Myth: My heart is thumping during anxiety attacks, is it the symptom of a Heart Attack?
Fact: Many people misinterpret the symptoms of the fight / flight response and believe they must be having a heart attack. The major symptoms of heart disease are breathlessness and chest pain as well as occasional palpitations and fainting. The symptoms in heart disease are generally directly related to effort.
It is important to note that the heart disease will almost always produce major electrical changes in the heart, which are picked up very obviously by an ECG (Electro Cardio Gram). In panic attacks the only change, which shows up on the ECG is a slight increase in heart rate.
What do you think?
