I really hope someone has gone through something similar because I feel so hopeless right now.

I moved to South Korea in 2022, which had always been my dream. But after moving here, I became very lonely and depressed. I cried almost every day, but I ignored those feelings and just kept going.

In 2023, I struggled a lot with school and put a lot of pressure on myself. I was also living in a tiny apartment that was full of cockroaches. I have a severe phobia of them, so I would often avoid going home until my boyfriend came back from work. I lived there for almost three years, and I never really felt safe in my own home.

In 2024, I became very depressed about turning 30 that next year. I constantly worried about getting older, and my thoughts became very dark.

Then, in January 2025, I started experiencing strange physical symptoms. Sometimes I felt like I couldn't breathe properly, especially at night. I would even wake up feeling like I had forgotten how to breathe. During the day, my throat would sometimes feel like it was tightening. These symptoms lasted for months, but I ignored them.

A few months later, I noticed my heartbeat while lying in bed. It wasn't fast usually around 80–85 bpm on my Apple Watch but feeling it made me anxious. I made the mistake of Googling it, and from that moment on I became hyper-aware of my heart.

Then one evening, after coming home from a concert, I was sitting in the subway when I looked at my Apple Watch and saw my heart rate was 120 bpm. I immediately panicked.

It quickly went to 130...140...150...160.

I tried to get off the subway, but it was still moving. As soon as the doors opened, I ran outside, and my heart rate reached 170 bpm. I was crying, convinced I was dying, and called my parents. They told me it sounded like a panic attack, but I was convinced it was a heart attack or heart failure.

I asked a taxi driver to take me to the hospital. They did blood tests and an ECG, and they told me everything looked normal.

But after that night, my life completely changed.

Now I'm terrified of anything that raises my heart rate.

I'm scared to:

• walk up stairs
• exercise
• walk fast
• go outside in hot weather
• drink caffeine
• even notice my heartbeat

My world has become so small.

In February, I had an echocardiogram and a 24-hour ECG with a cardiologist. The embarrassing part is that I became so scared that I never went back for the follow-up appointment to hear the official results.

I also saw a psychiatrist at the same hospital. She prescribed several medications for anxiety and depression. She mentioned that she had seen my echocardiogram and Holter monitor results. I asked her if there was a heart problem, and she said she couldn't officially discuss the cardiologist's results, but from what she saw, she thought they looked normal. She said the cardiologist would explain everything during my appointment.

For some reason, that terrified me. My anxious brain immediately thought, "What if they found a tumor or something serious?"

At the same time, another part of me thinks: if there had been an obvious heart problem, would a psychiatrist really have prescribed multiple anxiety medications instead of sending me back to cardiology immediately?

Since that panic attack, I feel like I've developed severe health anxiety. I constantly monitor my body and I'm terrified of my heart.

Has anyone else experienced something like this?

Did one panic attack completely change your life?

And if you recovered, how did you get your life back?

Hey everyone. I had a severe panic attack yesterday that seemed to come out of nowhere. Hours later, I was still panicking with arm numbness, chest tightness and other muscular pains. I called the online emergency department because I was convinced I was dying since the symptoms lasted for hours. Fast forward to today, it’s been over 24 hours since the peak of the attack happened. I still have chest tightness, some minor pain in the chest and other muscular aches (neck, back). Is this normal so long after an attack? I’ve never had one this bad or prolonged before.

Thank you!

I frequently have panic attacks due to my stomach , just 20 mins ago I had a short lived one.

I think I over ate and was feeling extremely stuffed + had gas stuck in my chest. Genuinely felt like I couldn’t breathe and burps were getting caught in my throat making it extra hard to breathe.

Does anyone else experience this? I do have GERD and I suspect I have rumination syndrome, I regurgitate my food a lot bc I feel like I need to burp a lot.

I just am so sick and tired of this. I always get to the point of extreme fear and anxiety that I’m actively dying and about to succumb to my panic. My whole body gets numb and I grab at anything and everything so aggressively. I’ve ripped my hair out and have made myself bleed due to it.

