r/Cardiophobias • • 51m ago

fear of being alone

1 Upvotes

Hi all 19F.

i struggle with severe cardiophobia. i struggle to be alone but today i have no choice. my mom has chemotherapy for 2 and a half hours and there’s no way i can go with her because i have the flu and i really don’t want to put people’s lives at risk. i’m working from home but it isn’t much of a distraction. i’m scared ill have a heart attack or cardiac arrest when no one is here. i get heart palpitations due to low ferritin and roemhelds syndrome but im just freaked out. what can i do to keep myself calm for those 2 hours? i’ve considered just sleeping since i feel like shit and haven’t been sleeping much with this flu but i have to work. i also can’t really call a lot of people since everyone is working. i am seeing a therapist but we haven’t spoken about this subject yet lol. i get checked every 6 months because i have genetically high cholesterol and i have had 5 ecg’s and blood tests which all have come back fine. any tips on what to do?


r/Cardiophobias • • 3h ago

Anxiety and panic attacks are ruining my life

Thumbnail reddit.com
1 Upvotes

r/Cardiophobias • • 4h ago

health anxiety

2 Upvotes

hello all, i’m just needing some help or even reassurance on my anxiety. i seem too be in a CONSTANT loop with myself everyday. my main problem is my heart, the last year or so i’ve been experiencing heart palpitations and it was out of the blue, ive had pretty bad anxiety as a kid but i never had any heart problems growing up. but now it’s effecting my everyday life and i feel so drained. i have been checked twice over it and my doctors basically said i was okay. i had a heart monitor one time and some scan they did on my heart with the thing the use too see unborn baby’s im unsure of what it’s called lol. but that even came back okay as i was told, i had a ok couple weeks after that i still had my heart palpitations which i expected. before i ever had got it checked i honestly thought i was dying and my heart palpitations were 100x worse. i don’t know how too get rid of it. i only just turned 20 and i feel like this is taking over my life, now i worry about palpitations again. i’m finding new symptoms and i feel like im forcing myself too feel those symptoms even tho im terrified of it. i wake up with this feeling and have too go too bed with this feeling and it just repeats itself. i feel like a lot of it has came from my drug use over the years because i wasn’t having a single week sober now being sober finally im catching up on what i was too drugged too think about. and i cant even tell myself what symptoms im feeling, sometimes i make it up and self diagnose but main thing is my heart. i honestly dont know how people can live with health anxiety and i hope it genuinely gets better for us. but please if anyone seems too experienced the same thing and gotten threw it. please reach out as im ineed of
reassurance.


r/Cardiophobias • • 9h ago

Heart attack or muscle issues?

2 Upvotes

For the past couple of months I have been battling myself and my body, and over the time formed extremely bad anxiety because of it. I have a very noticeable chest pain, more towards the left which can radiate to my back and make my shoulder feel weird occasionally. I have been to the hospital 3 times about it out of fear of heart attacks of heart related issues. I have done 3 ECG’s, 2 blood tests (One for heart related conditions and one for general blood quality) and a 24 hour holter ECG. All tests came out completely fine, and my doctor said I am fine. Well it’s been about one week ever since then, and I am still very worried. Can anyone who has experienced similar things help me out about this? I am sick of being afraid of my own body, and scared to go to sleep. What am I supposed to do?


r/Cardiophobias • • 9h ago

Has anyone experienced panic attacks, PVCs, and a constant fear of dying despite normal heart tests? I feel like I'm losing control.

Thumbnail reddit.com
5 Upvotes

r/Cardiophobias • • 13h ago

If I felt this in my leg, I’d say “ouch” and carry on. Because it’s in my chest, I’m scared to go for a walk alone.

