Anybody struggle with their heart health? I’m constantly worried about a heart attack. I keep feeling like my left arm hurts and I’ll continually press on it and think about the way it feels. I check my pulse constantly. Any slight feeling in my chest that isn’t “normal” freaks me out. I also keep thinking that I can’t breathe deep enough. I’ve started avoided eating because I don’t wanna eat foods with fat or something that could give me heart attack. I’m 18 and there’s no way I could be having a heart attack. What can I do to get over this?

I have this fear too. I’m constantly monitoring my symptoms by testing my heart rate and blood pressure. The fact that I get panic attacks makes it a lot worse. Exposures definitely help. Some of the exposures I’ve done include reading about heart attacks, reading stories about non fatal heart attacks, reading stories about fatal heart attacks, writing “I might have a heart attack,” doing activities that make my heart race without a heart monitor on (running up the stairs, etc. ), watching videos of heart attacks, reading the symptoms of heart attacks, telling people I might have a heart attack, etc. Hope this helped

ERP!!

@Hlr is absolutely right. I suffer from this fear as well, and the only thing that has helped me calm it down quite a lot (mind you, this was probably one of my biggest obsessions) is exposure. Reading heart attack stories / news on cardiovascular disease and try not to resist the anxiety that comes up, as well as watching videos of people having heart attacks and suddenly dying (yes, it was hard as HELL!). It paid off in the end. I’m not over it 100%, but I must say, it’s way better than before.

Thank you for the advice