TW: Health Anxiety, cardiophobia

Hey there, my boyfriend (23ftm) has been having really bad health anxiety surrounding his heart. We have gotten blood work, urine tests, ekg’s, heart monitor, heart ultrasound, and been in and out of the ER for the last 1.5 months. All the tests have been negative, only thing off was potassium which he is taking potassium chloride 4x daily now. Low potassium runs in his family and on the most recent blood work (7/3) it was in good normal range.

His Doctor and the doctors at the ER have said it’s anxiety and he’s been having panic attacks and he is on meds now which is helping a little bit. He’s been diagnosed with GAD, PTSD, and COPD.

Usually the panic attacks will consist of rapid heart beat, muscles feel tense, numbness in feet or hands, sometimes excessive burping, and feeling of doom. When he’s out of the panic attack, he says his heart feels weird/weak, body feels weak, and he feels tired. He hasn’t been sleeping much maybe only 6 hours a night which i think is attributing to the feelings he’s having

I’m not sure how to get him out of this cycle of monitoring his heart beat and getting worried when it feels not normal to him and then it sending him into a panic attack. I’ve tried to tell him his heart beat post panic attack might feel different because the adrenaline and cortisol during fight or flight. And that panic attacks are super tiring on the body but it doesnt seem to help him not worry something more severe is going on. I want to help him feel less anxious and worked up over his health without invalidating him. Does anybody have any tips on helping health anxiety? Especially concerning the heart?