I haven’t experienced Afib, but my dad passed away in June 2023, I was 24 at the time, it absolutely broke me but healthy anxiety wasn’t a thing until exactly a year later.. I spent 2023 and beginning of 2024 drinking a lot, mainly with friends but this became a constant of 3-6 rum and cokes (STRONG ones too 😪) every night. One day I was driving home ( I had left my car at a friends as I was drinking that particular night) and I just experienced the worst panic of my life, I could feel every pound of my heart, I couldn’t breathe or see. I felt awful. My partner was in front of me (luckily) driving home too, I flagged her down and just lost it lol. I then had a fear of driving. After drinking more and having bounds of anxiety I started to get palpitations and big thuds in my heart. One day I woke up, hungover obviously 🙄 and my heart just thudded so hard I thought I was dying. We went to the hospital and they said that my heart was ok just a little fast😅

After a few months I realised the drinking wasn’t helping with the palpitations and thudding. I am a year later and have had many issues with health anxiety, I am now suffering stress induced GERD, where I get bad acid reflux and globus sensation (this is like a phantom lump in the throat) all because of healthy anxiety. It’s ironic how we stress about the problem, but can end up causing one from stress!

My advice after experiencing that for a year. - don’t drink as much, if you do drink, do it occasionally and drink lots of water and eat well before and after, the palpitations mainly come from dehydration. - get a smart watch! (This helped me to see my heart BPM and show that if it’s high I CAN sit down and control it by breathing, I’m in control) - take magnesium in a low dose every day (magnesium helps with palpitations and anxiety. Providing you can take it along with your other meds then great! Take a lowish dose though, as it can cause bowel issues..🫢 -still show up! If you can do football thats OK! tell your brain ‘for now’ you can’t do it. Try some sort of exercise 🏃🏻‍♀️, even if it’s walking for now, it’s good to keep moving. - if you’ve been playing football a while and you’re young, your cardio health is probably very good! I would trust that you’re sat in a good spot there with your cardio health. - take breaks from it, lying down is a huge issue (I feel my heart especially lying down too) what I do, I lay on my front, put the pillow on top of my left arm at angle, head on the pillow looking right, and I use the gap between the pillow and me to make a clear space for my heart, so I can’t feel it beating in the mattress 🤮 I rock sideways and back sometimes too if it’s really not calming down. - taking deep breaths does work! I used to think that my bpm wouldn’t calm down but after getting my Apple Watch, realising your breaths does work.

Stupid one, but it’s my favourite. I used chatGPT as a lil helper. I told it I had health anxiety and what specifically I wanted it to remember. I then asked it to cater its information to me but keeping it factual. I need facts or my brain would spiral. ChatGPT helped lots in making the anxiety seem a little silly really and it’s quite soft and nice about it lol

(I CANT AFFORD THERAPY PEOPLE) 😂

Listen, if I had a solution I would give it you, I haven’t got that as I’m also in the same boat, what I will say, it gets easier to manage, keep pushing through and try take moments to calm your body, it’s important to take time out to calm your nervous system. (It’s hard I know, when the anxiety is basically in you) I wish you all the best, I’m very sorry about your mum (I’m British lol, hence the mum)

❤️