tarn

I've had heart palps for years and years, they come and go, some days are worse. Too much caffeine affects me the worst and of course stressful days, although the palps seem to be an after thought, more likely to happen once I'm sitting and resting. Adrenalin definitely sets mine off, if I get over excited, boom my heart does a little jig! sometimes it feels like its pounding out of my chest, other times it feels like its fluttering like a butterfly, sometimes it feels like its speeding 100 miles an hour! it usually stops me in my tracks makes me take a deep breath and pause for a min, then I carry on as usual. I've had ones that are big enough I thought I might pass out but I never have, so that's prob just my mind playing tricks on me!

Hey Gilly, thanks for this, you always know the right things to say and it helps immensely. One thing I always wonder about is with all the health anxiety I have been through and thinking about all the nasty diseases dr google told me I had there is one in particular I can't let go of! it terrifies me and I can't help relate my symptoms to it. Every time I hear about this one disease I panic, I feel sick, I have become obsessed by it but avoid it at every turn. Why have I convinced myself that my symptoms are from this disease in particular! I'm so afraid of it. and when I hear about its symptoms I develop them. When I brought it up with my doctor she asked me how my balance was and I was like fine, because it was, but since she asked me my balance has been bad, slightly off, I don't know whether I'm causing it by overthinking it. I had one sway in my balance which made me panic and now I feel like I'm analysing my balance every time I move! How do I let go of this? I'm so tired of it!

me, Gale, I do! Like you I'm sick of it...the fatigue is horrible, I feel like I'm wasting my life being tired all the time. I sleep whenever I can, sometimes sleeping my weekends away. I get the heat sensations also, mostly in my right foot and toes (who knows why its there) sometimes in my upper right back/shoulder. I sit on my chair at work and feel myself sway and think its an earthquake. I get twitches in my fingers - both hands. I get feelings like bugs are crawling on my skin. I've been dealing with this stuff coming up 2 years now. It comes and goes and at times it seems to have gone away then boom its back. I too wonder if its something else wrong with me, I try not to let that thought take ground because I know that's the spiral back into despair but its hard sometimes. I'm constantly reassuring myself its just anxiety, its just anxiety!

Hi Amanda, I get it too, its like jolts, it happens to my legs, arms, head everywhere really, its weird but doesn't bother me too much! Its sort of like our nerves are back firing.

I can't read the news or watch it on the tv. I can't bear to hear anyone talk about any health conditions at all. Lately I have heard about a few horror stories, and I can't get them off my mind. Its horrible. Everyone else around me seems to brush these stories off, with a few 'oh that's sad' then they move on. I can't do that. I think about them for days, wonder how the person must have felt, how their family must have felt, how I would feel if it were me, omg, what if it happens to me. Try as I may to brush it off, it just lingers there, occupying my every free thought. I'm sick and tired of anticipating doom. Does this ever go away... I convince myself my symptoms are anxiety, then I convince myself they are some dreadful hideous thing, then I convince myself they are anxiety, then I convince myself they are some dreadful hideous thing, then I convince myself they are anxiety - and on and on and on!!! welcome to my roller-coaster!

I took Magnesium for the muscle spasms seemed to help a lot.

I get twitches a lot, my whole leg or foot or hand or finger or arm will just move - its so fast I don't even see it, but I feel it, then I stare at the area intently for a few minutes waiting for it to happen again. Its worse when I'm stressed! If I'm really nervous my fingers twitch wildly its horrible.

I get the heart palps too. They can be very scary. I've had them for years and also had ECGs, halter monitors etc and all was normal. Some days are worse I'll get heaps then other days not so many, some days none at all. Mine come anytime at rest, or at play. They happen when I'm scared, excited, exercising, any thing that encourages adrenalin will bring them on. I can't drink too much coffee that sets them off too. I nearly always get them when I exercise - this is quite normal, cardio exercise actually releases stress hormones, I don't know exactly how it all works, but with stress hormones comes adrenalin...then the adrenalin sets of the heart palps! I would say this is one of the more common anxiety symptoms.

omg I get them too!!! have done for years. I've had ECGs, Halter Monitors etc, They are annoying at times. Sometimes they are like little butterflies, fluttering in my chest, sometimes its like a sudden 'thud' and other times it feels like my heart races at 1million beats a min. Occasionally they stop me in my tracks, it sort of feels like I might faint, but I think that's more the adrenalin rush that comes with them. Or like I need to take a deep breath to stop it. They usually only last a few seconds. I have had them wake me up in the night a couple of times, that's always a bit disconcerting, but I've come to know them as a part of my anxiety now. I've talked to people who don't have anxiety and even they get them from time to time. I think those of us with health anxiety worry about them more so tend to get them more often.

