View Full Version : Can't stop panicking.
I've been suffering from chest pains for about a week now, shooting stinging pains around my sternum, and sometimes slight heaviness around the left side of my body which is a new symptom tonight (see my other thread for more details)
I just rung NHS Direct in a state of panic, thinking something seriously is wrong. I told her that I've suffer from anxiety and get chest pains from that, but these are different which I've only began experiencing within the last week.They managed to reassure me a bit but I'm still panicking. She asked me to ring back if I start experiencing any symptoms of having a heart attack, and not to overlook it even though I've had ECG's and echocardiograms done in the past and the fact that I'm 17.
She said I should book an appointment with my doctor for tomorrow, who will able to find out if its to do with my muscles, bones, stomach (I suffer from acid reflux) or my lungs (asthma), and just take paracetamol and drink lots of fluids in the meantime. Although reassuring that she didn't say that I have to go A&E or anything, I'm still panicking. Giving me my usual anxiety chest pains, ear ache, head ache, I just want it to go away :(
I had my first counselling session today which was rubbish. I have to find another counsellor as my current one is too far away and is "added stress" even though I told her that it doesn't bother me coming (it's only about half hour on the bus!)
I don't even know why I wrote this thread. Just want to hear what everyone else thinks. I'm just fed up with having this anxiety, I want to live a normal life like other people my age but I cant!
Hey, can you remember when the pain started ? have you thought about everything you had been doing around that time .. stretching, sport, painting anything ? maybe its muscular, thats what it sounds like. Just been tense can cause pain where you have it, then if you worry and focus on that part you will imagine all sorts of feelings and heavyness. I can sit now and concentrate on one area of my body and notice all sorts of things i wouldnt normally.
It sounds like you have been well checked out by doctors for this though, so its very unlikely that you would come to any harm. NHS are usually very cautious on the phone but do ring back if it helps or you are concerned x
They started really randomly. I can't really remember doing anything that I wouldn't normally do around that time, unless I've forgotten! And I know :( plus being tense gives you aches and pains all over the place anyway.
Yeah I was checked out a few months ago at the start of my anxiety. It's just the fact these are different pains to what I was experiencing in the start. I suppose because I've had it over a week now that I wouldn't be here if it was something serious right? I'm not really getting any other symptoms except the pains.
And yes they are always extremely helpful and good at putting my mind at rest. Even just a little bit of reassurance helps if I'm having a panic attack.
I will ring my doctor at 8AM tomorrow as soon as the surgery is open and see if I can get an appointment that day.
Yes im sure you are fine the serious things dont tend to hang around for a week. I think the worry is just making you tense which is horrible because once its stuck in your head its hard to get it out isnt it.. I went to the doctor a while ago with a really odd headache not really pain just a horrible sensation that i had for over a week and was convinced it was something horrible. I told the doctor everything and how it was so painful and he checked my head and eyes etc and said there was nothing but stress and this was tension. By that afternoon it had gone ! and i had honestly been in pain and it was constantly on my mind all the time.
Your mind is a very powerful thing lol Is there anyone with you that knows your concerns ?
I done exactly the same as you once haha! Stress and anxiety is very powerful. I have that same type of headache you're talking about now as I've been very anxious :( I always get ear ache with the headache after a panic attack too.
And yes I've told a few people, but no one really knows how anxious I am about it. It's a bit embarrasing telling people to be honest, as no one around me really understands par a few.
Thank you for listening to me nag on by the way lol :D I can be such a nuisance at times.
Its not being a nuisance you cant help how you feel. We all have things at some time but yeah i know what you mean about telling people they tend to get a bit fed up with hearing it .
You probably get an ear ache as you clench your jaw when panicking and it puts pressure on your ear. If i wake up in the night tense i find my ears are ringing and as i relax and think ok here we go again it gradually eases off.
It is hard for people who havent had it to know how you feel though as they wouldnt be concerned themselves over the symptoms. It's just you think differently and in time you will probably learn to change that x
Yeah I suppose it's just down to adjusting your thought pattern when you get certain symptoms, which will eventually make them go anyway. That's kinda hard to do though :(
It is hard to change but maybe if you get some help it will become easier. You may well have the pain and it may have a simple explanation but that doesnt mean its serious. There are thousands of things that go wrong with a body that are minor, its just with anxiety we go from one to a hundred in a flash, no bit inbetween lol
In time you will experience lots of different things and survive them all so hopefully will learn from that experience and think differently about it.
My son has anxiety, but now at 23 knows what it is when it occurs and is able to dismiss most of it.
