Irregular heart beat due to anxiety!

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Halen1979

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First let me state that I am a long time sufferer of GAD and OCD and all that jazz. One thing I do not get is when they talk about how anxiety attacks or anxiety being able to cause an irregular heart beat. I have a HUGE phobia of heart attack and heart disease so I have exercised good for over 10 years now to help maintain a healthy heart.

This makes me scared to where I do not even want to exercise at times when I am am having anxiety. I mean Doctors tell you jogging and exercising is a great help for my issues and for me it has worked wonders. But who wants to go out jogging if they are having bad anxiety and have to worry about dropping over dead from a damn irregular heartbeat? You hear of basketball players dropping dead all the time for irregular heartbeats. I have always thought that anxiety attacks just causes a raise in heart rate. Having an irregular heart beat is basically saying people with panic/anxiety attacks have damn heart disease. People with irregular heart beats have to have pacemakers. This is just absurd!!!! Thoughts????????


Also how does one even know if they are having skipped heart beats or palpitations because i dont even know how they feel or what to look for?
 
Have you ever had an EKG? This will pin-point if you are having an irregular heartbeat. Are you taking anything for your anxiety?
 
Thanks for the reply. No I used to take meRAB about 7 or 8 years ago and have done a decent job of maintaining it on my own.

I had 2 EKG's done when I was around 20, 21 and everything was fine and said it was all in my head and things like that. I am a hypochondriac so i check my pulse rate all the time and convince myself something is wrong with it even when I know there isn't. I just started this new obsession a couple weeks ago and hopefully it will pass like the others before too long.

Hell I go jogging full force in 90+ degree weather routinely in the Summer and it has never really bothered me before until now.
 
I have tons of that as well. I have had several ECG's and they all are normal however I feel skipped beats all the time.

My dr checked my pulse while I was there and could feel it but told me not to worry about that ( easier said then done). He said I was having premature beats?? and he could feel several in a minute and ones I didnt even feel. I HATE IT. Scares me. I am scared to exercise because of it.
 
Yep, those skipped beats are scarey. My cardio doc says the same thing. Its a normal condition for many many people. I'm 61 and have had them since my 20's. I figured if it was something bad, I would have been gone long ago. It's lika a catch 22. Its caused by stress and anxiety among other things. When you get a skipped beat, you get stressed which in turn causes you have more. I found that if I don't fight it, it calms down. It feeRAB on emotion. If it gets bad (4-5 times a minute), I take a xanax tab. 0.5mg. This helps because it puts me to sleep.

Most people have this condition and don't know it. You know it because your anxiety makes your heart pump harder therefore, more noticeable. Sometimes it come in clusters. Thats scarey. I've had every test known to man including wearing a monitor for a day. Same thing, nothing wrong.

Was on beta-blockers for a time. Made me feel worse. Not taking anything for it now. It comes and goes when it wants. I learned not to worry about it, although that is easier said then done.

I have read on this board that some people have had luck controlling this by taking magnesium. Check it out.
 
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