Thanks guys, where would I be without you all. It means the world to me to have you all here for support. You have put my mind at ease and now I can focus on helping my daughter through her dp and anxiety. Much love to you all :-) x

Hi everyone, I'm hoping someone here can help me. My daughter has recently started suffering from depersonalization. Shes 17 and has mild teenage anxiety, she worry's alot about school, friends etc the normal stuff. But when shes stressed she has these really scary episodes were she says she feels like shes not real, or shes outside her body looking in. Its like she can go in and out of it within seconds. The episodes usually only last a short time a few seconds, but its terrifying for her. Is it some sort of panic attack? It really frightens her. And its really frightening me. I have terrible health anxiety so of course I panicking that this is a serious thing shes going to have to deal with. I feel guilty that my anxiety has probably caused her to have anxiety. I have no idea what depersonalization is and I refuse to google it into any depth because I don't want to scare myself. I need to have some understanding of it, so I can help her through it. Please if you suffer from this and can help me I would really appreciate it. :-)

thanks Jon and mark, this is so true I am so open to suggestion I can't even hear about a disease without checking my symptoms to see if I have any that match. It's exhausting! If my husband is watching something on the news and they start talking about a story of a young person being stricken down with an incurable disease, I find myself going to another room and putting my fingers on my ears and humming because I just can't bear to hear about it, I can't risk hearing anything that might make me think I might have it. It's so stupid. I don't want to think like this, and some days I feel ok and reason with myself quite well, other days not so well. One day at at time I suppose ?

I have the dvt fear also. I recently started taking the pill again and since I've been on it I've obsessed about dvt, even been and had a check for a sore leg, didimer test, ultra sound scan the works. I didn't have one. I'm Thinking about stopping the pill because I just cant stop obsessing, its wearing me out. I hate having health anxiety it really makes me angry, its one obsession after another, arrrrrrrrhhhhh!!!!! While scanning the internet tonight looking up if the pill was dangerous I came across an article about how it can contribute to ms, another major fear of mine so now I'm definitely sure I'm giving it up I just cant cope with all the fear. Feeling really low right now.

Hey Okmom, I know that stress triggers mine, absolutely 100%, there isn't a doubt in my mind. If I'm stressed they come back. My symptoms got better when I changed how I thought about them. When I hated them, fought with them, avoided them, ignored them, screamed at them they stayed, they fought back, they screamed back they did everything they could to annoy me and frighten me. When I decided to accept them as nothing more than anxiety, as nothing more than over sensitised nerves (as Mark G said) then they stopped coming. They just went away. My symptoms, where do I start; burning skin, tingling skin, muscle twitches, muscle aches, muscle spasms, finger spasms, finger twitches, foot twitches, feeling like bugs crawling on my skin, pins and needles in my head, lighting bolts in my head, back ache, tight sore muscles, heart palpitations, vibrating chest muscles, feeling like I'm falling or swaying side to side, I'm sure I'm forgetting some! They come back from time to time, I've learnt now that this is always when I need a break when I'm over stressed. Like right now my thigh is burning as I type to you, haha goss darn it. There are moments when I think 'OMG' what does this mean, whats wrong with me, but I shake it off and go, you know what, I know what this is, darn anxiety...I need a break. I need to rest and look after myself. And I come on AC and get some reassurance from you lovely folk :-)

Thanks T :-) Yes I did get my symptoms checked...it took about 7 trips to the doctors for them to take me seriously, they kept saying it was nothing. This only made the anxiety worse because I turned to google for information and fed my symptoms, after a week google searching I had diagnosed myself with all sorts of awful disorders, it was such a terrible time, I cry thinking about it. It took constant persistance on my part before I was finally referred to a Neurologist - who told me 100% anxiety! That put my mind at ease for about a day then I went back to worrying, lol... With the help of AC I worked through my physical symptoms and managed to overcome them. I only did this by truely accepting them as anxiety and nothing more. It was crazy as soon as I truely believed it was anxiety, they almost went away overnight. It's the most bizarre thing. I thought I had fixed myself, yay, no more physical symptoms. But since then I've realised as soon as I'm stressed, busy, etc they start to come back. I think of them as warning signals now that I need rest and relaxation. When they come back I can always sit and look back over the last few weeks and see the triggers. It's like lightbulb moments. I'll realise I had been freaking out because my dad is sick, or worrying about money, or worrying about something at work. And I start to realise 'ok, I've been taking on too much, I've been worrying too much'! Its time to add in some relaxation time. I find it hard to take stuff out of my life, I have stress, I have worry's I can't eliminate them, but I can add in time for me. Somewhere even 5 mins, time to breath and just be in the moment, it's not always easy but if I don't my anxiety will just explode. I still have the odd moments when I freak and think what if the doctors are wrong, what if, what if, what if....but I remind myself that this is all part of anxiety and I come on AC and talk to you guys, it always makes me feel better and less alone in my own worrying mind! :-)

