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Indeed! Can't hurt to try something new! I'm definitely trying! Meditation and Mindfullness has been such a massive help the past few months in reducing stress levels and generally trying to get life back on track, I can't help but share things in the hope that someone else might find things useful too!

Yes, totally agree with all of that Jonathan! It's all very individual and very likely won't work for everyone. I've actually passed it on to a few friends and family. Some it works, others are very much in the mindset that anything to do with the mind is rubbish and they need pills from a doctor to feel better. And like you say, it'll never beat a one on one assessment and treatment plan, but it could be worth trying for the sake of a 15 minute video on youtube. You have to really believe that it can help for it to actually help.

Morning all! I've posted before about coping techniques and generally what I'm trying to do to improve my anxiety. Meditation and various mental/wellbeing techniques seem to make so much difference, I thought I would share this one with you that has been surprisingly effective for me and others I know. Pre-warning, I apologise for the below, it sounds like I'm getting commission for this or something because I'm talking like an advert. It's called the Havening Technique and I found out about it by reading the Paul McKenna book '3 Things that will Change your Destiny", which I REALLY recommend to those who are open to this type of thing (you need to be open to meditation/hynosis etc, if you go in thinking it's a load of rubbish and not thinking it'll work it may not help much). While doing it the first time, you feel pretty stupid. Rubbing your arms and moving your eyes. But it really seems to work (it's been used a lot on people with PTSD apparently). One example from myself, is that I've never, in my whole life (I'm 28 now), been able to swallow tablets, regardless of how small they are. There was something in my mind blocking me. I'd put a tablet in my mouth and it would just sit there until I spat it out after going through about 3 glasses of water trying to get it down. So I sat down and done about half an hour of the Havening Technique (you just keep doing it over and over until the feeling is gone). This was about 3 months ago, and since then I've swallowed probably near 100 tablets, first time, every time. It's insane. I've gone through 28 years of not swallowing tablets. I do half an hour of this thing and that issue is gone. The book is great as it explains the technique and the science behind it. But just the technique is on youtube too if you want to just give it a try: I'd love to know if anyone tries it and what you think!

Morning all! An interesting one here, that I've noticed in myself, and wonder if others do to. It's probably the worst thing you can do (other than Googling symptoms of course), but I find myself increasing the intensity of my symptoms in order to seem sicker to both myself, and others around me. For example, if I feel tired, I'll act more tired so others know I'm tired. One I've noticed today, I have a headache/earache which I'm sure is throwing off my balance, so even though my balance is actually fine and I can walk straight no problem, I seem to find myself subconsciously tripping over my feet or walking into walls and things like that. Things that just make me look worse to the outside world. I've noticed I do this quite a lot and it probably adds to the anxiety because even though I know I'm doing it myself, just the fact that I did trip over my feet then obviously means something is wrong. Does anyone else do this?

Yeah I've always struggled to take pills in any form. So tend not to. If I need paracetamol I'll try take one of those cold and flu drinks that contain it so I dont have to take pills. This scalp tenderness is really bothering me. Woke up and it's still there today. It's been a couple of days now. At the back left of my scalp, somewhat near my left ear. If I move my head too quickly, or brush over the area it's really sensitive. Apparently there are lymp nodes on your scalp, so maybe thats what it is. Maybe I did/do have an ear infection or something like that and just have swollen lymp nodes in that area. I hope it's gone when I wake up again tomorrow.

Yep that sounds about right! The more I think about not being able to breath as well as I normally can the worse it seems to get!

Hey! Shortness of breath is a common symptom isn't it? I sometimes worry that I'm developing some kind of lung condition, pneumonia or something like that when I seem to struggle for breath a little more than normal.

Thanks both of you! yeah that allcsounds exactly right! Nowhere near excruciating pain. Just a dull ache. And very tense everywhere. I also never really think to take any pain killers or anything.

Hey! Not too bad of a week really. But this morning I woke up with some wisdom tooth pain. Either that or a bit of an ear infection. Generally some pain in that side of my face/gums/ear area. But it's also given me a bit of a headache at the back left of my head. Annoying thing is it seems really sensitive. It hurts more if I touch my head, or accidentally brush over it. to me now that's some kind of infection rather than just a headache. And I'm constantly feeling all the lumps and bumps on my skull thinking they're abnormal, and feeling sure that I can feel a soft lump where it hurts to touch. obviously this means a brain infection/abcess/cancer. also annoying that I (obviously) googled toothache, and came across an article saying it can be a sign of heart attack. No matter how obscure that link may be, you know how bad I worry about my heart. ?

