Frightened

[Imperator]

Hello,

I'm 16 years old and I suffered my first panic attack in October of last year. Since then I have struggled with anxiety. I went to the doctors in December because my anxiety was becoming more severe. I was prescribed Propranolol and was told to take 40mg two times a day. I am still taking the medication.

Although the Propranolol has helped with some symptoms of anxiety such as fast heart rate, I still struggle with symptoms such as chest pain, light-headedness, pins & needles, palpitations, etc. Chest and arm pains are what concern me most. When I'm really stressed, I have them. I only have them when I'm alone. It gets particularly eminent when I go to bed. For some reason I very rarely - almost never - have them when I'm attending school or busy doing something (work, walking, doing activities, etc). I'm worried that I suffer from some sort of heart problem.

I'm also have a CBT appointment next month, so I hope that will help me.

Can you guys' relate to this?

Thanks.

[Ribbit]

Oh boy I can relate to those symptoms!! You'll find many on here suffer the same - you are not alone.

I am so pleased you found the courage to ask for help from your doctor and I hope the cbt helps you.

I know what you mean about nights being the worst - for me it's the quiet as I am able to focus too much on what's going on in my body.

And yes, when I'm busy I don't notice the symptoms too much either, which should give you some reassurance to it not being a heart problem (just and anxiety one) as if it was a heart problem then distraction wouldn't work, and in fact, you'd probably feel worse as you are working your heart harder. I use exercise as a way to reassure me as it meakes me feel good, and I know that if I had a heart problem then I'd have terrible symptoms whilst exercising!

So well done for taking up help, and of course, you are never alone - especially not on this site x

[dlr108]

i too can relate to these symptoms and also the propamanol

i find it helps with high heart rate but thats about it other than that i dont find them much use diazapan is better but very addictive

[Rachy-Rach]

You poor thing. It's best to discuss all these symptoms with your GP. However, from what you've said it sounds as if the reason you only experience these symptoms when you're alone is because this is the time when you are able to concentrate on them and that is when anxiety tends to build. You likely don't feel them when you're busy because you are distracted. I hope your CBT goes well. Have you learnt any relaxation techniques? These can be a quick way to calm yourself down and relieve some of the symptoms you describe.

Try the following for 2-3 minutes. Practise this every day until you can do it routinely in any stressful situation:

Breathe slowly and deeply in through your nose, and out through your mouth in a steady rhythm. Try to make your breath out twice as long as your breath in. To do this you may find it helpful to count slowly "one, two" as you breathe in, and "one, two, three, four" as you breathe out.

Mainly use your diaphragm (lower chest muscle) to breathe. Your diaphragm is the big muscle under the lungs. It pulls the lungs downwards which expands the airways to allow air to flow in. When we become anxious we tend to forget to use this muscle and often use the muscles at the top of the chest and our shoulders instead. Each breath is more shallow if you use these upper chest muscles. So, you tend to breathe faster, and feel more breathless and anxious, if you use your upper chest muscles rather than your diaphragm.

You can check if you are using your diaphragm by feeling just below your breastbone (sternum) at the top of your abdomen. If you give a little cough, you can feel the diaphragm push out here. If you hold your hand here you should feel it move in and out as you breathe.

Try to relax your shoulders and upper chest muscles when you breathe. With each breath out, consciously try to relax those muscles until you are mainly using your diaphragm to breathe.