Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Acid Reflux, and AFIB - Anxiety Support

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Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Acid Reflux, and AFIB

Salhndz profile image
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Hello Everyone, I'm new to the community. I have been reading many of your posts and have been very beneficial to me. I sufferred my first panic attack about four months ago. It landed me in the ER scared that I was going to die. That week I saw my doctor and Cardiologist. Doctor prescribed vistaril which I never took beacause I was afraid of the side effects and read some negative reviews. My Cardiologist performed an echocardiogram and stress test. Both came out good. I thought maybe it was a one time thing suffering a panic attack, but the fear was always there. A month later I suffered another panic attack. This time it wasn't as intense as the first one, but still frighten me. I get the shakes, nercousness, racing heart, etc. So I continued researching anxiety which led me to several good apps such as headspace, pacifica, and Dare. I also stumbled onto this forum. I began applying breathing techniques to my symptoms and it seemed like it was working. But the constant worry lead me to develop acid reflux. I ended up back at the docs office and she prescribed busporine for anxiety and protonix for the acid reflux. I began taking the anxiety pills and felt like it was working, but the acid was so strong that it caused another panic attack. This time I let the panic attack do its thing. I braved it out by not being scared and applied the breathing techniques from the Dare app. It lasted 45 mins but afterwards I felt very good and confident that I had conqured anxiety. I felt that I had turned the page on that part of my life. But the acid reflux I just couldn't shake. For sevaral nights now I have been sleeping slanted or upright to keep the acid down, but yesterday at 5am, as I reached over to turn my alarm off, I felt my heart stutter and then just spiked beating extremely fast to about 170bps. I was freaked out by this new sensassion. I began breathing to see if I could control and slow down my heart. After about 30 mins it was back down, but I could feel that my heart was not beating normal. I decided to go to the ER and low and behold they detected atrial fibrillation (AFIB). I was precribed metroprolol to take 1 a day. After the ER visit, I was able to see my cardiologist. He thinks that the acid reflux is what is causimg my heart to go haywire. He is recommending a procedure where they go in the heart and burn off some of the over active electrical sensors of the heart. That has me super nervous and worried. The confidence that I had built-up has now been torn down. I don't want to regress and make things worse by worring. I wanted to know if anyone has experienced somethimg similar? Or had any suggestions?

Thanks and God bless.

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Salhndz
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CAM0005 profile image
CAM0005

I have had the cardiac ablation surgery. It is a pretty easy procedure. Had it in 1995 and have never had another AFIB episode and I was having them constantly for years. It changed my life. Go for it-you won’t regret it. Good Luck👍

Salhndz profile image
Salhndz in reply toCAM0005

Cam0005. Thanks for the reply. I have up coming appointment with a heart specialist. I'll see what he has to say. Just the idea of the heart being modified sounds scary. Thanks again.

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