I totally get that too. "almost always"... so that means I'm an outside case here. Not one of the many that count in the almost always.

Thanks! I hadn't really thought of that as an option. It seems more like an inconvenience if I start messaging people asking for help. I often wonder the same. This is the first year I've actually spoken about it with people and it seems to help, but then I also feel like I don't want to talk to people at the same time. Thinking that I'm inconveniencing them, or that simply talking about it too much might make me think I have issues more than I actually do.

Those are some very good points! I do feel sometimes that I shouldn't keep coming here too, because reading too much about problems adds to the anxiety. ive just started trying to journal. Haven't quite got the hang of it yet but it does seem to help! Very good points about don't rely on other people. Thanks!

Evening all! Do any of you visit other sites/forums? Or have support in actual real life? i sometimes find myself visiting here and it's quite quiet, which during an attack, when you're looking for someone to talk to can make it worse to feel alone and isolated. I sometimes click on chat when I really feel like I want to talk to someone and I see that I'm the only person in the chat room. This site is an amazing resource and you're all a great help! But if anyone visits anywhere else in addition it would be great to know what else is out there

I'm always picking phrases out of paragraphs and interpreting them in the opposite ways. I just read this paragraph for example about skipped heart beats: These premature beats are almost always benign, meaning they aren't life-threatening or the sign of a heart attack in the making Guess which bit I saw first? yup... "sign of a heart attack"

Sitting on a medicine ball seems interesting, I have seen people do it before, saying it helps posture. Maybe I'll give it a go one day.

Something I've wondered, and tried to look into, is whether having poor posture can trigger, or generally increases anxiety. I work on a computer for 10+ hours a day. I'm often slouched, hunched over, bent back, twisted body. I have absolutely terrible posture. And having that posture for 10+ hours a day, 7 days a week, can't be healthy. I wonder if that in itself is partly the cause of my anxiety so am trying to resolve it by noticing when I'm sitting poorly and adjusting, improving the work environment, and probably most importantly, trying to start exercising (10+ hours sitting down, and no exercise whatsoever) to strengthen my core muscles and hopefully offset the poor posture with strong muscles that try to keep me in the correct position. Does anyone else have similar experiences/thoughts? And anything similar you've tried to resolve it?

Always the case. Everything is always a symptom of anxiety. But this time "what if this time it's not just anxiety". Every. Time. Its always exaggerating symptoms to match the symptom list too. Heart attacks for example. The traditional "Crushing" chest pain. Unbearable, the worst pain you've ever had. I'll have the tiniest twinge of pain, probably a 0.01/10 on the pain scale. And immediately, that's the signature crushing chest pain and I'm having a heart attack.

I can relate to that! It's the most frustrating thing about it! I can laugh at myself, knowing it's ridiculous, but im so certain at the same time

Keep doing that, you'll be ok a strain and worry of clots/stroke is actually what triggered me this time round, so I know where you're coming from. Just be gentle with it. Rest and relax. It might ache for a few days. If it will make you feel better to see a doctor then do (to check that the sprain is healing ok rather than for worry of a stroke etc).

Hey Hey! So as you're probably aware by now, my heart is always my main trigger/worry. And I always think I have something. Even though I don't match the symptoms. Just one. I'd imagine most of us are the same? For example. a list of heart symptoms might be: chest pain, fast pulse, dizziness, breathless, tiredness, etc etc. Out of those I'll just have the fast rate. None of the others. But just having one is enough to make me think I have it. Anyone else the same?

I don't want trigger anyone, but literally ANY sprain/strain/break can clot and cause a strokes. It's incredibly rare, and unlikely, but I say it because you shouldn't worry that just because it's your neck.

Thanks Holls! That sounds like such a good moment, and hopefully we can all get to that point of realisation that the thoughts aren't real at some point. Sooner rather than later.

Thank you everyone! @Angelica Schuyler, @Holls (Haha I figure it out too!). I really appreciate it. And I hope it'll do something to help at least. Hope everyone's families with actual afib are all ok seems like the speed is actually the main symptom of that that you say. Whereas mine is more the worry of constant skipped beats than the rate. So thank you! Hopefully this cycle of anxiety won't last long.

I know what that's like. It's exhausting. Right now I have heart disease (a.fib), pneumonia, lung cancer, a few different infections, and to top it all off... Sepsis. This is a funny one. I've had Sepsis since July. Pretty sure I'd be dead by now if I did.

Thanks everyone. Dry air sounds exactly right. But of course it never actually helps to know. Any idea if heart conditions come in waves? Or are they constant? That's the only positive I can take at the minute, I have weeks of feeling great. If I actually had Atrial Fib, would it be more constant?