Hello everyone, I am a middle aged man of 41 and I am a bit overweight. Starting in 2012, I used to jog over 50 miles per week and my resting heart rate was in the low 50s. I used to work a lot (16 hour shifts) from home but would always exercise. My heart started skipping beats in 2014 and I started having panic attacks. At first, once a week but at my worst, they were 4-5 a day. I quit my job, took a couple months off, meanwhile I stopped jogging because I feared it would cause my heart to skip beats and launch me into another panic attack episode. Then I moved to another city. When I moved, I had to carry heavy items over a few hours and for a couple of days after I had moved, my heart skipped a beat every 30 seconds or so. Everytime I would get an adrenaline rush, I could feel my heart beat like it was about to explode and that pounding in my throat. After a few days, the skipping subsided and became rarer, usually 10 times a day now. Sometimes, it goes away altogether for days but always comes back. I saw a doctor and my EKG says I am fine. I have mild high pressure but I am terrorized to pick up jogging again as everytime my heart rate goes up, I get scared and everything spirals down and it ends up in a panic attack. I tried to hit the gym last year and was into it but unlike back in 2013, I couldn't do more than 3 repetitions, separated by 5-10 minute breaks because everytime I lifted something, my heart would skip a beat. Then my heart rate would go up and driving back home would send me into 3-4 panic attacks back to back.
I also noticed that the last few times I went jogging, my heart rate would stay in the 90s for 2-3 hours after which didn't happen in 2012.
So now I am terrorized of making any physical effort and I don't know what to do. Doctors tell me my heart is ok but I don't believe them because I feel like crap everytime do something physical.
Now, by feeling like crap, I mean the heart rate, the thumping, heart skipping.
No heart flutter (I used to get those but they havent happened in over 2 years now and they didn't last longer than 2-3 seconds at a time), no shortness of breath, no dizziness, no chest, neck or arm pain.
Now I don't know what to do. Any kind of sport scares me. I need help. Thanks.
J.