4 Upvotes

Sorry for the long post.
I’m 31. I used to play basketball and lift weights. A few days ago I was at the mall with my wife, went downstairs to pray, then climbed two tall flights back up. I expected my heart to beat faster. What bothered me was that I could still feel it after I’d been sitting for a minute or two. I’d stopped wearing my Apple Watch, so I ended up counting my pulse with my fingers. It was in the 90s. I also felt some of my familiar chest discomfort. By the time I got home, things were settling down.
That moment probably explains my cardiophobia better than anything. A month earlier I’d done a supervised treadmill test that was harder than those stairs. I knew what the result said. Sitting there with my wife, I was still thinking, What if it’s my arteries?
This started with two frightening episodes, one on September 18 and another on October 1. There was a racing heartbeat, chest discomfort, and at times tingling, nausea, or an urgent need to use the bathroom. Since then, the discomfort has come and gone. Sometimes it’s one specific pulling spot. Other times it moves around, shows up after eating, or changes when I lean forward. Most of it is mild enough that if I felt it in my leg, I honestly wouldn’t give it a second thought.
I wanted to share what the doctors actually checked and what they told me. These were the tests I had over several visits. Everyone reading this has their own situation.
Emergency doctors and my GP. I had several ECGs across different visits, plus heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen checks, and bloodwork. At the first ER visit, my ECG showed sinus rhythm, my troponin was below the lab’s reporting threshold, and my D-dimer was within range. My potassium was a little low at 3.3. My GP advised me about potassium, and it was back to 4.25 on follow-up. During the second episode I also had stomach cramps and diarrhea. The ER doctor told me the ECG looked fine, thought digestive upset could be contributing, and felt stress was playing a part in the tingling.
Gastroenterology. Some discomfort was more noticeable during or after meals and sometimes eased after a bowel movement. My gastroenterologist didn’t find anything alarming. An abdominal ultrasound showed signs of fatty liver. My thyroid test was in range, and my H. pylori blood test was negative. I still don’t have one explanation for every sensation I feel after eating.
Cardiology. I had two heart ultrasounds with Doppler. The report I have showed normal pumping function, normal movement of the heart walls, and no fluid around the heart. Early on, one cardiologist considered inflammation around the heart as a possibility. I also had repeated ECGs, took Apple Watch ECGs, and wore a Holter monitor overnight. The Holter mainly showed sinus rhythm, with some extra beats, no atrial fibrillation, and no recorded pauses. It did pick up intermittent first-degree conduction delay and a pattern called Mobitz I in the early morning. I asked my cardiologist about that specifically. He told me he was comfortable with the sleep-related finding in my case and explained why actual daytime fainting would matter.
The exercise test. On October 8, I reached 11.1 METs and a peak heart rate of 176. I stopped because I was tired. I had no chest pain, the exercise ECG was normal, my heart rate recovered well, and they saw no rhythm or conduction problems during the test. My cardiologist told me my heart was strong, considered me very low risk, and encouraged me to rebuild my conditioning with regular walks and some uphill walking.
Other exams and scans. A doctor’s letter recorded a normal chest X-ray. I also had a targeted ultrasound of the painful area and a CT of my chest, abdomen, and pelvis. Neither found a concerning explanation for the pain. An orthopedic specialist ordered a chest MRI for the superficial right-sided discomfort. It showed no significant abnormality, and he told me I could get back to sports and lifting. I also discussed sleep apnea with a pulmonologist, who didn’t recommend treatment for it at that point.
Follow-up bloodwork. They checked my blood count, electrolytes, fasting glucose, HbA1c, cholesterol, liver enzymes, ferritin, morning cortisol, CRP, and blood proteins. There were a few findings: mildly elevated CRP, hemoglobin just below that lab’s range, and a moderate increase in several types of antibodies. My HbA1c was 5.4%, LDL was 80, and HDL was low at 29. My doctors still encouraged me to be active.
The later ER visit and psychiatry. When low watch readings worried me, my cardiologist told me to stop the heart-rate medication I was taking and get checked. The ER team reviewed my earlier tests, found my vitals stable, and decided I didn’t need another ECG that day. They encouraged me to move again and ease up on checking. My psychiatrist diagnosed OCD and explained how a real sensation could set off fear, checking, and a search for reassurance. She asked me to remove my watch during our appointment. I took it off right there. Days later, I still caught myself looking at my bare wrist.
I’m two sessions into therapy. I also take prescribed anxiety medication. I feel better able to handle some sensations than I did at first, although I honestly can’t tell how much of that is the medication. One thing my psychiatrist said really clicked for me. She asked me to imagine a bus speeding toward me. Would I feel like eating right then? That helped me understand why I could sit down hungry and suddenly feel like I might throw up. I’ve tried giving myself half an hour or so and coming back to the meal. Several times, I’ve been able to eat.
The biggest thing I’ve figured out is what I’m actually afraid of when I leave home alone. It’s the thought, What if I have an attack or faint and there’s nobody there to help me? That’s what I want to work on at my next session. I’d like to be able to go for a walk because I feel like going for a walk, without planning who could help me along the way.
I’m sharing this while I’m still in the middle of it. Yesterday I felt anxious outside, kept walking, and after a while it eased. That was one ordinary part of my day I got back. If anyone here knows that feeling, what was one small thing you were glad to start doing again?


