Teenager and the heart

[Tommymc18]

So for the last 3-4 months I've had severe health anxiety especially with my heart. I have heard of stories and seen them online about people around my age (18) just all of a sudden drop dead or in there sleep from undiagnosed heat conditions and it has freaked the hell out of me. I tried telling my parents about wanting to go to the doctor and and getting an ecg, stress test and a blood test for reassurance purposes but they say "your fine get over it" which I think is a pretty stupid thing to say to someone who has anxiety yet they don't even acknowledge that.

I haven't had any tests done but I know I am fine because I've researched anxiety and health anxiety and it has made me feel a little better but the fear of my heart reignited a couple of days ago when I saw a story on FB about a basketballer suddenly drop dead out of know where due to a heart condition. Has someone been through a similar or same experience would really appreciate your advice as I have no idea what to do.

Cheers

[Tommymc18]

I know for a fact that it's all in my head, I have no physical symptoms of any kind of disease or illness and it's not like I've been experiencing this all my life it only started to occur 2 months ago and going on google made it 100x worse that's why I don't google symptoms anymore but it made me think what if somethings bad could happen to me even if it's rare.

[JayTheKid2000]

The dropping dead in heart issue has been bothering me for 2 weeks so I can relate. He said you exercise 4 times a week what type of exercises do you do because I think I need something to distract myself from my anxiety too

[Tommymc18]

A lot of running and gym work, I go to gym 4 days a week then have football training 2 days a well and probably go on a run on a rest day

[Tommymc18]

It's just the thought of it really I've been healthy my entire life, exercise 4 days a week now so that keeps my mind at ease at times but the thought of my heart just shutting down is terrifying

[AnxiousNoMore]

There are many other things that can go wrong,but fortunately you don't worry about them - if a person tried to protect against all of them there wouldn't be enough time to do anything else. I'm not saying it is easy to get rid of your heart fear and some people can't no matter how much they work at dispelling the fear, but you have bigger chances of other health issues developing at your age, and you aren't worrying about them, so perhaps you can put that in perspective.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db37.htm

fwiw, here is an article which shows that media like to focus on certain causes of death that have low probabilities.
http://www.livescience.com/3780-odds-dying.html

[AnxiousNoMore]

i just noticed that the first pie graph shows that heart disease is only responsible for 3% of the deaths in your age group. So you are pretty safe considering you are in good health.

[Paxiled]

With modern technology you're going to go through your entire life seeing horrible possibilities.  Life will never be secure, it just is.  Worrying about it just makes you suffer more.  It doesn't change life.  That's the reason excessive anxiety is treated as a disease -- it accomplishes nothing but make you feel bad.  If you have a problem with excessive anxiety and it's gone on for awhile and isn't based on something that might have happened in your life recently, you might benefit from talking to an anxiety treatment professional who can help you stop worrying about what you can't change.  The fact is, though, there are a lot of people alive today, living longer, mostly because of clean water and a steady food supply.  You're alive in the safest time ever, despite what you read.  

[Paxiled]

Wait, didn't quite finish.  Many of the worst things that can happen to you at your young age are things people do to themselves, so a productive way to use your empathy and energy is to move toward a life that allows you to help make things better.  That turns your energy into something positive.

[AnxiousNoMore]

Do you have any heart issue symptoms, or is it just thinking that something might be wrong that makes you anxious?