hey guys! so I've been doing some research because I suffer with health anxiety badly and my main concern has always been my lingering chest pain. I didnt realise there is a specific anxiety called cardiophobia where someone lives in fear of there heart packing up or something being wrong. well this is me! and it apparently will constantly cause chest pains and mimic heart problems to basically trick you because I'm convinced in my head that there is an issue there.. my question is has anyone else had this particular thing or very similar and is that really possible?! that even on my calmer days I still get little shooting pains and things - why would the brain play tricks even when I think I'm calm?! is it because I've got myself in a constant state of panic? before anyone asks yes ive had tests, multiple ecgs, bloods and chest xrays.
hello sophie77 i can see that you are concern about everything in your heart.the fact is your anxiety is leading you to feel everything.Number one i can see that you have been googling because of the new term you are introducing here"cardiophobia " and googling i a source of scares and fear.Everyone can have fear and alot of concern when something new happens in once life.about pain in your heart.when you fear or anxious hormones are produced , which will keep the body active for sometimes.to be open to you i had the same problem 2 months ago.exact same like sharp object is piecing your heart and you sometimes feel like heart attack.what i did was just keep myself busy and started going out of the house like riding bike and meeting friends.if you are not careful you will soon realized something or anew symptom will soon appear and all that will bring about false alarm .deal with it now. wish you all the best. please learn to pray always it will help a lot. take your hands off computer keyboard like googling symptoms.limit social media.hope this will help.i had to do l that and I’m now happy and well.
Chest pains come with the territory. It usually means nothing. It could be congestion, stress, tension. Only thing you can do is monitor it or go have tests done. I would ask you to relax and tell you that its probably nothing more than your anxiety acting up. But only you know how bad it is and whether its worth seeing a doctor. But getting worried about it is only going yo make it worse. You are not alone and a lot of us have never ending chest pains, the pain varies with each day, sometimes its sharp pain, other days it dull and achy. So just relax and try to keep your mind off of it, you are not going to die. If you feel that bad, then by all means, see your GP and have some tests done.
Truth is your mind can make you believe you have any disease, take your pick. The symptoms become real and stress exaggerates them even further. The mind is the most powerful organ in the human body and its connected to our gut health. Take ALS I read a story that a man was on the train going home, as he was scrolling his social media account he saw the Bucket challenge, he looked up ALS and as soon as he was done his body stated jerking, he subsequently fell into a deep depression for 6 months thinking he had ALS. He eventually recovered but that’s just one story of how powerful our mind is. I’m guilty of same thinking, its horrifying.
Truth is your mind can make you believe you have any disease, take your pick. The symptoms become real and stress exaggerates them even further. The mind is the most powerful organ in the human body and its connected to our gut health. Take ALS I read a story that a man was on the train going home, as he was scrolling his social media account he saw the Bucket challenge, he looked up ALS and as soon as he was done his body started jerking, he subsequently fell into a deep depression for 6 months thinking he had ALS. He eventually recovered but that’s just one story of how powerful our mind is. I’m guilty of same thinking, its horrifying.
hello David, I rung my gp this morning and they sent me to the hospital for checks again, ecg, chest xray and bloods again all repeated and all clear. they are going to give me a holter monitor to wear so basically a 7 day ecg. they honestly don’t think anything will come up but I think they are doing it for my own peace of mind because I’ve been worried about my heart for 12 weeks now. it’s good to hear others have never ending chest pain - I dont like that others have it but I know I’m not alone, and yes it does vary it’s super annoying and can be scary. thank you for your reply, I often read your replies to others and always full of information.
oh wow that’s unreal isnt it, and super scary! maybe because I’ve been scared about my heart from the start then that’s why I’m getting symptoms of it and tests are coming back clear because its my body making it up. I know what you mean about symptoms though because at the start of my anxiety I was petrified of so many things and felt symptoms for all of them, I even panicked at one stage I might have sepsis and I come up in a rash 2 days later!! safe to say I’m all clear on that too.. I still struggle so much to accept its all anxiety though, is that normal too?