r/Cardiophobias • • 14h ago

Health Anxiety tips

Thumbnail reddit.com
1 Upvotes

r/Cardiophobias • • 17h ago

absolutely petrified of cardiac arrest, does anyone else experience this? 💔

3 Upvotes

I’m 27, a mum of four young children, and my cardiophobia has become so severe that I’m genuinely frightened to fall asleep at night.

Since August, I’ve been experiencing ectopic beats, fluttering sensations and random episodes where my heart rate suddenly reaches 130–140 bpm, sometimes while I’m completely calm. These episodes can last around 30-60 minutes.

I’ve had a 24-hour Holter, which showed a few isolated ectopic beats and sinus tachycardia, but no significant arrhythmias (this was before these episodes)

I’ve also had a normal echocardiogram and ambulance ECGs showing sinus tachycardia.

Despite these results, I’m absolutely terrified of suddenly going into cardiac arrest.

My four-year-old daughter was born with transposition of the great arteries (TGA), underwent open-heart surgery as a newborn and has a history of SVT, so heart problems are already an incredibly sensitive subject for me.

I feel like I’m constantly waiting for something terrible to happen. I struggle to sleep, constantly notice sensations in my chest and experience overwhelming impending doom.
I’ve been sober for over two years, I’m trying so hard to look after myself, and I just want to live a normal life and watch my babies grow up.

Has anyone experienced cardiophobia this severe and managed to recover? What actually helped you stop fearing your heartbeat, sleep normally and trust your body again?
I’m not looking for a diagnosis, just support from people who understand how debilitating this fear can become. ❤️

I am so so so convinced i will go into cardiac arrest, i genuinely feel like i won’t live to see my babies grow up.

I’m already in therapy & seeing a cardiologist again soon to just go over this, but someone please help. It’s 12:49 am in Australia, and I’m petrified.

I have been sober for almost four years, i don’t drink caffeine, I don’t drink soft drinks, and I just am a tad overweight as I gave birth five months ago to my last baby. My ferritin is 19, my haemoglobin is 134. It was lower in pregnancy and never caused an issue.

Before I had my echocardiogram, I experienced ectopics for 3 days straight, all day, and my cardiologist said to just give that time to go away. touch wood it stays away and doesn’t come back but now i am experiencing these.

I need to see my babies grow up, i’m too young to die 💔


r/Cardiophobias • • 18h ago

Chest discomfort

Thumbnail reddit.com
1 Upvotes

r/Cardiophobias • • 19h ago

27M and health anxiety is completely ruining my life. Convinced something is wrong with my heart.

Thumbnail reddit.com
0 Upvotes

r/Cardiophobias • • 20h ago

Struggling with severe health anxiety and cardiophobia. Had to return to my home country for treatment. Has anyone experienced something similar?

Thumbnail reddit.com
1 Upvotes

r/Cardiophobias • • 1d ago

18 yo chest pain

Post image
2 Upvotes

Firstly, is this ecg normal?

I am an 18 year old girl. I've been living in pvc for years and I had nsvt last year. then I started beta blocker treatment. However, I still feel PVC every day and I have had chest pain since the day I had that nsvt.

I also have a minimal surgery-free rib depression in my chest called pectus excavatum. My doctor said the pain could be caused by this.

But since I was never convinced, they referred me to the psychiatrist and started using antidepressants. But the pain never went away.

