I have been having severe anxiety since
November. I have a past of health anxiety
and what not, but lately it has been
worse. I thought I had an ulcer in
November, due to frequent acid reflux and
stomach pain, but I ruled that out, but
then as soon as that was ruled out, I had
been scared of heart disease. This got
the worst during exams in college. I had
a very rough semester and I was under
severe stress at exam time. I never had
these problems before but my heart tended
to beat very fast and pound when under
stress and I had some chest pains. Acid
reflux added onto my fear of heart
disease, thinking this was because of my
heart. My other chest pains were not
necessarily excruciating pains, but enough
to scare me and get my anxiety going,
which started a viscious cycle. Also I
started taking prevacid recently and my
heart burn is pretty much gone but I
continue to have indigestion. After
researching anxiety on the internet I have
seen that it can cause chest pains, and of
course and increased pounding heart rate,
but this does not solve anything for me.
I have a minor heart murmur and I had
numerous tests run for palpitations and
such when I was much younger (middle
school years). They found nothing wrong
with me and attributed it to anxiety and
caffeine. I used to swim all my life and
I quit before going to college. It has
been about 2 years since I swam regularly
and my body is out of shape. I constantly
worry about my heart and check my heart
rate. Lately when I exercise I have been
getting sort of dizzy, my heart pounds
very fast, and I get a tightness in my
chest (maybe because of it being very cold
outside). I feel fine exercising until I
get anxious about it. I start to check my
heart rate as I run and I fear a heart
attack. I had one palpitation after
running, my heart kind of skipped a beat
(or had an early beat I guess is the
actual thing), and that scared me even
more and got my anxiety going even more,
so I could not calm down for about 30
minutes afterwards. Is this a sign of any
kind of heart disease, or am I just too
anxious to begin with? Some sort of
exercise phobia with cardiophobia? This
fear is seriously taking over my life.
Thanks for the help.
Looking at your age and the symptoms you
have described, I wouldn’t expect that
you are experiencing a heart or chest
disease, nor any disease of your internal
organs. To be certain, you can request an
ECG, a chest X-ray, and measurement of
your thyroxin blood levels. For acid
reflux and stomach pain, it is appropriate
also to request an endoscopic gastroscopia
and Helicobacter pylori-serology to detect
stomach disease (gastritis, hiatus hernia,
peptic ulcer, tumors). An ultrasound and a
standard blood/urine analysis can exclude
or verify disease of internal organs
(liver, kidneys, pancreas…). If
everything is OK (as I expect), then your
symptoms may be caused by anxiety. A
psychiatric disorder named "somatoform
disorder" International Classification of
Disease Code F45._) in which anxiety is
manifested via symptoms of various organic
diseases. Symptoms are not a result of
verified organic diseases but only
expressions of inner emotional conflicts
in personality. Expert psychiatric help
from a mental health professional may help
patients identify and resolve inner
conflicts. If this is truely your case,
you will also need support from your
family, friends, colleagues and teachers.
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This page was last updated on June 11, 2008
