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.

[dlr108]

I have this alot now i think it all started when the reports of footballers having sudden death while playing football became more freguent then last year i started to get ectopic beats the more forcefull they are the more i have anxiety attacks which then makes them worse thonk i have ocd because i google heart problems all the time i downloaded a heart rate app on my phone which i check all the time ive read that this is a sign of anxiety disorder i have being trying to ignire these beats

[SARABELL5454]

I understand completely. I actually find myself "waiting" for the big cardiac event that is going to kill me. I have NSVT, SVT and pvc.  My heart is structurally fine so no one is all that concerned. To say that this is ruining my life is an understatement. I really feel for you.

[dolphin8808]

I have to agree with all of you. If I had a bad day, it puts me in "super aware" mode for days after. Then I will clam down then BAM it hits again. SO frustrating and very scary. My decisions are also based around my heart a lot of times. Not only foods and drinks, but meds, activities, all of it. Its very frustrating and saddening to say the least. Being so aware of my heart at times is also exhausting.

[DeltaDawn23]

Afib has changed my life completely.  Everything revolves around it -- activities, trips.  If I have a really a bad day, it affects me for several days.  I am better than I used to be after 10 years, but it still is very debilitating.

[weakestlink]

OMG you have no idea how much my life has been destroyed.  I have had these for over 20 years and I live in terror every day.

[Gulfstream2]

Hey,

Yeah its pretty damn annoying to be honest, the thing is, the only palpitations I had were from those anxiety episodes and and just experiencing them got me worried about my heart, nervous about exercising (which is not like me at all, sixteen months before I was weight lifting, and swimming pretty much everyday) and feeling uncertain, horrible!

I kept worrying about my heart rhythm, and finally one day found my grandmother's stethoscope (she was a nurse) and listened to my heartbeat even though whilst doing my own auscultation I was nerve-racked but I heard it beating perfectly normally - although fast, lub-dubbin' away. That pretty much put my cardiac neurosis to rest, I'd say 85% of it anyway.
I can only get out just two days per week to go walking, which I do, although only once this past week since there was some other tasks to take care of.

If I'm totally distracted, reading, watching something on television or out walking, I'm just peachy. But when I'm sitting indoors, in a rather apathetic environment, my mind can go wander and I suppose that's where I being getting these occasional blips of worry. Frustrating and ridiculous if you ask me. I wonder if boredome can bring about some degree of anxiety? It must in some way, I just was NOT like this before, when I had things to do andcould actually go places on my own accord.

In summary, distraction is a virtue for those who have nothing to do but worry, LOL.