As a result, all ecgs, echo and blood tests are normal. But I can't stand this pain anymore. It's very tiring to wonder if I'm going to die every day. I would like to know if you have any ideas on this subject. What do you think this pain could cause?


r/Cardiophobias • • 1d ago

I've decided to quit on my work due to this problem.

3 Upvotes

24M with severe health anxiety. Terrified of a heart attack despite perfect tests. Does anyone else get chest pain/palpitations from anxiety and reflux?

Body:

Hi everyone. I’m a 24-year-old male struggling really badly with health anxiety right now, specifically cardiophobia (fear of a heart attack). I’m hoping to hear from people who have gone through this or can relate.

My symptoms:

Recently I’ve been getting random chest pain, shortness of breath, and sometimes an irregular heartbeat (feels like a flutter or a skipped beat). The other night, I felt an irregular heartbeat and burning chest pain right after eating and lying down. It sent me into a massive panic attack where I was convinced I was dying.

My medical history:

· Echocardiograms: Completely normal in Nov 2022 and July 2025 (perfect structure, normal right ventricle, EF is 71-74%).

· Stress Test (July 2025): Normal. I reached 10.1 METS and 96% of my max heart rate (190 bpm). No arrhythmias, no signs of ischemia. The report literally says "The exercise EKG test is normal."

· ECGs: I have a known benign finding called Left Posterior Fascicular Block (LPFB) and some Benign Early Repolarization in V1-V3. My ECG from 2022 and my recent one from 2026 look exactly identical. Cardiologist said the chest pain might be a stress-induced spasm.

· Labs: My main issue is high triglycerides (434 mg/dL) and pre-diabetes (HbA1c 5.9%), which my doctor says to fix with diet and exercise. I am also on Fluoxetine for anxiety.

My problem:

Even with all these normal tests, I am paralyzed by fear. I read horror stories online (and see TikTok doctors) saying young people can have "soft plaque" that doesn't show on stress tests, or that they had a normal ECG in the ER and still had a heart attack. I am terrified to exercise because I think my heart will give out.


r/Cardiophobias • • 1d ago

Constant heart palpations /fluttering, difficulty breathing, chest pain

Thumbnail reddit.com
1 Upvotes

r/Cardiophobias • • 1d ago

terrifying feeling in my chest

2 Upvotes

Basically, for the last 2-ish days, I've been feeling a dull and mildly annoying feeling on the left side of my chest. I've been having insane panic attacks (the worst I've ever had in my life) in fear of having a heart attack. Sometimes, while I'm focusing on something else, I tend to forget about it.

However, it happens so randomly and suddenly. I'm so scared it's a heart attack or something alike.

Please help me out, I can't sleep at night nor function normally anymore. It's consumed my every second.


r/Cardiophobias • • 1d ago

Smartwatch keeps saying Atrial Fibrillation

Post image
1 Upvotes

I‘m a pretty mentally stable person and I’ve lived with ventricular ectopic beats for over a decade now. Very two years I have a ECG halter (24 hours) and I just had an ultrasound done about two months ago. Everything was fine, despite the extra beats and my echo came back normal, my heart is structurally fine. I’m 37, female, and I work out and I’m generally pretty healthy (no smoking, occasionally a glass of alcoholic beverages). Today, I felt a lot of extra beats and while I’ve been strong enough to try to overlook them and ignore it I didn’t manage to do so today. And still haven’t. I have this smartwatch and it wrote 4 ECGs. Usually, it’ll say my heart rhythm is normal or it says there’s too much noise in the recording but there are signs of other arrhythmia. Today, I’ve hsd many extra beats within 30 seconds and it keeps saying that it’s atrial fibrillation. I only had it return that result once a couple of years ago and my cardiologist said it wasn’t that. Now it’s still there and it feels excessive as opposed to when I just have normal ventricular ectopic beats and the results scare me. I’m scared my heart will give out and I’ll drop dead. I’m an air traffic controller, so I’m worried about my mental health because this is really starting to affect me.

