Lauren Goodger feared she was going to have a heart attack and die after suffering a three-day panic attack.
Lauren Goodger
The 34-year-old star - who is pregnant with her and Charles Drury's first child - was taken to hospital for a check-up after becoming concerned she couldn't feel her baby move and although she was reassured her unborn daughter was fine, it was a comment about her own heart rate and blood pressure that sent her anxiety soaring.
She told The Sun Online: "My anxiety is my heart so that was a trigger for me.
“Doctors and my close friends who suffer severe panic disorder are always the first to tell you panic attacks make your body feel like its having a heart attack due to the massive rush of adrenaline trying to escape your body any way it can. You get chest pains, palpitations and even shooting pains in your arm...
"It’s scary because you don’t understand what’s going on and that’s why you think you’re dying.
"It just comes over, five minutes ago I could be chatting and doing my make-up and the next minute feeling funny. "
The former 'TOWIE' star was reassured by her midwife that the baby had a "strong, healthy heartbeat" but her own blood pressure was high.
After a thorough check, she was told her racing heart was due to panic but Lauren still struggled to calm down, and though she went home afterwards, it still took three days for her anxiety attack to pass.
She said: "I had four hours sleep in two nights.
"I’m quite strong-minded, which can be frustrating because sometimes I don’t believe what people tell me.
"I feel like they’re just trying to say it to distract me because something’s wrong. I’m quite stubborn in my head."
But after speaking to other mothers and her midwife, Lauren feels better knowing pregnancy hormones can cause a faster heartbeat.
She said: "My midwife said that she’d be worried if my heart wasn’t racing because it’s got to pump the blood.
"Now I’ve turned it into a good thing and know I'm not going to die. My fear was that I was going to have a heart attack.
"I know it sounds so extreme and silly, but when I was in that state, my whole body was shaking, My heart was like I was running."
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