You will hopefully get wise to it too :)
Yep that's so true. I haven't had it long, only about 6 months so it's still all kinda new to me. Hoping that in the future I can get rid of it completely, or even just learn to cope with it a bit better than I do now.
And that's good to hear that your son recovered :)
You will be fine, you have time on your side. You are very young to be suffering, if you make your mind up you will manage this thing then you will ! It will just take some time. Im off to bed, but as you have been typing rationally for about an hout I am quite sure all will be fine tonight ;) Make a real effort to relax and get some sleep and i am sure we will both on here telling our worries tomorrow.
Im off now but will check in the morning for an update :)
Goodnight have a nice sleep :) thank you so much for replying to this thread, helped calm me down a bit!
xxx
Couldn't get a doctors appointment for today, but I spoke to the nurse. She says she thinks it could be to do with my stomach, as I suffer from acid reflux. Have to carry on taking my 20mg of omeprazole and see how I go then :)
Hey just saw this now. I was just given an exercise by my counselor to do when I am having a panic or anxiety moment about anything. It has helped me a bit, although I just started doing it and it is supposed to become more engrained over time in your head. I think it's a very common CBT technique. You write down three columns on paper: First one is what is happening, so "I am having pains in my sternum area." Second column is your belief, which is "I am having a heart attack." Third column is other possibilities, where you'd write all the possibilities it could be (literally can be a lot) so muscle pain, anxiety, acid reflux, etc etc. It has helped me a bit to see clearly and focus in a stressful moment.
Hope you're feeling better!
Thank you! That's quite a good idea actually. Will give it a go :)
Hi does sound like it could be acid to be honest that would gice quite a sharp stingy pain unlike heart problems :)
Yeah hopefully. I just don't understand how it can give me an aching pain around my upper left back into my shoulder and upper and mid rib area :S stretching or anything like that doesn't seem to soothe it. It doesn't even feel tender.
If you are worrying about your chest you will hold yourself differently without even realising it. It is a bit like if you hurt your ankle your back will ache as you hold yourself to protect the part you are protecting or focusing on.
It isnt the actual problem you have causiing the pain its just muscular tension :)
I hope so! Its in my arm too so I'm panicking about heart attack :(
Hi JSP,
Please check this link out below, I am sure it will help you with most things. I have written a PDF book which address all the issues such as stress pains and other scarey stuff. I can send it to you if you request it.
I have suffered from fast heartbeats/panic attacks for many years now. I have eventually resolved all of my problems. I suffered from fast heart beats at night, every night, where I would wake up in the morning with heart stress problems, I suffered from panic attacks all day and all night, I suffered from irregular heart beats all day and all night. The difficulty I have is in communicating how I solved my problems in a way in which it is readily understood. I am going to be extremely economical with my words here on this forum. First of all, please appreciate that I have suffered with these problems for around 10 years continuously! Please consult with your doctor to make sure you do not have a known medical problem first. I am not giving advice. I am only expressing what worked for me.
This is how I solved all of my problems by trial and error.
1. I found by trial and error that there was a direct relationship between what I ate and drank and the severity and continuance of my panic attacks/fast/irregular heart beats. When I removed alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, sugar or any ingredient which I consumed which had sugar in it, like tomato ketchup.
Certain drinks also caused problems, these were pure Pineapple juice and pure orange juice, carbonated water.
I also discovered that vitamins such as vitamin B complex and vitamin D also caused severe problems.
Other items on the forbidden foods list included, Wheat Grass, Honey, Maple Syrup, L-Arginine and Milk Thistle.
In my opinion, you will have to eliminate all these things together if you want to get control of your anxiety, panic attacks, irregular/fast heart beat problems.
If the above works for you, you may notice as I did that it takes 3 months for all the aforementioned forbidden list to work itself out of your system.
I noticed that I had extreme "Power surges" at night. These power surges led immediately to panic attacks. I found that these power surges were incontrovertibly linked to eating any of the above. Sometimes, they were so severe I had out of body experiences. When I stopped consuming the above, I found that the massive power surges no longer had any effect on provoking a panic attack, no matter how severe it was!
2. By accident I found that when I relaxed my stomach muscles, I could not only control my anxiety, panic attacks and feelings of dread immediately, but it gave me something tangible that I could do to see immediate results.
I found that by relaxing my stomach muscles my panic attacks and fast/racing heart beats would calm down immediately. If I woke up with a panic attack, I found that by relaxing my stomach muscles, it would dissipate very fast. I soon realised that there was a direct link between how I stressed my stomach muscles and my palpitations/panic attacks, irregular heart beats.