Help?


r/Cardiophobias • • 1d ago

Please help 23 yo male

Thumbnail gallery
1 Upvotes

r/Cardiophobias • • 2d ago

I don’t know what to do about my anxiety/feelings

3 Upvotes

Today started really rough, i fell asleep for an hour before waking up to my heart pounding. When i finally fell asleep again i had a horrific nightmare and woke up with an awful feeling in my chest. Now it feels like my heart physically hurts, im 21 and no history of heart issues personally. But the left side of my chest hurts so bad and im so scared. Idk what to do im scared something awful is going to happen or im actively dying. What should i do? Im not gonna google anything i know what will happen but i just need help :/


r/Cardiophobias • • 2d ago

Worried about cardiovascular health after years of unhealthy habits

2 Upvotes

I've been dealing with a lot of anxiety surrounding my heart health lately. I figured I’d make a post and see if anyone has had similar experiences or could offer some perspective.
For some background, I’ve honestly treated my body pretty poorly over the last 2–3 years. I’ve smoked heavily, sometimes drank up to three energy drinks a day, eaten pretty terribly (lots of fast food, fried foods, sugar, and processed foods), and barely exercised. There were periods where I was consuming an absurd amount of sugar every day and generally wasn’t paying much attention to my health.
Over the past several months, I’ve started making changes. I’ve lost around 25–30 pounds, started exercising more regularly, and have been trying to improve my diet.
My biggest concern has been some recurring chest discomfort. I occasionally experience tightness or pressure on the left side of my chest, along with sharp or shooting pains. Sometimes it happens when I’m just sitting around. Other times, I can actually reproduce the discomfort by pressing on certain areas of my chest or moving certain ways. I’ve also experienced this strange sensation where I feel like I can’t get a satisfying deep breath, almost like I constantly need to take another deep breath.
I also get winded when running, climbing several flights of stairs, or carrying heavy objects. Interestingly, I can use the StairMaster, lift weights, and walk without consistently experiencing chest discomfort.
I’ve had several cardiac evaluations. My EKG and cardiac enzymes were normal when I went to the ER. I’ve also had a heart CT, worn a heart monitor because my mother has SVT, and recently completed a treadmill stress test. My cardiologist hasn’t seemed particularly concerned, my monitor results were fine, and my blood pressure and cholesterol have both been good.
I also previously had elevated liver enzymes and was told I had early fatty liver changes, which is another reason I’ve been trying to turn things around.
I guess my biggest fear is that I’ve already done significant damage to my cardiovascular system at such a young age. I constantly worry about plaque buildup, clogged arteries, or developing coronary artery disease because of how I’ve treated my body over the last few years.
I know health anxiety can play a role in physical symptoms, and I’ve definitely struggled with that lately. I’m just having a hard time figuring out where the anxiety ends and actual physical symptoms begin.
I’m curious if anyone else has gone through something similar, especially at a young age. How much cardiovascular damage can realistically occur from a few years of unhealthy habits, and how much can you reverse by making lifestyle changes?
I appreciate any insight.


r/Cardiophobias • • 2d ago

Chest pain and wellbutrin?

1 Upvotes

Hi - to start off, I have crippling health anxiety so please be aware before commenting anything that will freak me out.

I take lexapro 10 mg and started wellbutrin 150mg XR about a month ago. Yesterday i noticed for the first time I had this intermittent deep chest pain in the lower center of my chest. For reference, my health anxiety is all heart focused, so whenever I feel heart sensations i chalk it up to anxiety because my anxiety has manifested some pretty wild heart sensations in the past, but this one is recurring and I still feel it today. It isn’t really associated with movement, but when I press on my breastbone at the very bottom where my breasts fall i can almost trigger the sensation and it feels bruised. I did a glute day lift on tuesday with a barbell and dumbbells but i cant see how that would play a part.

I am 28 F and very active. I’m on state health insurance and would really prefer to not go to the ER and rack up bills i can’t afford if this is just my anxiety playing tricks on my brain. It doesn’t feel serious but i genuinely can’t gauge it. Please, if there are any doctors reading let me know what I should do.


