Can the vagus maneuver kill you?

[allanevans17]

I have anxiety and paranoid about health issues especially relating to the heart. Can you accidentally get hit in the neck or somehow accidentally stimulate the vagus nerve and kill yourself? Or slow your heart rate and lower blood preassure and kill yourself if you just so happen to massage your neck because it feels good?

[Foggy2]

No problem...that's what I'm here for. :-)

[allanevans17]

Thank you I appreciate your help :)

[Foggy2]

Rubbing it or itching it is different from massaging the area that stimulates the vagus nerve; there is a specific area.  So I wouldn't worry about accidentally touching this area since we all touch or rub or scratch our necks all the time and we are fine (we don't drop dead).

So don't worry about it.  Let me know if you have any additional questions.

[allanevans17]

I'm aware that it doesn't help anxiety and that it's possible if you try your best to stimulate it but can you actually "accidentally" trigger it or stimulate it on accident without going out of your way to rub it can it kill you? Like what if you have an itch on your neck right on the nerve and you rub it for a few seconds? Is it actually easy to danger yourself from this maneuver? Iv had a cardiology workup with tons of tests and apparently everything's fine.

[Foggy2]

@ allanevans17,

The answer is yes.  If you manually stimulate (massage) the vagus nerve, it "can" slow the heart rate down in people with some types of cardiac problems, and it is "possible" to cause death.  I do not recommend doing this even if you are healthy, as you never know what can happen.

If you suffer from panic attacks that are caused by anxiety, this is not the way to control it...it is far to dangerous.  You need to see a health care provider for further assistance.

[flipper336]

No, you can not kill yourself by stimulating the Vagus Nerve.There is a device that people with seizures can get implanted in their chest that when it goes off stimulates the vagus nerve. The one I have implanted goes off or stimulates my nerve for 30 seconds every 3 minutes. If you would like you can look up the device. It is called a Vagus nerve stimulation or VNS for short.