Anxiety

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Is it true if you have anxiety & it gets tooo much, can you have a heartattack?

Maybe so, but it's probably not happening to you, unless you had a pre-existing weakness in your heart.

What's happening now that causes you to ask such a question?

I am living proof that too much anxiety can cause a heart attack even when no pre-existing condition or genetic pre-determination existed and it can happen at a very young age and for me it happened when I was only 34 years old. I have several different anxiety disorders and they went undiagnosed for a very long time, coupled with Autistic burnout, all that mess finally caused my myocardial infarction - primarily due to over stress.

It's been eight and a half years since that happened and I've had many angina attacks and luckily I've always had my nitroglycerin nearby to help me. But that crap gives me a crazy migraine from hell.

My only advice to anyone else is, if you have anxiety disorders get them diagnosed quickly and seek help immediately because eventually the physical manifestations will emerge and they can be quite violent.

With the amount of people who suffer from severe anxiety, the amount of which suffer a heart attack directly caused by their anxiety is quite small I imagine, our bodies are made to withstand stress. Anxiety is after all a natural biological process to avoid perceived danger.

The poor dear posted in another thread that she's been in the hospital for a week now and I imagine it's been very stressful for her.

I know all that, but I wanted to reassure Kitty as well as invite her to tell us more.

Sustained stress can cause myriad health problems. When you are under stress your body is flooded with a hormone called cortisol.

In short, infrequent bursts it isn't harmful. It's your body's natural response to stressful situations. But when you are constantly bombarded with cortisol it leads to systemic inflammation. Systemic inflammation is linked to everything from heart disease to cancer to diabetes.

This is not my opinion. It is my psychiatrist's explanation for why taking benzodiazepines is better than leaving severe generalized anxiety untreated. Aside from making you miserable it takes a very real toll on your health.

Of course, the medication takes a very real toll on your health too, so I suppose you can pick your poison. I finally decided I'd rather not be in a constant state of panic. Benzos may not be much if any healthier but at least I feel better. Mostly.