New here, so alone and SO terrified!

[ShapeOfASnowflake]

On Saturday I consumed alcohol for the first time in many weeks. During this time I developed severe chest tightness, shortness of breath, like I was limited, I couldn't get a good breath. I was also having dizzy spells (I ignored that due to being intoxicated). My brother ended up calling an ambulance for me, I had my blood sugar taken, temperature checked, an ECG and they tested my breathing. Everything -of course- came back perfectly fine.

But since then, it's all just gotten worse. Whether I'm stood, walking, sat down or even LAID down, I have an overwhelming dizzy spell at least every 2 minutes. I can't get a satisfying breath. It's like the my brain is no longer getting enough oxygen. My chest feels so, so tight. My left arm keeps hurting every now and then (which obviously scares me half to death [heart attack!]). For about a week now, I've also had TERRIBLE headaches which even if I overdosed on painkillers, it wouldn't make it go away! It's like migraines.

I don't know what to do. I called up a friend of mine who is in medical school and was told to go to A+E. I really don't want to go back, I was just there 2 nights ago! I would love to go back and ask for a full-body MRI but you know how that would sound if my vitals come back fine - again.

I live with my grandparents who would kill me if I called an ambulance for myself. They call me stupid. They just don't understand.

What I think I have is lung cancer. I do smoke, have done for many years.

I'm 19 years old, female and don't have any 'real' medial problems.


Sorry for the rant. If I said this to anybody else, they'd laugh me off. It's nice to be here with people who understand!

[ronski]

Lainey
It sounds to me that you are overbreathing slightly and also using your upper chest to breath rather than your diaphragm. When I say overbreathing, it's a subtle breathing problem not acute hyperventilation.
Try this to see if it helps
Lie on your back, bend your knees and brink your ankles up to your bottom. Put your left hand on your right shoulder, and your right hand on your left shoulder and just relax. Then slow your breathing and do this for 5 minutes. This restricts your breathing to your diaphragm and slowing your breathing may help with the dizziness.
All of your symptoms suggest a breathing issue, dizziness, cannot take full breath, sense of restriction and headaches.
One other thing are you actual breathing out effectively, sit in a chair and one hand on your stomach. Concentrate on your stomach and just breath out to a count of 4 and then in to a count of 4 and just relax and monitor your stomach rising and falling.
Put some nice relaxing music on and just chill out. I hope this helps

[kinnygirl1]

This really does sound like anxiety - check out the symtons section on this site (left hand side) and you will find them there. I know it doesn't help knowing that its anxiety but once you have accepted that you can target it and start to get better. I know how hard it is, hun cos I am battling with mine too but you are really not alone here. x

[ShapeOfASnowflake]

I honestly wasn't anxious that night, I haven't suffered with HA since I was around 17. I was having a great night! I don't know what to do. :weep:

[SometimesHappy]

Hi,

The symptoms you're describing are all to familiar to me, cause that was exactly what I felt when I got my first panic attack 6 years ago, so it seems to me that you might be going through the same thing, shortness of breath caused by panic disorder and anxiety, which also makes you think you are having a heart attack or some sort of severe illness, which you aren't. I had the same pain in my left arm and sometimes it would go absolutely numb, I also called an ambulance for myself but it was no good as they quickly established it was a panic attack.
Sorry to hear your grandparents are not supporting you. Here you'll get all the support you need and also a lot of information, but the maid thing is to rememmber that you are not going to die, you just have to be prepared to work hard towards makingyourself feel better. Hope this helped and let us know how you getting on! :)))

[kinnygirl1]

Sometimes anxiety is underlying and you have no idea you are suffering from it but it manifests as physical symptons. I think that if all your tests have come back clear this could be what is going on. I know this feeling well as I went as far as getting a 24hour ecg done. It picked up a few little things but cardiology were so unconcerned that they didn't even need to see me again and discharged me back to my GP. I couldn't believe it as I felt so sure something was really wrong. I am working on accepting now that it was all down to stress.

[ShapeOfASnowflake]

Would those tests of shown if I had lung cancer? :(

[kinnygirl1]

Think ECG is specific to heart problems but I'm not sure. I would have thought that diagnosing lung cancer would maybe involve scans or xray perhaps. BUT I don't think you have lung cancer.....your symptons really could all come down to anxiety... also you are really really young to have that disease even though you are a smoker so I would think you are in a very low risk category. Have you spoke to a GP about any of your concerns?

[SometimesHappy]

Those tests wont show if you have lung cancer, but if you did you'd be coughing up blood, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[ShapeOfASnowflake]

Thank you people. Really.

[SometimesHappy]

Happy to help

Speak to your GP about anxiety, togehter figure out the best ways for you to tackle it weather it would be with medication temporarily or therapy you can learn how to control these feelings. Dont feel scared or alone, everyone here has been through the same ordeal and trust me once you aknowledge and understand the problem it will only get better, it wont be like this forever :)

[Vivi]

Please, please don't worry! I went for months with the exact same symptoms and turned out to be making the dizziness and chest tightness WORSE while trying to get a "satisfying breath". Try not to be conscious of your breathing, and the problem should correct itself. :) If you're still worried, you can always go back to the doctor.

[potato11]

Hiya Snowflake (nice name!)

I would suspect that your symptoms are being caused by panic, from what you say...
"Can't get enough air" - like Ronski says, this suggests you're hyperventilating. A good tip for this is to consciously 'relax' your stomach - notice the tension? this is why its so difficult for you to take a deep breath - and why your chest feels so sore, it's all the muscle tension. You're tense from panic, but instead of relaxing the muscles to enable your lungs to expand, you're most likely making a big effort to take deep breaths which is straining your muscles. So, relax your stomach, wait a few minutes as the effects of hyperventilation will take a couple of minutes to go. You won't 'stop' breathing - a good way of proving this to yourself is to hold your breath for as long as you can - notice that your body FORCES you to breathe after a certain amount of time.

As for your headaches - sounds like a tension headache. The best cure for these is to relax, as the tension is what is causing the pain! I appreciate it isn't as simple as that though. Try some nice hot baths, and perhaps the occasional dose of Ibuprofen aswell just to take the "edge" off any particularly severe episodes, because Ibuprofen reduces inflammation in muscles, helping them to relax.

The thing with your left arm - happens to me sometimes, but on my right - I think again thats most likely to do with posture and the way we hold ourselves or lie, coupled with tension probably traps or irritates the nerves, causing slight numbness. You presuming it's a heart attack is 'catastrophising' - a sure sign of anxiety

Hope that helps!

[ronski]

Research has shown that faulty breathing patterns precede the panic attacks so the treatment you need to calm that anxiety is to slow your breathing and breath effectively from your diaphragm.
This may seem a daft question but it certainly may explain why you had the attack, at the time were you wearing very tight fitting jeans. You may laugh but it is known that this overtime can bring on a condition known as Chronic Hyperventilation Syndrome. The constriction on your stomach only allows movement from your upper chest and also your breathing would be shallow in nature so causing the symptoms you describe plus the panic attacks.