Well, to be totally truthful, i dont think the tests are going to show anything wrong. I think its just the anxiety, your mind playing tricks with your body. With the chest pains, all you can do is grin and bear it. some things that help me are hot baths, hot showers, drinking lots of water, sounds weird but it helps. Thats all you can really do.
Very normal, I struggle with the same thing. It’s a horrible cycle. My advice to you is when all is back to normal, get out there hang out with friends, stay active and avoid all triggers. A healthy diet never hurts, as I mentioned the gut is our second brain, it also makes 80% of our serotonin there is definitely a story there.
thank you, I appreciate that and the advice. I just need to calm down a bit and accept that anxiety can do this and that I do have it. even when I think I’m calm I’m probably not and waiting for the next pain.
i appreciate you listening to my advice. I have had a lot of experience with anxiety and all the symptoms. I nice to feel appreciated. I comment a lot on these posts and i do it because i care and like helping others because in return, it makes me feel good.
hi yes im the exact same constantly checking my heart rate on my phone app xxxx
well keep doing what you’re doing ! you never know who it may help 
I do this because my watch tracks my heart rate and if I look back on it I freak out if its shot up into the 100s but my husband keeps reminding me that it will go up when I’m walking around or rocking my baby x
This sounds exactly like me! 2017 was when I had my first panic attack. I didnt know what it was and thought I was dying. then on I had chest pains and discomfort. sometimes for a week straight. I didn’t have health insurance at the time so I couldn’t afford to go to the hospital. Eventually I went to an urgent care and the dr almost immediately said it was anxiety. After a while of thinking I was dying of heart issues I got health insurance and a primary care physician. I’ve had bloodwork, EKG s, was even in the hospital recently for a bad case of mono and when I asked about constant palpitations they said I had nothing to worry about.
When I started taking citalopram daily with lorazepam for breakthrough panic attacks, my symptoms got MUCH better, but I still have them. This morning I woke up to a sharp pain in my chest for no discernable reason and it set my anxiety off all over again. 
Just know you aren’t alone. It is awful to deal with but a comfort in knowing it is a common symptom and won’t kill you.
HI, I think I also might have the same as you. I always think I’m about to have a heart attack due to pains in my chest or it feels as if my heart skips a beat which I’ve had since the age of 18. I’m on beta blockers to slow my heart down. Do you also have this feeling of your heart skipping a beat or stopping for a split second?
Angie
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I’ve been dealing with this for almost 9 months. At 33 I had what every description in every book would be perceived as a heart attack. I was grossly over weight, sleep deprived, stressed to my limits, dealing with the aftermath of a lay off and a divorce… I wasn’t in a good place.
After having every test done, every last vial drawn and scan / sono / xray that i could have done, i was cleared. Though hypertensive, for all other intensive purposes i was fine.
9 months later, I’ve lost 150lbs, maintained as healthy of a lifestyle including diet and excercise as I could. And yet, i still have that feeing that every pain, tingle, weird feeing is about to absolutely end me.
Im in a constant state of paranoia and at this point i cant tell if what im feeling is manifested or real. ive had 3 seperate ER Visits at the request of my PCP after telling him about my perceived symptoms. Now im in medical debt, anyone that is or was close to me has told me that they “honestly just font want to hear it” or tired of the fact that i cant just relax and have fun when ever we’re all out together .
I know alot if not all of it is in my head, just dont know how to stop it i never thought there was an actual name for it. “cardiophobia” but thats what my chronic overthinking and paranoia does… it makes me read into things and google symptoms and do sef checks every hour or more.
The shear sense of panic i felt realizing that i got off a plane in another state without having packed my cuff and o2sat monitor was the most ridiculous ive ever felt (in hindsight). I even went out and bought a whole set of instruments that day.
i dont know how to turn it off. ive tried breathing excersises, meditation, almost everything short of meds.
i cant be the only one that thinks this way… right?