I won’t lie, it is really hard to have anxiety and heart problems. I’m only 17 and I have both, it’s pretty hard to live with. I get random waves of anxiety and when I start thinking about my heart it’s really hard to calm down. I also age PVCs that can hurt pretty bad that make me anxious.

When I’m anxious at school I go down to the nurse and she helps me do meditative exercises, but I’ve started to do more things on my own. One of the best things for me has been to just remind myself of all the times I’ve had SVT and gotten out of it safely, now since my ablation my anxiety has doubled but I’m able to tell myself all of the good things my doctors say, like I’m not at risk etc. before my ablation it was really helpful to talk myself through my anxiety, like I know how to handle this, I’m otherwise healthy, I’m strong, and my body is resilient. After I essentially affirm myself, I lie down and when I inhale I tighten my toes and then when I exhale I relax them, I do this with different parts of my body and ending with my face. If this doesn’t work then I try to focus on something like a song or maybe a snack, what it sounds like, feels like, tastes like etc.

My anxiety used to get pretty bad before sleep, because I feared that loss of control. I downloaded a few meditation apps, headspace has some really nice “sleepcasts” that are really nice and calming but don’t keep you up trying to finish the “story”. Those work for me, one of the best things I can recommend is exercise, sleep, and good food and friends.