hi new here.. anxiety/ costochondritis/ palps

hi all.. firstly thank u to everyone who has shared there anxiety storys this forum has helped me so much with coming to terms with the fact i AM infact suffering from anxiety.and made me take the first steps to getting help....
my story is that i have always been an anxious person or a worrier as they would say.. have a blood phobia and would pass out all the time as a child because of this.. which is prob why i am quite an anxious adult. saying that it has never effected my life greatly and i managed it on my own without any great stresses for example if i cut myself and went into a panic attack i could talk myself round and got better at it as i got older. i did have a breif spell of anxiety about 5 years ago when i was in a job that i hated and i understood why i felt like that.
anyway my hell began in June 2013 lying on a beach in Cyprus when i all of a sudden started to get chest pain and palpitations .. bear in mind i was on a beach not a care in the world no stress trauma.. anyway 3 weeks later still chest pain and palps went to my doctor who couldn't understand it untill he pressed on my sternum causing me to faint/fit! a few times when i have fainted i have went into a fit but apparently this can happened if u have been extreamly tense/ nervous before the faint and its kind of ur body just jolting to relax itself .. this i do believe as it just feels like a normal faint. so i was dignosed with costochondritis which i was very pleased about.. i was just happy to have a diagnosis and the known that i would be fine in a few weeks ..a or so i thought ........
after a few months of costochondritis which was not getting better i looked it up online and was reasured to see it could last much longer although i was concerned when i read costochondritis does not cause palpitations which i had been getting alto of...
so come December i went to bed one night and had a terrible sensation which i now no to be a pvc. followed by horrid constant palps .. terrified my boyfriend took me to a and e where i was kept in overnight due to fast heartrate but if im honest i think i just got such a fright i couldn't calm down. anyway ran a clear ecg in the morning and xray and bloods were fine so was sent home with appointment for echo and tape. (echo was last week tape i have on right now! lol) .....
my problem now friends is this since my bad batch of palps in December i have been suffering massively with anxiety only in the past couple of weeks i have allowed myself to accept this as.. kept telling everyone my i didn't have anxiety but now i don't want to tell my doctor i have anxiety as i worry if anything comes back on my test results he will blame anxiety.
my anxiety is just growing every day palpitations are relentless and leave me feeling i will definetly die the next time i have one surely my heart fantastically take much more...
i also am concerning .. what is going to be the point in treating the anxiety when its because of palpitations im in this mess.. i suffered palps for 5 months before the anxiety grabbed hold of me so its not anxiety that is the problem
i am also still suffering costochondritis although is not agony i do walk around with the uncomfortable stiffness/tenderness and occasional stabbing pain every single day
my biggest problem is my mood when i have a really bad day with palps.. i just don't want to get out of bed they realy make me feel so low.. like they will never stop... along with my newfound anxiety problem which symptoms including ... thinking my heart is beating slow/fast but its not, derealisation, acid stomach, lump in my throat feeling, urgent need to pee, jittery and the worry what my family would do if something actually did happen to me....
sorry for the essay I've just enjoyed everyones storys so much i wanted to share <3 any words of encoragement or similar storys would be lovely

jenna x

Hi Scaredy Cat

Thanks for your input i have been reading all the forums on palpatations on here for a few weeks before joining i would say i have a fairly good understanding of how they work and how you can easily become so very "tuned in" to them and as you said eventualy you unintentionaly become tuned in to everything your body is doing and start to panic at the smallest twinge or pain.

I would love to just understand what was happening in my body for my palpitations to start, as i said they started at the same time as my costo started so it must have been the pain from the costo that caused my tention and therefore pals to start. thats the only rational explanation i can understand but as i said doctors say costochondritis does not cause pals and is reasuring that others have related the two.

As i said i feel i have been in denial that i was suffering from anxiety which definetly started in december after terrible onset of palps and from them the anxiety has been eating away at me every day since then, i intend to ask the doctor for profetional help for anxiety as soon as my holter comes back ok (fingers crossed) but in the meantime i have started talking kalms(herb med) which i have heard are not very effective but if it helps with reducing the symptoms of stressing in the slightest im willing to give them a try before considering stonger medication which will be my last resort if am am not feeling any better in a few weeks. I received a yoga dvd i ordered from amazon last week to help me rexal which i am looking forward to starting and i will definetly be mentioning CBT to my doctor at my next appointment.

Thank you for the warm welcome it realy has helped me understand so much better what is happening to me since i started following this forum.. i have spent the last 2 and a half months trying to blame my symptoms on costochondritis and worring that i have a heart problem i wish i had been more logical and faced i was just being anxious sooner untill letting it get to the point i feel like i am going to die with a heart problem. But i suppose it does sort of creep up on you, you spend so much time going over and over symptoms/ feelings in ur head you dont stop to think rationaly and before you now it a month has gone by and its all you have thought about!

Thank you also for bringing this quote to my attention .. Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its troubles...it empties today of its strength.... i often start my day by thoughts such as "ok try and relax today, when you get a palpatation do this and do that" .. this i have realised is NOT effective as straight away ur over thinking and becoming tense. I know im myself the best way to deal with it is to ralax your mind and deal with the physical symptoms like if u get a palpitation and maybe get flushed or a bit paniky to drink water, cool yourself down , relax. I am trying extreamly hard to do this but i am not going to lie i do jump about a bit like a fairy and get upset whenever i get an "odd" feeling in my chest but i know what i SHOULD be doing and its just trying to put that into practise.. anyway the quote you use is certainly most fitting to my situation.

 

Take care

Jenna x

What kind of palpitations? I just started feeling my heart beat and am freaking a little

this thread was from ages ago but I thought I'd just like to add how I've been feeling..
apparently I do have costochondritis, although the doctor didn't touch my sternum or anything when it was hurting, and when I went to a different doctor for a second opinion, he touched my sternum but it wasn't hurting..
I do however have this redish/blackish bruise at the spot that has been hurting over the last few months.. and I'm not so sure if costo can cause this, but even my ribs on the left and right side of my chest seem so... stiff? I don't know how telse to explain but when I stand up and stretch out it will feel as if my ribs are very tight and it will hurt to stretch out and my sternum would pop, as if someone was cracking their knuckles or something..
is this costo? because I'm honestly freaking out thinking I'm having a heart attack...