Worrying

[SilentNinja]

I've got it in my head I'm dying, last night i didn't sleep, i feel sick with worry..

I was lying in bed and i saw my stomach pulsing.. i can feel heartbeat in my stomach.. just above my belly button, now I've had this forever but last night i was in "anxious" mode and i looked it up and i saw all this bad stuff about aneurisms, and death, I'm still worrying sick, i asked on another forum and someone said it bothered them to and the Dr said we have major arteries in our stomach and some people can feel it and some can't, however.. I'm still worrying like crazy, don't look things up on Google!!! It does say male, and over 60s are more at a risk, i'm 28, female and train 7 nights a week in martial arts.

I just want some peace of mind.. has anyone ever noticed this before.. esp if anxious?

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Ninja, having a pulse in your stomach when you lie down is very, very common and not indicative of any health problem.

 

[SilentNinja]

Really? I can stop worrying myself sick then? I have no other problems or pain.. only that when i lie down i see my stomach pulsing and i feel a pulse there. Everyones told me not to worry but i still did. Im so glad you told me that i can maybe relax tonight

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Yep. That often happens to me.

 

[forgetmenot]

It happens to us all hun it is very normal Your pulse is strong because you are so healthy hun hugs

 

[MHealthJo]

I am guessing the torso can look different in each person, but when I was younger (pre-boobs) I could always see pulsating on a spot which seemed to be my heart. Or maybe that spot was this big artery. I always thought it was tons of fun that I could see it.

In any case, that happened for years, and nothing bad ever happened and I'm still alive now. (A lot later. )

Hope you won't worry!

 

[SilentNinja]

Thank you so much everyone you have calmed me down loads.. i hopefully can sleep tonight

 

[SilentNinja]

I manged to calm down and forget about my stomach pulse.. but now i am obsessed with my heart, its driving my crazy. Im always aware of my heart beat and im checked my pulse 50 odd times a day, my resting heart rate is 99 and yes i googled it again!!! ( ARGGH ) and it says that its really bad,, it should be about 80. I dont smoke, I dont drink, i exercise loads everyday, infact 7 times a week, ive lost 26 pounds in the last 2 months excersing.
I never used to worry about my health, like health anxiety, this is a new thing

 

[MHealthJo]

Have you mentioned this health-worries tendency to the doctors or health professionals that you see, Silent Ninja?

Have you asked your doctor whether this heart rate is something to worry about and had them check it out for you?

 

[SilentNinja]

ive never thought about it before or worried or cared, only the past few days all this anxiety has came on me, since my last post i must have checked my pulse another 40 times! I did get it at about 86 one time but its back up to 100 again, i keep checking just to see if its fast, its driving me nuts, i just want to get on with things.
I passed my test grading, and i'm grading in March so i dont know if the anxiety is from this, im not sure, but i am terrified for March!

 

[MHealthJo]

Yeah, maybe it has come up due to other big things going on in your life. That is quite common.... Maybe for you it is the brain's way of saying, "I'm stressed - I cant be sure what is going to happen, and I'm having difficulty coping with uncertainty right now", or something....? And so maybe your pulse rates are coming from the anxiety? Sort of feeding off of itself a bit....

Do you have any tools or exercises or relaxing/enjoyable/absorbing activities that you like to do or that might help you cope with the stress a bit? To kind of take your brain out of this 'loop' that it is in. It's hard to do isn't it.

I wonder if you might find any cool ideas if you did an advanced search in the forum for the phrase 'obsessive worry'? Mindfulness also can be really helpful.

Its hard to change gears isn't it - it's like the brain seems to think it needs to try to make everything 'safer' by keeping on worrying about it. But that just isn't how it works... but it's like "Hey, thanks anyway for trying, Brain." Haha.

Hope you feel calmer soon SilentNinja... actually I have often found calming words at this blog I like called calmdownmind.com. I don't necessarily agree with all the viewpoints, but it does help me to sort of 'stand back' and shift perspectives when I get a bit of a loop of worry/uncertainty....

Hope you feel better soon. Do go to the doctor and get checked if you can't stop worrying. An all-clear might at least tell you there's really no health concern to stress about.