anxiety due to covid-19 gave me a blood pressure of 140/60

[sabhya316]

hi, i'm a 17 year old male, 6ft. 88kg wt....All this started a month back, when i worked out a little harder,my throat felt dry and chest felt a little heavy while breathing.I got scared and thought that I have corona virus. I started searching online about the symptoms.i was always worrying. Then i started to get jerky motions while i was at rest.Again I got scared.So, i started checking my blood pressure again and again.3-4 times a day. My parents also started to worry.Now i feel those jerks all the time, while sitting,standing, sleeping...when i'm busy..my mind does not divert to think about it..but i still know its there. Its difficult to fall asleep now.when i went to the doctor,they said either not to think about it or take meds for sometime...I do not want to get hooked on any meds...please help me... whenever i check my blood pressure...its around 140 systolic and 60 dystolic...i would not be that worried if it was 140/90 which is regular hypertension...but it is different which freaks me out.the dystolic is too low always.. and my heart beats so HARD ,so forcefully...like when i'm resting, i can literally feel every beat...through my chest,stomach area,arms, wrist....and its constant..its been around a month now...i can't stay as still as i used to.

i just need details why this is happening and how can i stop it

i have some questions:

1. can i recover naturally with exercise, diet,meditation etc?if yes ,then how long will it take?

2.is this anxiety or a heart condition?

3. how to ignore those hard heart beats?

4.can i do heavy exercises..because when i try to do those, my heart feels like it may explode.

please help,thanks.

[Paxiled]

Only a doctor -- a good doctor -- can tell you if you have a physiological problem.  From your description, it sounds like anxiety, but anxiety is a chronic condition.  If you didn't have this problem until you thought you have covid, it's more like you developed a phobia or got stressed out about that disease, which is understandable considering it's an out of control pandemic.  But it sounds like you took your concern to the anxiety level and because it has stuck around it does sound like an anxiety problem.  But again, nobody can tell you from a distance that you don't have something physiological going on.  Did you get tested for covid?  It might settle you down some to know you had it or didn't have it.  Can you recover naturally?  Yes.  Is it easy?  No.  Therapy can help you along with that, but many people do fix this kind of thing with the kinds of lifestyle changes you list.  How long it takes is impossible to answer.  Some of us get anxiety disorders and it might just have been your time to get yours.  If it's just too much stress from the fear of covid, that will be easier to fix.  How long it takes is up to the individual.  But starting to deal with it now will make that time shorter, even while you further pursue the possibility with specialists you have something physiological going on.  But yes, from a distance, it does sound like you freaked yourself out and now have to unfreak yourself out.  Peace.

[Emily_MHManager]

Hi - like Pax said, you could very well have anxiety, but since one of your questions is about working out hard, and your heart feeling like it may "explode", we'd urge you to not do that until you are examined by a doctor to rule out any physical causes, other than just having your blood pressure taken. You could have anxiety AND something physical happening, or one or the other, but you do really need to be checked out.

Have they done an EKG? An echogardiogram?

Tell your parents that you're worried, too, and would like to see a doctor for covid testing (maybe antibody testing as well as molecular testing), and an exam to rule out anything going on with your heart.