Hi Okmom, I totally understand I get sick of the physical symptoms too. You just have to remember we are all here and you are not alone. I know it feels like you are sometimes. I'm currently dealing with all my symptoms coming back. They went away for awhile which was nice, but now the burning, twitching, buzzing is making a come back and it sucks. I hate it. And the more i hate it, the more it comes back...grrrrr! I try to remind myself that my physical symptoms are my bodies way of telling me I need to rest, to slow down and take a good look at my stress levels. I know we cannot all eliminate stress, it is a part of life, but we can take small steps to take a bit of extra care of ourselves. Like a relaxing bath, or 5 mins a day to do breathing exercises. Whatever you can fit in. I'm going to do this for myself too. I have plenty of stress right now, things are tough and my bodies screaming at me, slow down, rest and give yourself a break. I'm screaming back 'I don't have time to rest, I don't have time to have a break'....but I have to find the time I have to listen or its going to keep screaming louder and louder and LOUDER! We need to recognise it as a gift a warning signal as such. One thing I have realised with Anxiety is we are very in tune with our bodies, we hear every whisper, we Definitely hear every scream, but what we don't do is listen and make steps to change. We try to ignore it, wishing it away...but that never works. I'm choosing to listen and welcome the physical symptoms as my bodies way of getting me to slow down, relax and percieve differently. Try the time out, try the breathing exercises and I will too. Let me know how you get on. Much love :-)

thanks Julia :-) my bloods came back positive so i'm having the scan. Hopefully there is no clot...been here before and there was no clot, so fingers crossed its the same this time. I'm trying not to overthink it all. I'll let you know how I get on :-)

i went to the docs today because my leg is sore. He is sending me for a d-dimer test to rule out blood clots. I had one of these tests a couple of years ago because of a sore leg and the d-dimer came back positive, but no clot was found on the scan. At the time I thought all was ok. I asked him about it today while I was there, how come it was positive but there was no clot and he told me that sometimes they can be positive because of other things happening in your body...ie, infection, recent surgery, c****r....OMG WHAT! c****r! now my palms are sweating, my heart is racing, my hands are twitching because I"m thinking this new d-dimer will probably be positive, i probably won't have a blood clot in my leg (which is obviously a good thing) but I'm going to freak out that I have c****r. The doc seemed very vague about it, like well, we can't really say, we wouldn't investigate unless you had other symptoms. So I"m wondering well what other symptoms do I have. Maybe my twitching and anxiety symptoms burning skin etc has been signs of something else....omg has anyone else has positive d-dimers??? I'm really freaked out by it all.

I have a complete 100% google ban for anything health related. You have to commit to that, make the decision and just don't do it. Its hard because we want to know, we want reassurance that we're ok. However, I know, if i google i'll ignore the 10 messages that I'm fine and I'll focus on the 1 message that is doom. So I just don't do it eva!!! I learnt that lesson the hard way :-)

thanks guys, I appreciate the encouraging words. arrrrh its just so annoying. I've stoppped counting today because they seem to be coming every few minutes, all day long. I am very stressed right now and I think this is causing it. I felt close to a panic attack last night. My chest felt tight and I was having trouble swallowing, then I had that horrible overwhelming feeling like any minute I am going to lose control, pass out and embarrasse myself. I was at dinner with extended family, so I tried very hard to ignore how I was feeling and I managed to calm down and was fine, but it certainly made me think, wow, I need to de-stress because my anxiety is flaring up. Now all day today heart palp after heart palp. I could just cry. I already have so much going on. I don't have time to slow down and de-stress. Why does anxiety have to make an already difficult time even more difficult...

I often get heart palpitations when I'm stressed but today I have had so many I'm starting to worry that there’s something wrong with my heart. I have had about 20 to 30 small ones this morning along. I'm trying to do my breathing exercises and relax but it’s getting beyond a joke. I usually get one or two a week. I have had a particularly stressful week. My elderly dad had a fall and ended up in hospital and my husband has been having seizures (he has epilepsy). Plus a whole lot of other family stresses etc. I guess it’s just a build-up of all of that. But does 20 odd in one morning seem excessive.

Try magnesium helped my sleep a lot. I swear by it, sleep like a baby now :-)

haha thanks Jon. I love that normal is 25% of what is heard and 50% of what is seen. I'm probably working on a 5% heard, 25% seen ratio at the moment. There is just not enough room for it all and 75% of my brain is filled with my own thoughts, lol! To much thinking not enough listening I think. Thanks for the advice as always on point! :-)

Hi Guys anyone else on AC find their memory suffers when anxiety is bad. My anxiety is flaring up again and I'm starting to get some symptoms back - heat sensations, twitching etc. But I've also found when my anxiety flares my memory is shocking. I think right 'I must do that', then I'm like 'what was I doing again'...grrrrr - very annoying. I also find myself lost in thought alot. I find it hard to concentrate in meetings and to really listen to what people are talking to me about.

I hope you're feeling better Memphis. Dealing with new symptoms is always a challenge. I know with my anxiety symptoms, sometimes my hands shake or twitch and before it starts it feels like a surg of pressure building up - then bam it hits and my hand twitches. I think this is the adrenalin, sounds like this is happening behind your eyes. As for twitching eyelids, been there, done that. I even wrote a post about it on AC becasue it was scarying me so much. It was totally stress and lack of sleep.