Whenever I’ve had one I always think I’m having a heart attack. I think this is normal(to think that), but could I ever really have a heart attack from a panic attack? Among other symptoms, such as tunnel vision and heart pounding, my left arm always gets numb when I have one which is why I’m always afraid its a heart attack.
I’m 23, in good physical shape, and have never been diagnosed with any heart problems. Am I just being crazy?
I used to get them too and they felt so much like heart attacks that I used to go to the E.R. virtually every time I had one. And YES, they really, really felt like heart attacks (…or at least what I figured a heart attack would feel like).
Eventually, I realized that I was just wasting everybody’s time with false alarms and my heart tests would always come back as insanely healthy. Once I convinced myself that I wasn’t having heart attacks and that it was all in my head, I stopped having panic attacks.
As for panic attacks actually causing heart attacks, assuming you’re in good health (which you say you are), it would take an awful lot of panic attacks to do enough damage to a 23 year old heart to actually bring on a heart attack. Take it from me, this is all psychological.
Mine started not long after my dad died from cancer. They lasted on and off for about four years and I was fine. They picked back up again when my mom died of a heart attack and now they’ve stopped once more.
Perhaps you’ve lost somebody close to you? <")))><