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 dealt with this for so long. During my first pregnancy my blood pressure was monitored and for the following 4 years I irrationally took my blood pressure obsessively and became so focused on symptoms of heart disease or anything related. I had such bad anxiety and it would manifest with chest tightness, tingling, light headedness, and so many other signs of what looks like high blood pressure or stroke or whatever. None of it was. I was fine and still am and am 99% over this obsession. You can be too.

I say you need to get to a counselor or a doctor. These thoughts are serious and they can lead to irrational actions! I recommend going to habit reversal training or something of the sort, they can help you and you will have much more peace!

I’m curious what makenna means by irrational actions and habit reversal training.

@anjuli habit reversal training is typically used for tourettes but can be used for OCD as well! Basically you take the habit (compulsion) you can’t stop and you find something to replace it, or you can squeeze a part of your body and it intercepts the brain flow sometimes and distRacts you! And by irrational actions I mean harming yourself because you don’t want to deal with it anymore, or taking meds you don’t need because you think it will help, compulsions can really cloud judgement

I don’t know if this is right, but maybe you should analyze the evidence? That’s what helps me (alongside ERP) with my own cardio phobia. I.e. maybe this woman had a cardiac illness since birth? Maybe (this is just an example) she did heavy drugs?

Okay I just read the story and I’m getting massive anxiety as well... poor woman :( I still think we should try and expose ourselves to this possibility (life is uncertain) and also try and understand that this is something that doesn’t happen every day. There are tons of 19 year olds that are alive and kicking. Most people don’t die that young. :/ this is the only thing I can say to make you (and me) feel better

@makenna Ok. Maybe be careful talking about irrational actions. Most people with OCD have massive fears that their anxiety will lead to some terrible outcome and those fears are irrational. But saying that her thoughts are serious and could lead to irrational actions could trigger more unfounded fear.