Heart Evangelista admits having panic attacks, physical pain due to anxiety

Heart Evangelista has revealed that she experiences extreme anxiety to the point that she suffers physical pain and panic attacks.

To raise awareness on mental health, the actress shared with GMA News Online on Friday: “Sometimes I get panic attacks. I’m not gonna deny. This morning I had a bad panic attack.”

She added: “And again I spoke about this before when my depression and anxiety became extreme, I felt physical pain and I developed the burning tongue syndrome which I’m feeling today.”

Heart said that it took a while to understand what was really happening to her. Just last year, she shared, she experienced “the peak” of her mental health problems.

“The week after my birthday, usually the best time of your life but it was the peak where I honestly think about my life and what I wanted to do with it and how I wanted … I was having really bad thoughts,” Heart said.

“Because my anxiety and depression was so bad I had physical pains. I had my mouth pain, my tongue pain, I couldn’t eat. There was no medicine for it,” she added.

“My hands and toes were numb and I would even twitch. I would twitch uncontrollably and I didn’t know that it was because of extreme anxiety.”

The actress explained that it wasn’t caused by the things happening in her life but rather the things she felt were about to happen to her.

“I was very depressed when I lost my twins but this one came out of nowhere. I didn’t have a problem,” the actress said. “I honestly think that when everything was okay, something bad was going to happen.”

When she couldn’t control her thoughts anymore, that’s when she asked for help.

“I went to seven, eight doctors. I went to different doctors, I went to go see a general surgeon, oncologist, neurologist, and a therapist, and the therapist told me that when you’re an overly active person or your very creative, your mind doesn’t really shut down. It just keeps working,” Heart said.

“Sometimes it causes you depression and anxiety. That’s when I asked for help, the voices in my head were just too loud,” she said.

“I couldn’t take it anymore and I wasn’t ashamed to ask and that’s why I have to talk about it because you really have to address problems when it comes to mental health.”

Wanting to let other people know they’re not alone in their struggles, Heart said that no one’s life was perfect.

“Wala ’yan sa ganda ng damit, wala yan sa ganda ng Instagram. Lahat tayo may pinagdadaanan,” she said.

On Friday, Heart gave a talk about mental health during the virtual international event Global Town Hall 2020, where she was the only Filipina in the panel of speakers. – RC, GMA News