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?

The past two days I've been spiraling with fearing that I'm going to have a heart attack. I (23 years old) read about the Ms teen universe Lotte who died from one and she was only 19. I've been diagnosed with GERD so whenever my chest gets tight I immediately have an anxiety attack. I'm not sure how to get myself to not think I'm dying every other hour.

I’ve had many different intrusive thoughts over the years, but I can’t seem to shake this obsession with my heart. I continually think it’s going to just stop or that it can’t handle being elevated. I don’t even have family history of heart disease or heart attack or anything of the sort. I keep myself healthy between exercise and diet. I’ve reassured myself a million ways from Sunday. I saw a cardiologist once, years ago, who reassured me that my heart palpitations were nothing to be afraid of. I try to look at every workout as an exposure, pushing myself to trust my heart and ignore the thoughts. But sometimes I just want to relax and enjoy dinner with my boyfriend or being out with my friends without ruminating over what would happen if I had a heart attack in the restaurant, the bar, where’s the nearest hospital, can I trust the people I’m with to know what to do, etc. It’s exhausting.

So I’ve been suffering with intense health anxiety for a few years now, and just recently I learned it may be caused by OCD. It’s to the point where every time I get a headache I start to freak out, scared that I could be having an aneurysm. I am far too worried about having a stroke or heart attack for being 21. I can’t even enjoy a casual, relaxing hot shower anymore. I have to slowly increase the temperature when getting in and slowly decrease the shower while getting out because I am afraid that any drastic temperature change can give me a heart attack. I know deep down that these fears are illogical, but no matter how often I get them they still feel just as real every time. I try to reason with myself, but every time I feel mild discomfort in my body I can’t help but freak out. I am so tired of checking my face in the mirror for symptoms of stroke every time I get a headache or feel a weird sensation in my body. Every other day of the week I force myself to stay awake for a certain period of time because I’m scared if I go to sleep I won’t wake up. I get hymnic jerks every single night (where you jolt awake when drifting to sleep) because my brain is so occupied with making sure I’m staying alive that it jolts me awake because my body is trying to sleep while my mind stays awake. It’s so difficult for me to pay attention during lectures because I get so caught up in my health anxiety that I’m focusing on grounding techniques in order to keep myself from hyperventilating. I spend more time making sure I can understand the words my professor is saying to make sure I’m not having a stroke than actually paying attention to the lectures. Another thing I struggle with is having to count my medication every time before I take it to make sure I didn’t accidentally take two or more doses, even if I KNOW I only took one. I have to count them anyways otherwise my mind will convince me I overdosed. It will not stop until I count my medication and make sure I didn’t overdose. It’s honestly so tiring, and the sad part is that my health anxiety has actually gotten better. It was even worse before now, and everything I’ve listed is stuff that I still do. Does anyone else have this struggle? Because it feels so isolating and makes me feel like I’m going crazy.