You know, I often experience the same thing. I don't know if you're following the twelve week thing in this group, but if you just look at the week 1 post, it might help you make sense of that heart attack feeling. I know it helped me a lot.

When I first learned a few months back that I have high blood pressure (realistically I am just at the top of the normal range) I started researching the symptoms of a heart attack and realized that the symptoms of having a panic attack are very much the same. I had a conversation with some friends of mine about it and posed the questions "How do I know if I'm having a heart attack or just a panic attack when the symptoms are the same!?"

My boyfriend's father has had two heart attacks, so he knows what the look for and what it looks like. He said that I'd know. That I would try to take a breath and literally nothing would happen. That I'd barely be able to move or walk because my lungs aren't getting any air and my heart isn't beating. Then I read the Week One post of the 12 week process in this anxiety group and learned a lot about what my body is actually doing during a panic attack. And what I learned is that the body's reaction to panic is normal! I know, crazysauce, right?

So whenever I start to feel panicky, I focus on breathing and I tell myself "If this were a heart attack I wouldn't be sitting here thinking clearly and rationalizing with myself. I wouldn't be sitting here taking the breath I just took." and thinking that often helps to calm me down. Another technique mentioned in that 12 week process is to use your senses. Touch something with an interesting texture and talk to yourself about what you feel. Talk to yourself about what you hear, smell taste. Doing this could help bring you back down from the heart attack/panic attack feeling.

I hope some of this helps you. I know how terrifying that feeling can be, as I fight with it myself quite often. I'll check back on this thread tomorrow to see how you're doing.

*hugs*

I know it is just so crazy! I actually went to a cardiologist today because my bpm are kind of slow so it made me panic. I used to be very athletic so it can be normal but the Dr said it sounded fine but was still going to run some test just to make sure. I've been feeling on edge and i"m scared to be alone. I have awful thoughts about dying and thing is that i have always been a healthy person, I'm about to turn 25 in 2 weeks and i feel i'm so young to be going through this. I just hope things get better for me and that i can over come this soon! Thank you so much for your words and I'm glad I'm not alone :)

Better safe than sorry. Get your cardiologist to put you through some stress tests where you get on a treadmill and run as hard as you can and see if you have an infarction. :D

There's no reason to worry about embarrassment or how old you are or any of that other irrelevant rubbish: facts are the cure for anxiety.

Facts. :)