coronary artery disease fear

[sidsuae]

I am male 46 years old having severe health anxiety &mitral valve prolapse since 12 years with lot of palpitation, chest tightness & short of breath most of the time. I did 2 stress test, 4 holter monitor test, 3 echocardiogram, several ekg, I walk daily for 40 minutes. My lipid profile is well under control. I would like to know, i was reading One article how to prevent heart disease or heart attack, as i have severe anxiety, In the article it was mentioned if somebody has 50% of blockage and within matter of hours it can be 100% blocked. How is it possible the plaque which was 50% blocked can be automatically be blocked by 100%. I got very feared after reading this article. I think it can be due to rapture of plaque which can cause blockage. How can the plaque automatically becomes thick (double) all of sudden to increase it by 100%. Can somebody plz help remove my doubt. I will be grateful to you. If it is applicable to high risk patient like diabetic. I just cannot believe somebodies plaque can be automatically be double without anything. if he is controlling his diet & not eating unhealthy food, eating hearth healthy food, brisk walking, exercising, I have heard that, plaque development takes time maybe decades. How within hour your plaque will be double from 50% to 100%. This has confused & created fear in my mind. Any normal person who has 50% blocked in his arteries, how it can become 100% without any risk factor. If someone is smoking or not exercising or eating unhealthy deep fried food, he can developed cad & that also after a long time. Can someone plz help me.

[Bromley]

It depends on what causes the palpitations. Reasons vary. If your dr is ok with it,  I know that light exercisehelps to control my pvcs. But different drugs beyond beta blockers  can be used for suppressing ventricular rythms depending on what you have.  For the physical part of this, talking to a good internist or electrophysiologist about treatment options can be helpful.

[sidsuae]

I have mitral valve prolapse with trivial regurgitation. Since 12 years i get palpitation, pvc, pac, tachycardia, chest tightness, short of breath. I have been fighting all these symtoms. I feel my nerve all over body with out any provocation, fear or anxiety. I went to neuro, he told me nothing. I am fed up with this nerve vibration in my head, all joints, on chest. Like my autonomic nervous system automatically go suddenly out of control.  Then sometimes all of sudden palpitation with chest tighness with start. All these arrhythmias is bothering me too much.  I start taking magnesium citrate 200mg thrice with Terminalia arjuna 250mg. I also take bisoprolol beta blocker 2.5 mg. Now i started to take antidepressant cipralex 10mg. Somewhat the symtoms has been manageable but not gone. I cannot sit calmly. I always feel my heart without any anxiety or fear. I feel my heart 24x7. How you are controlling your pvc pac or palpitation. Can u plz guide me to brought control the palpitation with chest tightness, which is bothering me since 12 years.

[itdood]

I think you need some professional help with your anxiety.  There are plenty of meds to help you get this back under control while you seek cognitive behavior therapy.

Focus on the root cause of your problem, which for you is clearly anxiety.  Get this under control and those symptoms will go away.

[Bromley]

Hi. You may want to get some professional counseling for this. There is nothing wrong at all with the recognition of what is possible. But troubleshooting involves effective testing and analysis to rule things out. If you have a lot of things that have to be ruled out because you worry too much,  the underlying cause may be deeper than just "I do this because I am a worrisome person".

Let me just say too that there is nothing wrong with worrying or being worrisome. But if you are having problems with it, you are going to need profesional help to address root cause of exessive worry.

Keep in mind that we all die eventually. Also, one hasto bare in mind all risks, not just cardiac ones. If driving an automobile is something you do often, you could compare your risk factors to that activity and feel more comfortable with your heart. In evaluating risk objectively though, keeping risk factors in mind can help you decide what is a real concern,  and what is just worry.  But again, a councelor may be needed to keeep dialog on track .