For a while now I have worried that I have a heart condition which could kill me.  :'(  I've read about something called SADS (Sudden Adult Death) and it has scared me so much that I went to the doctor and he sent me for a ECG and blood tests and he told me that both were fine. However, I still worry that I  or someone I care deeply about may die in their sleep one night just like the stories you hear of people who die from SADS. I have no family history of anyone dying this way in my heart and no one in my family suffers with heart conditions. I've also had two different doctors listen to my heart and my pulse and blood pressure and they say I'm fine. However, I stil can't get rid of this horrible thought.
Does anyone else have this worry? Does anyone know any information about the heart conditions that can cause people to die suddenly? Does these have signs and symptons as well?
Please any advice will be wonderful!!  :'(

Thanks for your reply.
Have you actually heard of SADS before? These deaths are caused by undiagnosed heart conditions which is what worries me even though I've been checked out, it stills plays on my mind.

Well, there are countless possibilities for the scenario your describe, ie death by natural disaster such as a tornado, automobile accident, act of violence and even self-harm. The underlying issue actually has nothing to do with your concern, which merely exists as a fixation upon uncertainty.

The inability to predict and control one's immediate destiny is the circumstance which fans the flames of anxiety. Persons experiencing intense anxiety commonly fixate upon scenarios which cannot be manipulated, foreseen, guided and most importantly, controlled. It is also quite common that information such as that which you're described becomes an established belief based upon limited information and knowledge. In other words, the less a person with anxiety understands about the true nature of any potential source of apprehension, the more irrational their beliefs grow because they are unable to counter such fears with knowledge and/or experience that typically dispels such notions. For instance, children at a certain age overcome the fear that monsters lurk under their bed or in the closet because they have developed a logical understanding of the reality associated with such a premise. People who fear imminent harm from medical conditions are simply unable to discern the reality associated with such circumstances because they merely lack the necessary background and training which provides the requisite insight.  

You believe that a disorder which can strike suddenly without apparent warning could be as probable as contracting the common cold, or in other words could happen to anyone at any given time. It's the common frame of reference by persons with anxiety that absolutely anything is possible and therefore, a potential threat. The reality of the circumstance is that these rare conditions happen all too infrequently, but through the magic of media it can be made to appear as though it strikes down people on a daily basis. This is simply not accurate at all.

People with anxiety have lost their sense of trust that things will be okay and that tragedy is not constantly looming. They feel that they must try to live in the future where a chance is possible to anticipate and foreclose on unseen and unidentified problems. This perception seldom invokes insight regarding the actual inability to predict life circumstances. Reinforcement in this belief and practice actually occurs because the irrational outcomes which they seek to overcome are not real and since they never actually arise, it is believed that their actions have prevented its occurrence in some manner.

It's the same general principle as demonstrated in persons who practice rituals in order to gain some assurance that life will not surprise them with anything unfortunate. It's a false sense of security used to diminish anxiety that potential danger exists and that life hangs in the balance and out of immediate control. They employ magical thinking strategies thought to be capable of influence in their favor.  

You are in no actual danger from benign palpitations and they do not originate from within the heart. Palpitations of this type are the equivalent of a muscle twitch elsewhere in the body and they have no capacity to do you harm. They are unable to actually influence the heart's normal pacers and function. The sensations you experience are far and away greater than what actually takes place at the level of the heart.

You need to be less fearful and fixated upon the extreme rarity of sudden death and realize that you have brought it closer in mind than it shall ever actually exist in reality. You have a full, long life ahead and you need to boldly reach out and experience it to whatever extent you can challenge yourself to do so. Life is not as fragile as you portend and if the kind of risks you suggest were truly so close, humans would have been extinct for millions of years. You'll be just fine and you have no hidden disease lurking and poised to strike you down. It simply doesn't exist.  

Better a lion for a day, than a sheep for one-hundred years.


Best regards,


Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)