Hey guy, been there done that for almost a decade. Even ended up in the E.R. with a heart rate of 150 bpm accompanied by feelings of doom, left arm pain, numbness, tingling, vision narrowing. Have had several extensive work ups and am vascular and cardiologically sound. Still feel health anxieties. Could you be the unrecognized .05%. Yep. But you probably wouldn't logically bet anything on such shitty odds. So don't bet your current mental well being and health on a .05% chance :)

I am not a doctor, but, you would probably have been already dead if it was an aortic aneurysm. Usually they are sudden and assymptomatic, or only symptomatic, and excruciating, for a short time before you are gone. Irregardless, the mortality rate approaches the high 90% if you aren't in a hospital when it happens, so there isn't a whole lot you can do. Yes there are the few where it's found and fixed, but these are usually via other tests that accidentally catch them because they are usually asymptomatic and not observed before death. So not much you can do preventative wise unless you are so convinced (perhaps a sever family history) that it is AA. Most likely you would be dead before you even made the consult appt if you had AA. ;) Prolonged and recurrent pain is an unlikely sign of AA.

I have had some beyond intense feelings that I had an AA about go burst or a stroke or something that would cause my heart and breathing to stop. MCBT, Mindfulness Cognitive Based Therapy. Break the cycle. Learn to redirect your thoughts, much like you would train the basic instincts of a dog from biting and jumping to being calm and composed. Recognize physical feelings and assess their true meaning (easier said than done) and their source, redirect those concerns into a more positive aspect.

A crude example that recently helped me as I contemplated an ER visit because I thought I was about to have a stroke. I went outside and sat, and thought, well if it's over accept it and drink it in. So I stared at the trees and thought of how many people had walked beneath them, admired the gentle breeze and green grass, grabbed a handful of my dog's silky hair and took a deep breath of her scent and felt her calm heartbeat and wagging tail and her pure joy at being alive in the moment. By the time I got back to myself things had passed.