I don’t mean to but I can’t control my body’s reaction to feeling like I’m approaching deaths door

Luckily my panic attacks are shorter lived now a days, I am able to sometimes logic my way out of them, but still. I hate even having to deal with these

hello i’m very new to this sub, im 21 and have always had some degree of health anxiety that would come and go but this year i started living alone which really increased the level of health anxiety i was having constantly. the past month i have been so stressed and consumed by multiple health “issues” to the point where ive been to the er a bunch of times and even gone home because i couldn’t live alone anymore.

yesterday i had what i think was a panic attack for the first time in my life. i am so scared of what happened, i felt like i was out of control of my body and so shaky and in a rush, i was showering and couldn’t even stand there anymore because i had to get out and be with someone. is this normal? more than my usual health anxiety, im now scared about my mental health. i really dont want this to happen again and feel scared of my own body. will i be okay again?

I want to hear your worst panic attack stories. I feel there are comfort in numbers. My two most frustrating ones include and unfinished tattoo and crapping my pants on vacation. Community, let's talk about this obnoxious condition!

Hello im am here asking for help because currently i am dealing with alot of anxiety, i have always dealt with anxiety since i was a little kid but since Sunday it has gotten to an extreme level. I am shaking uncontrollably, i dont want to eat and i did feel like there was a lump like where my double chin was but I no longer feel that. It comes and goes which makes me believe it’s anxiety, Yesterday I woke up at 6am to go to the ER because I felt like my throat was closing and stuff like that they gave me a nebulizer and sent me home the nebulizer has helped with my breathing and they diagnosed me with a viral illness idk I forgot the name. Later that night I felt so good I ate and I didn’t shake or anything I felt better. Today now in the morning at 10am I got the same thing all over again yes a little less such as not feeling like my throat is closing but I am shaking and nervous for some reason and im not sure exactly why I am this way. Has anyone felt this way before I just want to feel okay and eat like a normal person again please

Hey does anyone have advice on finding a remote job? With the panic disorder its been extremely hard to maintain in person work. Ive managed a retail position enough to not get fired but not good enough to ever be considered for management. My wife got a ok full time job but its not enough for us to afford rent, food, car payment, phone bill, and whatever life throws at us.

I have a cyber security A.A and certification along with a Linux certification. Im working on getting a business administration bachelor's. I do not care what the job is as long as its remote I'll be able to be reliable for full time without panic attacks getting in the way.

My panic attacks are so bad I can only leave my house in a 10 min radius and even with that driving myself is a huge struggle but I still need to make money and I dont know where to look or what to so. Posting here for advice from people who understand panic disorders

i’ve struggled with anxiety my whole life, but it has never been this bad.
over the past few months i find myself panicking at random moments during the night for no reason, since the end of june to now it’s been way worse.

i’m pretty sure i have stomach issues, because i can’t eat anything without feeling nauseous and like i’m about to vomit. i’ve never felt this way before and it has only been a problem until now. my mom thinks it’s acid reflux so i started taking medicine for it and hopefully things get better.

today i was helping my grandma move out of her apartment with my family and the whole time i just didn’t feel like myself. i feel like i’m not here and like i’m watching someone through their eyes. it’s really freaking me out and i’m scared for school to start again because what if i have a panic attack randomly during the day?

i’m trying not to let this get the best of me but it’s affecting me badly, i want to hangout with my friends but again i’m scared that i’m going to panic and freak them out.

does anybody know what’s going on? i’m really scared and i’m going to make an appointment with my psychiatrist and pediatrician but i don’t know what’s wrong with me.

Has anyone experienced panic attacks that only involve a racing heart?
Sometimes I’m just in the middle of my day when my heart suddenly starts racing real fast and loud for no apparent reason. I think I’m relaxed, I am home alone, not stressed out, there is no reason whatsoever to feel anxious but my heart starts pounding hard.
I don’t experience any other symptoms that are commonly associated with panic attacks—no intense fear, no sense of doom, no problem breathing, or noticeable mood changes. Nothing. It’s literally just a racing heart.
When it happens, it can last anywhere from a few minutes to about an hour. Sometimes it happens several times in one day, and other times I can go weeks without it happening at all.
I’m 30F and generally healthy. I had my annual health checkup last year, including a standard ECG, and everything came back normal and healthy. I do have ADHD and Bipolar disorder but I’m taking meds for both(Concerta for adhd and Depakote and Latuda for BPD) and have been dealing with them very well.
Could this still be a type of panic attack, even if a racing heart is the only symptom? Or is it a heart problem?

Was given for a flight, I have been suffering with extremely bad flight anxiety and panic attacks due to claustrophobia. I am also very scared to try the medicine and panic on it or feel trapped in the feeling of it. Another worry is could I get rebound anxiety from using this just two times? Can anyone give me advice or convince me to take the med?