Fear of Dying From Heart Problems... Help!

Treatment and medication
1

When I got diagnosed with anxiety 5 years ago, I had developed an irrational fear of having a heart attack and dying.  After going on Citalopram, I got much better and the fear went away.

Now my anxiety has come back and with it my old fear.  I’ve been obsessed about my heart especially the past 2 weeks.  I know logically I should be fine - I just turned 25, don’t smoke, don’t have high blood pressure, I’m not overweight, don’t have a family history of heart problems, etc.

Lately though, I’m worried that my stress and anxiety will still cause me to have one . I’m going to see my Doctor tomorrow to discuss switching to different medication as I feel this one no longer works for me.

Can anyone calm me down about this fear I’m having?  I don’t want to die from my anxiety

2

How long have you been on celexa and what milligrams???

3

Hello first things first you will be ok I have been on citalopram now for 15 weeks the past week I have been getting health axiety which I have never had before I was ill with a bad chest my doctors wants me to go for a copd check and since then I have been really bad my doctor gave me propananol which I only took for a couple of days but today I got into work in a state so I spoke with my pharmacist n he said for me to take a propananol which I have and it has calmed me down so I will keep taking them until things settle down am sure it's all in my head and I guess it's the same with you please don't worry yourself or it will make things worse talk to your doctor to see what he says good  Look

And take care x

4

I’ve been on Citalopram for 5 years - 20mg.  My doctor increased my dose to 30mg because my anxiety came back.  I’ve been on the increase for almost 7 weeks.

5

Yeah, I’m trying to control my thoughts, but they’re just really bad right now sad

6

Ok so with the increase is like starting celexa all over again for most people..give it 12 weeks to let your brain get use to the higher dose..is working don't be full by your long lasting blips...the weaning process and the start up effects of a new ssri ..are such a nightmare..I would stick to this until the 3month mark..take care

7

Hi ac

We've chatted often, and sorry the anxiety has returned.

The fear of having a heart attack is a side effect of the anxiety.  When we're anxious we all get weird and wacky anxious thoughts, each personal to us, and yet they're all as frightening as the next persons fears.  I had my own obsessional fears which haunted me daily.

When anxiety rears its ugly head, it will bring with it those old fears again.  As well as having particular frightening thoughts we also ruminate daily with all the 'what ifs' and 'whys' which is what makes us very tired.  I know these thoughts are worrying you but when you don't have anxiety those fears die down and disappear - so they're just a side effect.  An anxious body = anxious thoughts and a calm body = calm thoughts.  These fears in turn cause anxiety - the very thing thats causing the thoughts / fears - so you keep yourself in a loop.  So in effect, worrying about the side effect is pointless, because its the anxiety itself that is the problem.

You can't have a heart attack from having anxiety, no matter how severe it feels.  You'd have to have an already underlying heart problem for this to maybe, possibly, rarely happen.  Your heart beats no differently when you're having anxiety to when you're running to catch a bus.  The only difference is anxiety produces adrenaline which makes you feel awful, which you fear, which then makes more anxiety.  Don't push the thoughts away though as that just reinforces them.  Its your reaction to the thoughts and fears that is key - you know in yourself that you're a very healthy young person and there is nothing wrong with your heart.

There's a series of Youtube videos by Dr Katie d'Ath on OCD which are really very good (someone on this forum showed me these).  She explains how we become stuck in the anxiety / fear / anxiety cycle.  Though she uses the word OCD I'd prefer to say anxiety instead, because OCD is often just a side effect of anxiety.  But have a look as she's really good and makes this seem really simple.

You won't die from having anxiety - honestly xxxx. wink

8

Hello Kate ..do you think ac increase of celexa is also causing issues with health anxiety???🤔

9

Wow that is some very good advice I have been suffering really bad with health anxiety this last week or so after having propananol today I have felt calmer but also from reading your advice it has really put things at ease in my mind x

10

hello there hope u get better soon and you will get better,, just look at it this way if u was having a heart attack all this time that u sead u suffring from anxiety u will be gone by now ,, is just anxiety makes you think negative,, plus give the medicine time if u raised the dose ,, i promise u will get better ... take care

11

ac

You can't control your thoughts - this will only reinforce them.  Take a look at those video's I mentioned, there's a particular one about thoughts.  If you want to be rid of of the fear of that particular thought and anxiety, then the thoughts and the anxiety have to be allowed to come and go and for you to not to react to them.  Oh its by no means simple I know, but its the way forward.  If you've suffered for 5 years already trying to control it then surely that means its not worked.  Try the other approach by allowing yourself to pass through - only then will you be free.

