What is heart palpitations anxiety?
Anxiety and stress are maybe the “third millennium disorders” and it
has “no age” as doctors from all medical specialties have to deal
patients suffering from these conditions, both young and old. In some
point of our life we all suffered or will suffer from stress or anxiety
and many of us deal these conditions by themselves for a long time
before they finally decide to sick medical help. Those words are so
often used today that it may seem they are part of our life and we must
accept them as a normal reaction. But this is not how it really is,
because anxiety can change our lives dramatically and make us feel sick,
unable to perform our daily duties or even things that used to give us
pleasure. Many times when we speak of this disorder we think of heart palpitations anxiety,
as it is a frequent symptom in people suffering from anxiety. Next we
will find out what anxiety and heart palpitations anxiety really mean
and how to deal it.Anxiety is a medical condition defined as a psychological and physiological state characterized by feelings of fear, worry, dread, psychological tension or stress that can determine emotional, cognitive, somatic and behavioral changes. This disorder can determine multiple symptoms and among them heart palpitations anxiety are more frequently.
How it feels to suffer from heart palpitations anxiety? Living with heart palpitations anxiety is definitely not easy or comfortable. During heart palpitations anxiety u may feel that your heart beats are too fast or irregular, or that your heart stops for a small period. U may feel dizzy or experience shortness of breath (or suffocation sensation) or even faint. In people that already suffer from heart disease, abnormal heart beats can affect the oxygen supply of the heart muscle and determine chest pain or even a heart attack.
Next we will present the case of a 34 years old women suffering from heart palpitations anxiety:
A 34-year-old female presented with a history of anxiety for the past 20 years. When she was 14, her teacher used to embarrass her in front of the class by making her to stand-up until her face turned red and all the class would laugh. In time she becomes very nervous and fearful about social situation and activities that could draw attention to her. In the highschool she had panic attacks everytime she supposed to make presentation and communicate in peers. She describes she experienced profuse sweetening, heart palpitation and rapid heartbeats, burning in the stomach and the need to get away. These symptoms persisted during university and at the age of 25 she finally sought for professional help. The clinical psychologist diagnosed the patient with social phobia, panic disorder, and mild agoraphobia. She underwent once- or twice-weekly sessions of psychological therapy with great improvement, slowly she could integrate into the social activities and seemed to be “cured”, convincing her therapist to stop the therapy. After 3 years as she attended the medical school, symptoms reappeared, and they were even worse then the first time and she had to seek the help of a psychiatrist and follow a medical treatment.
