Constantly aware of heart beating

[xanaxed]

Hello there my problem is that I am constantly feeling my heart beating, its not necessarily beating fast, (although it does pretty often) , but it beats hard and it's very uncomfortable!  Throughout the day when im occupied is about the only time i don't notice it.  Its at its worst when I try to sleep (night or day) I almost always wake up a hour or less into my sleep, with a raging heartbeat and a feeling of terror (like i might die, i dont know its hard to describe...)    I was wondering if any of you out there have similar symptoms, if so what could i do to help. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[tealady362]

I live with this also!!  It is a very scary thing.  I do not drink or smoke. No young kids, they are all grown and gone.  I am married with no marrage problems.  And I seem to have a great life and enjoying it.  Anxiety?  I wonder why I am having this...... It seems to be 90% of the time while I am sleeping or getting ready to fall asleep.  I hate it!!  Now I just start relaxing as much as I can when it happens, take an asprin (for blood flow to the heart)... cause it does feel like you are going to have a heart attack and die!  I feel for you as I know how it is.  I did not know it was anxiety......... I actually thought I was having heart problems.  But all of this sounds like me too.  You are right, I haven't kicked the bucket yet..... so the best thing I see is what cowgirl said, just try to relax ....... take deep breaths too!!

[Neesh240]

Reading all of these makes me feel so much better. I went to the doctor and had an EKG done and he sent me to the cardiologist. They said that it was perfect. I was having pains in my left chest. More recently, I have been extremely aware of my heart beating especially when I am just sitting doing nothing. Basically relaxing. When I start to feel it I get nervous and it makes it beat faster and I can't seem to slow it down unless I just try to think of something else. Now that I read some of these postings, I can see that some of you have had these problems for years and haven't kicked the bucket yet lol. I guess it is just all anxiety. Thanks Again

[sunset555]

Hi Erin,

Thank you so much for your reply. You seem to mirror a lot of my feelings at the moment. You also make an awful lot of sense which is very comforting. I also like you, need to use the bathroom a lot during the night and am not sleeping that well at the moment because I am nervous of the outcome of all of these tests.

Anyhow, I will keep in touch with you and let you know what is happening.

You say that you have two children 8 and 10 they are really nice ages, ours are age 6 and 8 a boy and a girl.

Talk soon and have a nice day!!

Sunset

[eronski]

It really is tough to get yourself to relax and to slow your heart beat.  I will be honest with you, I had so much trouble with this and really haven't conquered it because it was never my main issue.  For breathing I would breath slowly in my nose to the count of 4 and then out to the count of 4.  It was so hard to do this at first I would end up just gasping and sometimes crying.  I would force myself to keep going for 5 mins and after a while it would get easier.  I would fight it thinking, I shouldn't have to  try to breath, it should come naturally--my husband showed me example after example in health books of how the healthiest people regularly concentrate on their breathing, that you need to LEARN to do it the correct way.

As far as my heart beat, yes, when I would get anxious it would race but I was always more focused on my breathing.  I hated the rapid heart beat though. When I get up in the night to go to the bathroom (sometimes 4-6 times, it's ridiculous!) I would walk super slow and get back in bed in slow motion so that my heart rate wouldn't go up because if it did it would bring on anxiety.  I could never tell which came first the anxiety or the rapid breathing and heart????  There's something about the quiet of the night, there is nothing to distract you and everyone around you is asleep, it can be such a lonely feeling.  I have a fan right next to my bed and I listen to that and it calms me.  Also, my husband has a radio with a little speaker that goes under his pillow and he listens to talk radio when he can't sleep.  Sometimes I use it and it's a nice distraction.

Drinking the beers....Well one thing you know for sure is that can't hurt you, you have done it before and been OK.  You might want to think of it as an experiment that you will learn something from.  One of the main ways to treat anxiety and panic is to force yourself to do that which makes you nervous or scared.  Just be kind and gentle to yourself.  

I can't remember.....do you have something to take in case your panic gets real bad, like Xanax or Klonopin??  I have had a prescription for years I don't take many, maybe 5-10 a year but just knowing I can get quick relief can sometimes wards off the anxiety with out even having to take anything, if that makes any sense.  I am pretty lucky my anxiety has always come on fast and left pretty fast.  This last time it was bad for about 2 weeks and I thought that I would try some meds, like you I have two children 10 & 8  and I needed to be there for them.  I absolutely wasn't going to let it get out of hand, and I feel much better and you will too, it doesn't last forever.  Take Care, Erin

[sunset555]

Hi Erin,

Just received your reply, thank you so much for all of your kind words, it means a lot. I am just quite scared at the moment that is all. I just need to get to the bottom of this, because I will not feel comfortable until I do. At the back of my mind, I really do believe that I am anxious, but on the other hand I just have to focus in on the unknown, just to rule out everything. There is quite a bit happening in my life at present, all good, had stress in the recent past, but now a lot less, things are really looking up, now this black cloud appears out of absolutely knowhere and spoils it all for us all. The doctor wants for me to try and have a few beers the night that I have the monitor attached just to see whether or not it is alcohol induced or not, just to rule it out, and although I am terrified of the effect it will have on me, I will do it just to get to the bottom of this mess. The only thing is I don't really know how to stop the rapid heartbeat when or if it happens again, as I have tried abdominal breathing, relaxation, etc. Just wondering what your opinion is on this, do you think it wise for me to have the beers or not?? Like yourself Erin, I also suffer with anxiety, and have had awful panic attacks over the last several years, I also hyperventilated like you, and also I also cannot handle a lot of alcohol very often as the hangovers give me panic attacks for days afterwards and we have two small children so I cannot afford to have a hangover in the first place.  Thanks again, and yes I will keep in touch with you.

Sunsett555

[DPM111]

I wanted to add my agreement with some others about the value of Cognative Behavioral Therapy.  Lexapro did a good job of stopping my anxiety, but it was better when I learned cope without drugs.  Hope you feel better soon.