Long post I know, sorry.

(Female, 21,)

Almost a month ago, I woke up with a bit of shoulder pain. Around lunch time after I ate I got this sudden uncomfortable feeling like there was a cool feeling throughout my body and face and my heart started to beat very very fast. It almost felt like I took an edible. I called 911 and they took and EKG and said everything was fine but my heart was beating a little bit fast (130). My resting is about 85-90. When I went to the hospital, it stopped happening. They took a chest x-ray, blood and another EKG and said I was perfectly healthy and gave me a cardiologist appointment.

So I take spironolactone (100mg) for my hair loss. It is a mild, potassium-sparing diuretic. I've been taking it for 2 months no problem (split the dose morning and night). Maybe I thought I had high potassium or electrolyte imbalance but my blood test told me that everything was fine. Spiro is also used to treat high blood pressure, so my family doctor told me to stop taking it because it might be lowering my bp and my heart is trying to compensate by beating faster, but he doubts it.

I didn't take my dose that night, but I COULD NOT GO TO BED. My heart was pounding and I could hear it in my head, no matter what I did, it POUNDED AND POUNDED. I cried and called the ambulance again, but when they took me to the emergency, they basically said the same thing. I have an echocardiogram and going to get a halter monitor soon. The doctor said it might be the spiro, my anxiety or maybe me getting covid early this January had something to do with it.

My family doctor on the other hand assured me that due to my symptoms, this is ALL anxiety, even though I have nothing to be anxious about and I have no stressors. Sometimes it just comes out the blue. He prescribed me apo-venlafaxine XR (37.5mg) and lorazepam (0.5mg) for an incase basis and sleep. I took half a lorazepam for sleep because my anxiety was making my heart beat and I couldn't sleep and it helped.

I did not however take the anti-anxiety meds or anymore lorazepam because this is something that happened to recently and I am not depressed or have had this problem for a long time. After the whole spiro deal, I didn't feel comfortable taking anymore medication than I need to. Things have gotten better over the past month but I still have anxiety about things I used to never have before.

After 2 weeks, I suddenly choked on a piece of chocolate, and it was really traumatizing. I had trouble eating after awhile and was afraid to chew food and swallow. After that it got better but now I am having some digestive problems. My family says it's acid reflux due to stress/anxiety. I can't eat as much as I am used to because I get full quickly and burp a lot and feel uncomfortable. I also have this feeling sometimes like there is food stuck in my throat, like a pressure sensation.

On top of all this, things that used to never scare me are causing me a lot of trouble. I am scared of commuting on the subway, because I had one of these heart palpitations on the subway. I'm scared to eat new foods. I am scared to exercise because I know my heart will beat fast, but I know I should because it will help my anxiety.

I get on, day by day. I guess I'm high functioning, and I have college so I have no other choice. I am not opposed to meds but I really want to try beat these weird fears without them. I get better everyday but I need some more help. Are digestive problems because of my anxiety? How can my health anxiety get better? The sprio is out of my system so I don't get any heart palps anymore but I need to shake this. Please help.

TLDR: After two health scares with a medication that I was taking was giving me heart palpitations, and one choking incident, I now have health anxiety. It's affected my digestion (I think?) and gave me anxiety about things I never worried about before. I don't feel comfortable taking meds after what happened to me. I get better everyday, but is there anything else I can be doing?