Anxiety Issues (with added GERD)

If u are taking mental health medicine I would warn u that thousands of people are developing heart problems if u have a racing heart make sure u have that checked to make sure there is nothing wrong. Good luck to u

That may well be true but the way you described it doesn’t necessarily follow as cause and effect.

To be more on target, there would need to be some body of evidence and research with peer review that isolated specific medicines, their molecular structures and the precise way they were interacting with the body. This would have to be done with each medicine and they simply cannot be lumped together that way.

People with mental illnesses already have comorbid conditions that can be misleading with such a claim and it’s no secret that with bipolar and depressive disorders, poor stress management, dietary and exercise habits, sleep habits, self medication all play an enormous role.

Likewise, age, gender, ethnicity, geography, uncontrolled blood pressure, cholesterol, predilection for metabolic syndrome and diabetes, thyroid disorders and genetics all directly impact the individual patient.

Generalized symptoms of raving pulse for a person that has panic disorders, anxiety, and PTSD and who takes medicine for those mental disorders would certainly be no stranger to elevated heart rates and increased BP.

The types of “heart damage” that you refer to is quite vague. If you wanted to talk about congestive heart failure, then I think the order is a tall one considering how that comes about, let alone thousands of cases among all types of patients and medicines for mental health.

Arteriosclerosis leading to infarction? Many of the aforementioned factors individually or combined are a fast track to those and I’m unfamiliar with any single ( let alone categorical) drug for mental illness that acts like the infamous phen phen that demonstrably led to potentially fatal pulmonary hypertension and heart valve problems.

Sudden cardiac death? You’d hear about that in short order, especially among the younger patients not in any risk categories. When significant numbers of young physically healthy (I didn’t say mentally) people drop dead the CDC leaps to its feet. Just look at the history around Hantavirus. To my knowledge, no report of sudden upticks in sudden cardiac death among people fit or otherwise taking psychiatric meds has occurred with one medicine, let alone more than one.

So we have to ask several questions:

What specific medicine(s) are causing this? Anything other than specifics is really a useless if not harmful claim.

Who is doing the reporting and the verifiable basis for their claims? The vast body of evidence from thousands of pathology reports and double bind studies would be needed.

What specific heart and cardiovascular damage is being alleged? That is critical too.

What is the breakdown of demographics, co-morbid conditions, patient habits, health etc that can be excluded?

I’m not sure where the information comes from that forms the basis of your report but it would be worth knowing before accepting at face value. As you likely well know, the alternative to eliminating mental health medicines can indeed be lethal. The impacts, lethal and non, affecting the individual, family, workplace and other factors vast.

I've had alll kinds of tests run and nothing shows up. I've had a 48 hr heart monitor, blood tests, etc. and everything is normal. Idk what to do or who to go to now. I have both Panic and Anxiety disorder too. I dont know what to do anymore.

If you have a sense of what the triggers might be and what your physical and mental state at the time are, you’d have a good start.

The triggers might be obvious or more subtle. Once you have a sense of this or even if you don’t, seeing someone that is a professional:

Clinical social worker
Clinical psychologist

Might help you zero in on cause and effect with suggested strategies. At some point, they may suggest medication to put a stop to the symptoms. Most psychiatrists can diagnose the symptoms, label the disorder and prescribe medicine. But they will (or should) tell you to get counseling as part of the solution. That’s almost always the path now. Suppression of biochemical problems is indeed important but identification and coping skills of the causes is likewise important.

You’ll get different people telling you which path to take but that’s up to you and your insurance. But the more you focus on patterns of when the attack’s hit, the more insights you’ll have.

My guess is that mindfulness will be part of the solution. As I use it and understand it, one is consciously aware of one’s thinking and learns to recognize how the thoughts and content are leading your brain a certain way. Doing this helps create strategies (with specialist) on countermeasures. But it’s a thinking skill like climbing a rock wall rather than automatic like walking where you don’t think as much. You have to switch to actively monitoring your thoughts most of the time. Buddhism teaches this as a normal way of life and it takes practice but you’re reshaping how you respond to the triggers.

@abopp2022 I even had an angiogram. My cardiologist thought I must have blockages. Nope. Esophageal spasms. My gastro doc said it was GERD. I still have chest pains, but am about to have GERD surgery.

So if GERD is causing the anxiety, the chest pain, trouble swallowing, headaches, I cant sleep because it causes the anxiety, my insurance wont pay for the only thing that has helped me, the doctors dont know what to do. What do i do?

@abopp2022 You mentioned earlier that you would have a Dr appointment today, 7/22. What did they say? Were you able to give them some thoughts of what is going on with you? Do you keep a journal to take notes? This journal can include listing your symptoms, the times of day, what you are doing, where you are at, what you may have just eaten even. If a pattern can be established for the anxiety and the GERD, then it can be addressed more easily with the professionals. Let us know what happened today, would you please?
Ginger

No i never got a chance to ask her about it. I'm going to call my psychiatrist tomorrow though. I had to go for an open wound care follow up. I tried the journaling thing. But I forget or i dont have it with me when it happens. I'm starting to wonder if my GERD has done some real damage.

Acid reflux

Hi, @abopp2022 - wondering how things are going with the panic and anxiety? Were you able to get ahold of your psychiatrist?