I practiced hard to relax my stomach muscles continuously throughout the day until I could do it all day. It is very, very hard to do, especially at all times. I still find myself unconsciously tightening my stomach muscles even though I am now well practiced with it. Learning to walk with my stomach muscles relaxed, with my belly hanging out all day and every where takes incredible amounts of concentration.
3. I found that my panic attacks subsided to nothing over three months. The problem was, I was still having fast, racing and uncontrollable heart beats every night. I found that I solved the problem by doing this:
I slept sitting upright as much as possible, with my back propped up with pillows! This always calmed my heart down near enough immediately. Unfortunately, the prospect of sleeping always upright was not a pleasant one.
Before I found the solution to this problem, I noticed I would always feel airey and light headed at night. Sometimes, this would be accompanied with feelings of euphoria or dread. I discovered that there was a direct link between what I ate and the experiences of "extreme changes in blood pressure".
"Whenever I tried to sleep lying down, my heart would immediately start racing fast again. "
Knowing that this was a blood pressure regulation problem, I realised and understood that I would have to continue sleeping this way until my body corrects itself. When I started sleeping upright, it was the first time I had real untroubled sleep at night.
After a few difficult weeks sleeping this way, my blood pressure regulation problems returned, with the self-same feelings of dread or aireyness. This also came with power surges and feigned panic attacks! I understood this to mean that my body was telling me that sleeping upright was not good anymore. I eased my sleeping position down one notch. Good sleep was restored, until it happened again a week later. I repeated the matter of reducing my sleeping position down gradually, by one notch. This gave me immediate relief. I continued repeating this until I was lying flat. This probably took me about a month to do. When I was eventually lying flat I then found that all negative feelings and experiences disappeared. I would sometimes wake at night to check that my heart was not racing without me being aware of it. I continued to check on myself in this way for 6 weeks. There were no problems again. I still have not had any problems.
Other factors which contributed to my full recovery from all of the above:
a. Drinking plenty of still mineral water, especially at night(very important).
b. Eating only fresh and raw foods during the day, but eating cooked meals in the evening, maintaining my due diligence.
c. Avoiding the aforementioned stimulants, caffeine, sugar, alcohol and nicotine.
d. Going to bed early and making sure that I was in bed by 9.30pm. This part is the whole pillar or foundation on ensuring my full recovery. I found that there was a direct link between my sleeping habits, stress, anxiety, panic attacks, irregular heart beats and racing palpitations.
In other words, I found that all the problems I had, were caused by one simple thing, regular, late and abusively consistent late nights. All the other things mentioned above just aggravated the problems. In other words, my body needed rest.
I have found that after a huge trials, tribulations and struggles with all the aforementioned matters, I am a much better, rested and content person.
I find that I have more energy now than what I did before. In fact, I found that I am much stronger physically and fitter than many people half my age - I am 48 - who are in the gym every week.
I have written a self help PDF file on how to recover from all the above. If any of you want to read it just make a request and I will send it to you by email. I hope what I have written helps all who reads.
You feeling any better jsp?
Bodies give us all sorts of pains/niggles/noises/sensations all the time....it's just us people with extremely good observation and awareness that notice every one! And once we then add anxiety to it, it then amplifies and becomes worse and then all the other anxiety symptoms begin causing this cycle of pain and fear!
I'm sure you are very healthy....just because we have a fear of specific things, doesn't make us have them! You have to realise that what you do have is health anxiety and nothing else.
At such a young age I would recommend that you fill your mind up with as much info on anxiety as you can. Claire weekes would be a great place to start x
Kel
Would love to see your PDF OverDark!
I had an awful weekend. I ended up ringing NHS direct again and they told me to go to A&E. I went there, they done an ECG and said they were going to show it to the doctor. They then said the ECG was fine but my heart rate was quite high, so they wheeled me out into the back in a wheelchair and put me on a heart monitor machine. My pulse was around 150, and my blood pressure looked a little high. A nurse then came in and done a blood test, and injected me with this saline solution thingy to stop clotting, and then put this plastic thing in my arm in the same hole.
After about an hour, the doctor came back with all the results and said the ECG was fine, and so was the blood tests that they done. He asked me if I suffered from anxiety and if there was anything going on in my life at the moment, so I said that I do. He said the arm and chest pains are secondary to my anxiety so I should not worry, but to come back if I'm still panicking over it all.
I'm still getting the pains. Is there anything I can do to help get rid of it?
Thanks for the advice too kelley, I've seen a lot about Claire Weekes on here so I think I will give her book a try!
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