Health anxiety recent issue

[chrisandhisbrain]

Hi all,

All my life I've suffered from anxiety, especially health anxiety. It comes and goes in its intensity. Whenever it gets bad, I'll go to the docs and get some tests for reassurance.

At the end of last year I was having some mild chest pains/tightness, and as my father died of heart attack I got it checked.

The GP gave me an ECG, which of course I was expecting to come back ok, but the nurse came in saying there was an issue and they'd called an ambulance! For most people that would be scary but as you can imagine, for me it was horrific. Ambulance came quite quickly and the paramedic took a look at laughed, saying I was fine, and that my GP was known to be very over cautious (I suppose not the worst thing).

I took myself up to A+E as I didn't want to waste the ambulance's time and they did another ECG and gave me the all clear. For maximum piece of mind, my GP booked a full investigation (blood tests and an echocardiogram). It all came back fine, in fact I am in excellent health (low cholestorol etc..).

Last week I woke up in the night and had my first panic attack. It was horrid. I went to see the GP the next day and said I was still having some chest tightness and twinges in my back. As I'd recently had my heart checked, he did a quick blood oxygen test (which was fine, he was jealous of the result) and gave me some Propanalol to use as and when I felt like I was going to have another panic attack.

The Propanalol seems to have helped with the panic attacks, but the chest tightness and back twinges have remained, and this is my problem: I'm just so paranoid about it.

I read the article on this forum about the chest pains and it has definitely made me feel better. I was just wondering what other people think - having had all the investigations recently, should I be concerned at all this time?

Thanks

[venusbluejeans]

Hiya chrisandhisbrain and welcome to NMP

Why not take a look at our articles on our home page, they contain a wealth of information and are a great starting place for your time on the forum.

I hope you find the as site helpful and informative as I have and that you get the help and support you need here and hope that you meet a few friends along the way

[netminder1976]

I been the same way in my time with health anxiety. I've also had an ECG and full blood work just over a month ago and all was fine. If the doctors say we're all clear and they say we are OK we really shouldn't worry. Easier said than done. The anxiety itself will cause you to have some chest tightness and muscle twitches. The amount of symptoms that anxiety can cause is very long and you wouldn't even think possible but it is.