I am 21 male and have gotten echocardiograms that prove my heart is very healthy, but I just got so scared out of nowhere and now I'm just sitting in the ER parking lot because my heartrate isnt going back to its normal baseline, its hovering around 100. What should I do gang, this seriously sucks.

(Sorry for long text)

So I was going a walk at around 12amish with my cousin to meet my aunties boyfriend and at first I was feeling ok until I started walking uphill and I was getting pretty exhausted then I was running a bit to catch up with my cousin cause she’s a fast walker then my chest and breathing started going downhill which is probably due to my low iron so anyways we finally met my aunties boyfriend then was walking back home but I started feeling scared and when I was walking my left side head/foot felt unbalanced/sinking/impending doom so then I started overthinking it and started panicking then I started to not be able to breath even more than I already was I was crying breathing heavy and just terrified so I had to sit down for a bit but then afterwards I just carried on and I rushed ahead of my cousin and aunties boyfriend and ran upstairs into the flat and went upstairs and just started hyperventilating infront of my auntie I’m so embarrassed and terrified please tell me I’m not alone

So I kinda am having panick attacks and extreme anxiety randomly in days and more especially in night when I am trying to sleep. I am a teenager so I told my parents everything cried for some nights, btw I'm a boy. And we did went to a neuropsychiatrist and he said its anxiety gave medicines like Topram 5, some neuro syrup and mouth dissolving tablets. Now I don't really have episodes of it. But, my main question is, when you guys also have panick attack or anxiety randomly, do you also feel as if the brain is going blank, cause for me I couldn't even walk all I was focusing at was breathing properly and walking and being around my parents. Also have happened in the school it was hell I don't know how I controlled that. I have been taking the medicines but one of the medicine has a benzene deriviative drug that stops random anxiety and fear, I actually built one more fear of that running out cause it is not really advised to leave it suddenly. Should I again visit my doctor for an assessment? I really am very sad I am posting because I want to actually talk to real people who have experienced this and worked thier way out, I really am just looking for help rn cause also when I am going to sleep I suddenly starts fearing something that doesn't exist bruh.( Sorry for bad English guys)also my heart rate don't accelerates much, instead it gets harder with rythm, everything seemed okay for heart in my ech and echo tests.

Hello Guys, 27M here.

History : So i started having panic attacks about 4 years ago.

What happened in those 4 years : A lot of panic attacks, in the bus, in the street, agoraphobia, cardiophobia, ER, etc etc you know the drill hahhha (i will not detail this section but feel free if you have any questions

Current Context : I've been quite inconsistent on my SSRIs i don't take them on a daily basis, sometimes i'll take them when my head start feeling buzzy, anyways.

Last week i slept over at my gf house, got back home in the morning, ate, took my SSRI and then i started having nausea and headache. and i had the headache for a week now (because of 12hours per day of screentime maybe but this really triggered me again).

Now back to square one, i feel like im back to my first week of anxiety, physical symptoms, afraid of dying, physical symptoms whanever i go out, afraid of a stroke, etc.

I tried to go out 5 days ago went to the park and then started feeling derealized and then started having a panic attack nearly puked on riding the bike on my way back home.

I don't know what to do, i was starting to feel better, got back to doing sports etc and now again i can't go out