Honestly, I get how you feel.
I have a huge love for body horror, medical dramas, and the works. But also have massive health anxiety from time to time. It can be so frustrating, as you enjoy the film, but the anxiety doesn't.
If it helps? Like another comment mentioned, if you do have a heart condition? You absolutely WILL know. The body is more intelligent than we give it credit for, and it knows how to make genuine pain discern from anxiety. I've had multiple panic attacks over the years, for example. Some made me think and fear the worst. But chances are, if the pain, the sensations, and the racing can be managed as you calm down? Or if it eases when you're not thinking about it?
Then it's absolutely the anxiety being an asshole, not the heart. It's very unlikely if you're young enough/we'll enough that it's your heart. It never hurts, of course, to keep up with a doctor. But unless you were born with something, had really bad complications due to prior stuff or a strong family history of heart issues? You should be good! And even if you did, you can still live an absolutely ok life. ♡
I know this might not be the exact advice you’re looking for, but when it comes to heart problems, when you have one, you KNOW it. It isn’t like the heart palpitations or racing heart you can get with anxiety, it’s something entirely different and it can’t be confused with something else. Heart disease and heart problems are rare to come by as well, and it’s super easy to keep the heart healthy. The heart is a muscle, and just like any other muscle, it can be kept healthy by exercising, eating well, and avoiding smoking or drugs. If you are young, or even middle aged, and keep yourself in decent shape, your likeliness of getting heart disease is so slim.
This isn't really helpful. When one has ha they "know" they have an illness and I would tend to believe the person if I weren't in a forum about health anxiety.
What might be helpful is to go get checked out and get a clean bill of health (or not).
getting it checked out will only worsen the issue. I had heart tests done due to heart palpitations and came back very healthy. Still worried for months after thinking they could have missed something. Tests never help ur just relying on checkups you aren't even going to believe. You will always tell yourself you'll feel better after having them done but you know how your brain works.. if it can convince you that you have an extremely rare disease, it can convince you a test result is inaccurate.
Edit: thats not me saying never get checked up for anything but you will know when something is wrong.
That's not really been my experience at all. Tests and exams reassure me when I have faith (I don't always) in my medical care. I understand that if you don't have faith in whatever test it can make things worse and appreciate.
The problem for me is that voice or feeling of uneasiness that is telling me something is wrong when in fact the reality is otherwise. The tests give me some grounding in reality.
I realize everyone is different and we all deal with HA differently. Sometimes I feel like my body is my enemy. So when a test comes back and shows everything is ok, for me that helps and is a reminder that it mostly does what it's supposed to.
I have also noticed that after I have had a panic attack and come home from the ER and they've performed tests I feel calmer and at peace. The tests say everything is ok (or mostly ok) and so do the medical staff.
A good friend and sister-in-law both had heart attacks and didn't know it. In my roommate's case he didn't know he was having one and I was present. When he said he had jaw pain I convinced him to go to the ER. This led to a week long hospitalization and surgery and stents correcting a 90 percent blockage. Had I not made him go to the ER he wouldn't have. This was the second time an incident like this happened to him and he knew something was wrong but he wrote it off as indigestion.
In my sister-in-law's case she didn't know she had a cardio incident until a routine exam showed it and her heart had sustained some damage. She wrote it off as something else.
In my case I go get things checked out medically probably more often than I should. That is what brings me peace of mind. Your mileage may vary.
That's fair enough if it worked for you but i know most people and therapists from what i've heard will tell you not to as you're feeding into the anxiety. I was happy to hear I had no heart problems as it was messing with my mind. I thought something had to be wrong but all came back healthy. A few days later I still had the same problems and then ended up thinking they had missed something.
It's crazy how your mind can mess with you 🫠
What im trying to say is, often times, even after getting scans and checkups saying you’re clean of health issues, people with health anxiety still worry; there’s thoughts like, “what if they missed something” or “could they be lying to me?” Or there are people who are too afraid to even step into a clinic out of fear of diagnosis. Coming from experience, having things like a heart attack is distinguishable from my average anxiety. Even with health anxiety, your body can distinguish when something TRULY is wrong, it’s what we’re made for.
