Cardiophobia - how I solved it!
Hey!
I, F19, have had cardiophobia for around 6 months after an episode of psychosis from too much weed consumption. I’d check my heart rate 30+ times a day and would have a severe panic attack at least once a day. I started taking 40mg propranolol but nothing could take my mind off it. All I could think about was dying, every minute of every day.
Then I started fluoxetine (Prozac) a month ago (this is not what I’m implying solved it - but it really helped!). I started to really calm down, and I’ve only had one mild panic attack since starting it. After being able to have the capacity to think rationally, I realised what was causing my cardiophobia.
At night I’d have horrible chest pains, twisting and stabbing where my heart is. I thought maybe it was from the strain of panicking, or a heart attack. But it has persisted until today. Then it came to me after talking to my medical student friend.
IT WAS JUST GAS. I just drink too much soda, and I’m lactose intolerant and love eating dairy, causing gas buildup in my chest and causing pain that mimics heart attacks.
I know this won’t help many of you, but just in case there’s someone who has a diet like mine (devoid of veg and healthy foods), it could be why!
Also I don’t wanna encourage SSRI use, but it really helped deflecting the panic in my experience, but be cautious as for some it can make you a little more panicky when you start.
I hope this can help someone out there, I’m honoured to have been a part of this subreddit and I hope you guys all manage to recover from cardiophobia, it’s the worst.
:)