Cardiophobia

[dolphin8808]

Anyone else find they have developed cardiophobia from the skips? Or even become OCD with the heart? My EP calls it extreme cardiac awareness. I sure seem to have it. One bad skips days, I am bad for a few days after with it. Then I mellow out then another bad day will bring it around again.

Have you noticed it can make your skips worse?It doesn't seem to effect mine as I don't seem to have triggers, mine just come and go as they please.

[is_something_wrong]

The answer is; yes, definitely.

I guess there are fine lines between anxiety and OCD, but on the other hand, because OCD is a manifestation of anxiety, I guess they go hand in hand.

Yes, cardiophobia is OCD. Just think of it like:

Obsession: My heart is unhealthy. Skipped beats are dangerous and unwanted.

Compulsion: Checking pulse, going to doctors for more or less meaningless tests (if we have had them done lots of times before), checking blood pressure, reading medical stuff, all we do to provide reassurance.

I must say, I miss my cardiophobia these days. It seems like my anxiety (which really is a manifestation of a fear of dying) has transformed into more "pure-O"-symptoms, like what if I hurt myself, what if an accident happens, etc. I really liked my fear of skipped beats and blood pressure a lot better :)

[dolphin8808]

Oh yes OCD is very closely related to Health Anxiety / Hypochondria  and Anxiety in general, they go hand in hand without a doubt.

So it sounds like yours has turned from a specific fear of your heart and the skips into a general fear and anxiety. Mine has taken twists and turns like that along the way. For the most part I am focused on my heart now a days but there are times when it goes in crazy directions.

I Feel for all of you! This is so tough, to be "blessed" with anixety then to have ANY kind of health issue on top of it, well it just really makes us crazy at times.

[PVC man]

I would not label these feelings at all as an OCD, or hypochondrical situation; having had PVCs most of my life I really get upset if someone labels it this way. In my opinion, if you feel like your heart is going to up and stop 3,000 times in a day, YOU DAMN WELL ARE GOING TO BECOME ANXIOUS.Anyone who doesnt have anxiety with 3,000 of these things is either a nut or a liar.

These symptoms are real and VERY uncomfortable, and so labelling these feelings as a "phobia" or an "OCD" is like saying someone has a "phobia" or is obsessed with  pain because they have a bad arthitis.

Let's stop giving this reponse to this a negative connotation...

LOL...I guess I have strong feelings on this one...just one guy's opinion...

[Mom2four85]

I'm like Ireneo; they've been such a part of my life that I got used to them just like fainting

I could be the poster child for Arrhythmia's..36 years and counting...I've had just about every arrhthmia there is caught on some test or other except AFib and yes my heart has stopped and guess what? it keeps on going...

you know what bothers me more than feeling pvc's, pac's svt vt etc? not being able to walk; going out & the fear of tripping or falling on something or my family history of cancer... ugh that scares the heck out of me...weird huh?

[dolphin8808]

PVC Man ~ I had anxiety long before my PVCs /PACs came into the picture and I often focuse don health issues prior too any of this. So with me, yes it is a form of OCD / hypochondria. Just like Mom2four85 has had montiors catching thousands and thousands per day and yet her fears lie somewhere else. I have met many people with skips who either are not afraid of them or just do not care about them. Maybe some of us are just more jarred by them and it makes us question our own mortality? Either way, they freak me out and I am 100% cardiophobic.

Mom2four85, You are such a fighter! My family history of cancer scares me too.

[hesterbox]

I am more afraid of the dizziness, breathlessness and faintness that I had with WPW-the worst episodes  felt like imminent sudden death to me. Once it was over I would be relieved and mostly forget about it.
I certainly don't like feeling arhythmmias and racing heart, but for me they nearly always stopped of there own accord so I just expected that they would.
I thought of them more as a nuisance than scary.
Howver my last experience was fast atrial fibrilation which went on for four hours, most of that time in the Hospital Emergency Department. I was very scared, but I could still have a laugh with the staff and my husband.
( My heart went back into normal rhythm after an hour of intavenous Flecanaide)
After this experience I was much more scared of the possibilityof racing heartbeats but I was on flecanaide and metoprolol for 3 weeks and then had my ablation.
During the waiting time on the drugs I was mostly frustrated with how exhausted and yuck I felt from the metoprolol. My heart felt like a heavy trapped bird in my chest and I didn't much like that feeling.
Now that it is getting better I am noticing it less and less and getting on with my life more.
I have found that it is important to do things that take my mind off me and my problems and that make me happy. Feeling useful makes a difference for me too.