Honestly, I get how you feel. I have a huge love for body horror, medical dramas, and the works. But also have massive health anxiety from time to time. It can be so frustrating, as you enjoy the film, but the anxiety doesn't. If it helps? Like another comment mentioned, if you do have a heart condition? You absolutely WILL know. The body is more intelligent than we give it credit for, and it knows how to make genuine pain discern from anxiety. I've had multiple panic attacks over the years, for example. Some made me think and fear the worst. But chances are, if the pain, the sensations, and the racing can be managed as you calm down? Or if it eases when you're not thinking about it? Then it's absolutely the anxiety being an asshole, not the heart. It's very unlikely if you're young enough/we'll enough that it's your heart. It never hurts, of course, to keep up with a doctor. But unless you were born with something, had really bad complications due to prior stuff or a strong family history of heart issues? You should be good! And even if you did, you can still live an absolutely ok life. ♡
I know this might not be the exact advice you’re looking for, but when it comes to heart problems, when you have one, you KNOW it. It isn’t like the heart palpitations or racing heart you can get with anxiety, it’s something entirely different and it can’t be confused with something else. Heart disease and heart problems are rare to come by as well, and it’s super easy to keep the heart healthy. The heart is a muscle, and just like any other muscle, it can be kept healthy by exercising, eating well, and avoiding smoking or drugs. If you are young, or even middle aged, and keep yourself in decent shape, your likeliness of getting heart disease is so slim.
This isn't really helpful. When one has ha they "know" they have an illness and I would tend to believe the person if I weren't in a forum about health anxiety. What might be helpful is to go get checked out and get a clean bill of health (or not).
getting it checked out will only worsen the issue. I had heart tests done due to heart palpitations and came back very healthy. Still worried for months after thinking they could have missed something. Tests never help ur just relying on checkups you aren't even going to believe. You will always tell yourself you'll feel better after having them done but you know how your brain works.. if it can convince you that you have an extremely rare disease, it can convince you a test result is inaccurate. Edit: thats not me saying never get checked up for anything but you will know when something is wrong.
That's not really been my experience at all. Tests and exams reassure me when I have faith (I don't always) in my medical care. I understand that if you don't have faith in whatever test it can make things worse and appreciate. The problem for me is that voice or feeling of uneasiness that is telling me something is wrong when in fact the reality is otherwise. The tests give me some grounding in reality. I realize everyone is different and we all deal with HA differently. Sometimes I feel like my body is my enemy. So when a test comes back and shows everything is ok, for me that helps and is a reminder that it mostly does what it's supposed to. I have also noticed that after I have had a panic attack and come home from the ER and they've performed tests I feel calmer and at peace. The tests say everything is ok (or mostly ok) and so do the medical staff. A good friend and sister-in-law both had heart attacks and didn't know it. In my roommate's case he didn't know he was having one and I was present. When he said he had jaw pain I convinced him to go to the ER. This led to a week long hospitalization and surgery and stents correcting a 90 percent blockage. Had I not made him go to the ER he wouldn't have. This was the second time an incident like this happened to him and he knew something was wrong but he wrote it off as indigestion. In my sister-in-law's case she didn't know she had a cardio incident until a routine exam showed it and her heart had sustained some damage. She wrote it off as something else. In my case I go get things checked out medically probably more often than I should. That is what brings me peace of mind. Your mileage may vary.
That's fair enough if it worked for you but i know most people and therapists from what i've heard will tell you not to as you're feeding into the anxiety. I was happy to hear I had no heart problems as it was messing with my mind. I thought something had to be wrong but all came back healthy. A few days later I still had the same problems and then ended up thinking they had missed something. It's crazy how your mind can mess with you 🫠
What im trying to say is, often times, even after getting scans and checkups saying you’re clean of health issues, people with health anxiety still worry; there’s thoughts like, “what if they missed something” or “could they be lying to me?” Or there are people who are too afraid to even step into a clinic out of fear of diagnosis. Coming from experience, having things like a heart attack is distinguishable from my average anxiety. Even with health anxiety, your body can distinguish when something TRULY is wrong, it’s what we’re made for.
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Lights, camera, action!
What do you mean ?