Anyone have a fear of high blood pressure and having a stroke/heart attack? My BP usually is great. But over the past week or so it’s been up. My “high” readings have been 141/91 and 132/94. I am currently taking clonidine. Once in the morning and once at night. Anybody else have these readings?
I struggle with health anxiety ocd as well and 7 years ago, I struggled precisely with this problem. I was taking my blood pressure every few minutes worried I had an irregular heartbeat. It got so bad the monitor started messing up and I rushed to get another one late at night from the pharmacy. I later talked about it with the therapist I was seeing at the time and they encouraged me to refrain from checking my vitals as it was contributing to the anxiety. I'm not sure if you're in a position where it's medically acceptable for you to stop checking your BP since you're on medication and maybe your doctor advised you to check your Bp but based on my experience, checking (seeking reassurance) only breeds more obsession and compulsions and heightens anxiety. Those readings may be "high" due to the anxiety of checking. I probably shouldn't give you reassurance but if I was in your shoes I'd probably would need some so I'll say this: those readings aren't as high as your ocd bully would like you to believe for you to have a stroke or heart attack. So much more goes into those events and I've seen my mom's BP claim way higher than that and she's never had a stroke or heart attack (despite being afraid of that possibility too) and she's 70 yrs old. Hang in there
Hi, yes…. I have High BP too. Make sure to talk to your doctor and take medication as prescribed. It maybe helpful to read about stroke and heart attack symptoms to reduce your fear. There are also blood pressure charts that highlights which range are dangerous.
Does anyone have health anxiety fears around heart attacks, strokes, seizures, etc. basically fear of passing out or dying suddenly? Do you get physical symptoms such as headaches, chest pains m, lightheadedness etc? What has helped you?
I never realized this was OCD, but i constantly check my bp and i always have my fingers to my neck checking my pulse. I am terrified to die and Im scared to go to sleep at night because I feel like I won’t wake up. I also get really bad headache and feel like it’s a tumor. I feel like I’m going crazy
Hi. I have been having extreme anxiety about passing out and fainting. I constantly am checking my blood pressure and heart rate and last week I passed out and went to the hospital. But it turns out it was just stress all my tests were clean. This happens especially when driving feeling faint and anxious. It’s causing me to have high blood pressure. If you go through the same thing what do you do to help yourself? Or coach yourself through it? It’s been a struggle lately.
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