If you keep fighting the anxiety it will only reinforce it.  Letting it be there and your body becomes desensitised to it.  Its the same as learning to be unafraid of a spider ....... by letting it be there, relaxing, getting on with what you need to, then over time that spider fear will subside.

Yes the meds will help bring about the same result, but learning about anxiety too will give you double the tools you need.

K xxxx

12

I expect so - increasing meds gives you heightened anxiety, and of course with that comes those thoughts again.  

 

13

Hi Maria

Yes most of us have some sort of fears that seem to attach itself to us when the original problem was probably just anxiety.  Anxiety stems from stress, and when it becomes too much it results in anxiety which is basically just an outpouring of adrenaline.  This feels frightening and can make us fear it ....... and often depending on where you are at the time the anxiety first strikes, can often depend what your fears become.  For example, if you're in a shop when you first feel it, then you may not only fear the anxiety but you can fear going into the shop ........ but in reality its not the shop that you fear, but the anxiety itself.  The problem then starts to grow as the person starts the avoidance game.

Same happens for thoughts (which is what happened to me), something in particular may be thought of at the time the anxiety strikes, and that thought also becomes frightening.  Those thoughts can grow too which can be about anything - your health, about your family, yourself ......... anything.

Equally at the same time your brain goes into overdrive trying to sort the problem out, which just gets you further into a muddle.  We constantly search for an answer online, reading good and bad stories, finding this cure and that cure .......... which just adds to the confusion ........ all of which make us further anxious and very, very tired.

The key to all this is anxiety.  We are afraid of a feeling.  That's it.  It is of course all masked by all the fears and thoughts we have, but all paths lead back to that one thing - anxiety.

I had 16 years of this crap, going round in circles, trying to control it, always searching for an answer.  I began to learn about anxiety and how it worked and how to help myself, and with this knowledge AND the meds, I was eventually able to recover.  Now I can see how I had also got into the anxiety / fear / anxiety trap.

Understanding all this has helped me be meds free too, as I no longer fear anxiety wink

K xx

 

14

That is amazing information I hope. One day I will be in the same situation as you you must be so proud of yourself for what you have achieved and with all your knowledge been able to give good advice to people like myself did you reaseaech all this information or have you had therapy. X

15

Hi katecogs - sorry for the late reply (been at work).  Thank you so much for the kind words.  I want so badly to believe them, but my fear/anxiety won’t let me.  It truly believes that at the moment - I am not safe from any amount of stress/anxiety setting my heart off and doing me in.  

I know I brought this particular fear to life myself - last night I was on the web and looking up all the causes of a heart attack to try and reassure myself that I wasn’t at any risk so I could stop worrying.  Got to the part about how stress can increase your chances and promptly freaked out x.x

A couple weeks ago, I was still afraid of something bad happening to me, but was able to reassure myself that it was just the anxiety and that it can’t hurt me.  But now I just can’t believe that anymore sad

I know that when they indicated stress they probably are referring to it not helping if you’re already at an advanced ago or are obese, already have heart issues, etc.  But for some reason - just knowing that  I do have stress/anxiety I fear for myself.

I don’t think I should still be experiencing side effects from the increase from Celexa.  I’m nearly at 7 weeks now.  I feel so discouraged too because I don’t remember feeling like this this far into the med when I first went on the 20mg all those years ago sad

Sometimes I feel life is so unfair.   I will try and look at the videos you mentioned katecogs and see if they help.

16

Your basically starting the process all over again when you up your dose...so hang on for 12weeks..and ask doctor for a short term benzo ..that will help you tremendously..you need to calm your nervous system..

17

Hi ac

That's why you shouldn't read anything online - its not helping you recover.  When you're suffering anxiety you will have anxious and negative thoughts, and you will be drawn to negative comments online too.  Just don't read them.  If you want to recover then you have to make a start somewhere ..... and that can start by not searching online for symptoms that you don't have.