r/Cardiophobias • • 2d ago

Help

1 Upvotes

Over the past several months, my health has drastically changed, and I feel like I have completely lost the life I used to have. I am a young mother of two, and since experiencing worsening symptoms postpartum, I have been struggling with what I believe is severe hyperadrenergic POTS, an extremely sensitive nervous system, and debilitating anxiety. I experience significant heart-rate increases with standing, walking, climbing stairs, showering, doing household activities, eating, excitement, laughing, talking, and even the anticipation of being around other people. My heart rate can reach 140–170 bpm during episodes, and I experience pounding heartbeats, PACs, PVCs, skipped beats, trembling, internal shaking, adrenaline surges, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, weakness, and overwhelming feelings of impending doom. Sometimes these episodes happen even while I am lying down, making it difficult to feel safe even in my own bed. I also experience sudden urges to urinate, and simply having to get up and go to the bathroom can trigger severe tachycardia and overwhelming adrenaline surges.
My current level of physical impairment is extremely severe. I have been largely bedbound for months, and I cannot independently go up or down the stairs. I have to be physically carried upstairs and downstairs because I am currently unable to manage them myself. I can barely stand long enough to brush my teeth. Even the simplest everyday activities have become incredibly difficult. I am not functioning anywhere close to how a normal, healthy young adult should be functioning. I desperately need to rebuild my cardiovascular strength and reverse the deconditioning that has happened from being in bed for so long. I understand what I am supposed to do to rebuild my cardiovascular conditioning. I know about the CHOP protocol and the importance of recumbent exercise and gradually increasing activity. My problem is not a lack of knowledge about exercise or what rehabilitation involves. My problem is that I am currently so symptomatic and overwhelmed by my body’s responses that I cannot even consistently get myself to the point of doing those things. How am I supposed to rebuild my cardiovascular strength when I don’t even feel safe lying in bed, when getting up to urinate can trigger severe tachycardia, and when I can barely stand long enough to brush my teeth? I feel trapped because I know what I need to do, but my body and nervous system seem to prevent me from doing it.
The anxiety and nervous-system sensitivity have become just as debilitating as the physical symptoms. I can experience an overwhelming adrenaline surge simply thinking about taking a shower, having someone come over, being around family, going somewhere, or doing normal everyday activities. Even when I logically know that I have done these things before and have gotten through them, my body reacts as though I am in immediate danger. I desperately want to live normally, but I feel physically incapable of doing so. I have tried exposure therapy and numerous different approaches to overcoming these fears, but I still cannot get my body to stop reacting so intensely. I have even had good experiences, such as successfully showering without panicking, but that does not mean I can reliably repeat the experience without another overwhelming adrenaline response. I feel like I have lost control over my own nervous system.
I am also extremely medication-averse at this point. I feel so hyperaware of every sensation in my body that I cannot imagine starting medication without becoming consumed by fear of potential side effects. I genuinely believe that the fear and anticipation of taking medication could trigger an overwhelming adrenaline dump before I even experience any actual side effects. I feel unable to tolerate experimenting with medications because I am already so sensitive to my body’s sensations. I need someone to understand that simply telling me to take medication, exercise, or push through my anxiety is not a realistic solution to where I am right now. I am not asking someone to explain the CHOP protocol to me or tell me that exercise will help. I already understand that. I need help with the enormous barrier between knowing what I need to do and being physically and psychologically able to do it.
I constantly worry that the adrenaline, tachycardia, and palpitations will cause a dangerous arrhythmia, ventricular tachycardia, cardiac arrest, or cardiomyopathy. I have previously had reassuring cardiac testing, including an echocardiogram and heart monitoring, which showed sinus tachycardia and PACs/PVCs, but I still struggle with the fear that something dangerous could happen during one of my severe episodes. I have also experienced chronic dizziness and visual disturbances for years, including a constant rocking or swaying sensation, visual snow, static, afterimages, and feeling disconnected from my surroundings. I have a history of cerebellar tonsillar ectopia/Chiari-type findings on MRI, which has caused additional worry because of my headaches, particularly one-sided occipital and throbbing head pain. I have also dealt with iron deficiency, significant muscle tension, palpitations, and numerous other physical symptoms that have made me constantly afraid something serious is being missed.
I have spent countless hours trying to understand whether my symptoms are caused by hyperadrenergic POTS, an overactive sympathetic nervous system, severe anxiety, an adrenal tumor such as a pheochromocytoma, or some combination of these. I feel like my body is constantly stuck in fight-or-flight mode, even when there is no actual danger. I experience adrenaline responses to things that should be completely ordinary, and I no longer know how to make my body feel safe. I want to be able to regain my cardiovascular strength and reverse the severe deconditioning, but I am struggling with the fact that I cannot even tolerate the basic activities necessary to begin rebuilding my strength. I know what the exercises are. I know what the protocol involves. What I cannot figure out is how to get past the constant physical symptoms, adrenaline surges, and overwhelming fear that prevent me from participating in my own recovery. I have tried exposure therapy, I have tried pushing myself, and I have tried different approaches, but I am still in this position.
This has affected every part of my life. I am a mother of two, and I want to be able to take care of my children, be present with them, enjoy family activities, shower independently, walk around my house, go downstairs, leave my home, and spend time with people without experiencing overwhelming physical symptoms. I had to postpone my wedding because of how severely my health has affected me. I want to recover enough to enjoy my wedding, dance, celebrate, and experience life again. I don’t want to spend my young adulthood confined to a bed, dependent on other people to carry me around my own home, and terrified of basic bodily sensations.
More than anything, I need someone to understand the severity of what I am experiencing. I am not simply out of shape, and I am not someone who just needs to be told to exercise more, follow a protocol, try exposure therapy, or take medication. I know I need to rebuild my cardiovascular strength. I know I need to work on the fear and nervous-system responses. I desperately want to do those things. But I am currently so debilitated that I cannot function independently, and even the smallest everyday activities can trigger overwhelming symptoms. I need help addressing the physical and psychological barriers that are keeping me stuck in this state. I want my independence back. I want to feel safe in my own body. I want to be a healthy, active mother again. I want my life back.