Your anxiety / fear won't let you at the moment ....... but if you start making changes, then everything else will start to follow.  Making changes won't make a difference today or tomorrow, but you have to keep persevering and it will happen.

I know how believable those fears are - I had them, many of them, and know how strong they are.  I truly believed there was something wrong with me, I'd constantly look for an answer, felt comfort in some stories and was scared by others.  New thoughts and fears would emerge and each new one felt ten times worse than the previous one.  But I was doing this to myself even though I didn't realise at the time - I was keeping that anxiety fresh and alive by being afraid of anxiety's side effects ....... thoughts and beliefs.  They were so strong I never thought I'd be free of them, and I never believed it was just anxiety that was the cause of all my problems.  I could never believe that my thoughts would never stop causing me anxiety, because I only had to think of them and I'd get a whoosh of anxiety fire through my body, reducing me to tears.  It was like my brain HAD to think of the worst possible thought or scenario, as if to test myself if I still had anxiety.  But I had to learn to let those thoughts be there, had to let that anxiety shoot through me and I had to learn not to react to it.  My god it was hard - my body naturally wanted to go on the defence, but I had to do the opposite of what it wanted to do ....... and that was let it all happen, let the thoughts rage, let that anxiety come time after time ....... and just relax towards it and carry on.  Your body and mind relearns that it is not in danger, and as the anxiety lessens so do those anxious thoughts and all those health anxiety thoughts too.

Stress and anxiety won't harm you - its your body's natural defence system and is actually there to protect you from danger.  Its been a human feeling for 1000's and 1000's of years that has helped many a man from probably fleeing a woolly mammoth, to sailing the seven seas in raging storms and helping when in battle.  Having stress (adrenaline) never killed them, but it prepared the body for fight or flight.  You're having the same stress feelings they had which has turned in anxiety - neither of these will harm you.

Anxiety might come back for a number of reasons.  Change of meds brand is one.  Many people notice an increase in anxiety when their brand is different - check yours.  Increasing meds causes anxiety to be heightened and yes it can last 7 weeks ..... especially if you're 'fighting' it.

This is why I stress about learning about anxiety, understanding about it and how to help yourself because that skill will never, ever leave you and one that you can always fall back on.

I used to say life was unfair too, and felt robbed of 16 years of my life.  I was one angry person.  But strangely having gone all through that and out the other side I feel somewhat grateful for the experience now because its as if a light was switched on as I learnt more and more about anxiety.  Its now not the monster it once seemed ......... and life is more than sweet now.

You will get better xx

18

The thing I struggle with is I don’t remember my symptoms being this bad at this stage when I first went on medication..  I feel at week 6/7 I was not struggling this bad.

My doctor did give me Xanax.  I don’t like to take it unless I feel I have no other option though (as in everyday I feel bad).  I have had to take one last Friday though bc my anxiety felt so bad I couldn’t go to work.

19

Hi ben.  Thank you for the kind words.  I try to tell myself that the anxiety causes bad/negative thoughts, but sometimes I truly believe what they are telling me which is very hard - especially the past 2 days.

20

Hi katecogs.  Again - thank you so much for your long response.  I truly appreciate it and feel it's really helped me smile

I feel a lot calmer now (not completely without my worry, but much better than earlier in the day). 

I'm glad that so far my nights have been consistently calm and have allowed me to get much needed sleep/rest.

I know I should not search for things online - sometimes it's almost like a compulsion.  Like my brain is daring me to see "just how bad it could be".  And then I fall for it and get trapped again. 

It's very comforting hearing you describe how your anxiety caused you to keep having new fears/thoughts.  That's where I feel I'm at right now - I have almost a new obsession/phobia every week.  It's very tiring.  I watched/listened to the videos you mentioned and I do believe they helped a lot to calm me down and re-think how I view my thoughts.  So, thank you for pointing those out!  I'm going to try and keep practicing that I can't control my thoughts and to just let them be.

I will keep referring to your response when I feel my fear creeping back up again about the stress.  Sometimes seeing that stuff on the web sticks with me for a while unfortunately sad

Thank you again for the encouraging and kind response!  Are you by chance a therapist or studied therapy?  You are very good with words and talking with people smile 

I really hope I can reach the point you've gotten to someday.