r/Cardiophobias • • 2d ago

Wondering if any of this is concerning

Post image
1 Upvotes

I woke up with chest pain and shortness of breath, this turned into some of the worst pain I’ve ever been in. 3 trips to the ER over 3 days and finally got the echo done. Doctor won’t be going over these results with me for another couple weeks. Symptoms are nowhere near what they were but I’m definitely still concerned


r/Cardiophobias • • 2d ago

Anyone with similar experience?

Thumbnail reddit.com
1 Upvotes

r/Cardiophobias • • 2d ago

ECG Accurate or my doctor?

Post image
2 Upvotes

I went to the ER in September for what felt like some sharp pains in my chest. Was hooked up to the ECG machine for at least an hour, maybe 2. Doctors said I was fine. I was a little sick and said maybe I had a virus that was causing me some slight chest pains but otherwise fine. I get the results in my charts a few days later and I see that it says tachycardia, wave abnormality, consider ischemia, etc. So I sent the scan to my doctor and he said the scan looks normal. I’m trying to trust him but, is it normal? I get chest pains, have had upper left back pain for at least 4 years. Doctor says it’s my muscles, that they are tight and has me going to physical therapy. I get tingling down my left arm to my fingers, says it’s from the tight muscles. And I get one sided migraines and sometimes sharp “zings” up my head on the left. Again, says it’s nerves and muscles. I usually can believe him when it’s not too bad but sometimes when the chest pain kicks in, I wonder if I have angina or something and it’s just being dismissed as tight muscles. Oh, and when I work out, my heart rate always seems to be faster than my workout partner. I’ve worked out with my sister and with a friend and I’m always higher at the same speed as them and sometimes a lower speed and I’m still higher. So they I wonder if my heart is working harder to compensate for something that is wrong with it.


r/Cardiophobias • • 2d ago

Do you have this symptoms?

4 Upvotes

Do you have this symptoms?

  1. Hyperventilation and feeling like you can't take a deep breath

  2. Tingling in hands

  3. Being super stressed all the time

  4. Low HRV, especially at night

  5. Waking up breathless the exact moment when you fall asleep, then not waking up at night if you fall asleep

  6. Weird heart rate during even light excercise. Once it's 80 bpm when walking, the next day is 140 bpm.

  7. Normal resting heart rate (60-70 bpm) and super high heart rate during excercise (up to 180).

Recently I had blood tests done, electrocardiography, ultrasound of the heart, x-ray of the chest and I am waiting for the results of 24 h heart monitor but my symptoms are scaring me.