What does anxiety chest pain feel like?

[Ats666]

Can someone explain to me what anxiety chest pain feels like...how do you know the difference between that and cardiac chest pain...I'm so scared and feel so anxious :weep:

[ankietyjoe]

It can appear in many forms.

I've experienced stabbing pain, aching, chest pressure, hollow feeling in the chest etc.

It can be tricky to tell the difference if you've never had a heart attack I guess, but when I quizzed my GP on the subject he just said 'oh you'll know'.

If you have or have had an ECG and it's all clear then you can stop worrying about it. Chest pain is one of the most common symptoms.

[Ats666]

I haven't had an ECG for a few months now and that was fine, had palpitations constant for 4 months gp thinks it is all my anxiety, been at work for 12 hours today and been getting like sharp ish pains last about a second on and off, am sooooooo scared and worried. I'm due to see a cardiologist 26th sept just for ruling anything out. I want to be normal again so much. Too scared to take meds in case it affects my heart, although I have taken them on and off for years, the only thing that helps is diazepam but gp won't give me much more of that. At my wits end really xx

[nomorepanic]

It can be tricky to tell the difference if you've never had a heart attack I guess, but when I quizzed my GP on the subject he just said 'oh you'll know'.
.

I have had a heart attack and I keep telling people on here that they would know that the pain was different to their normal chest pain and would not be posting a thread asking if it was a heart attack.

[Fishmanpa]

I've not had anxiety chest pain but I've had two heart attacks. The first one was "uh oh... this isn't good" I took a couple of aspirin and within 10 minutes I had pain radiating from my left armpit down my arm. The 2nd heart attack masked itself initially as gas pains. I took some antacid and it went away. It came back later like gangbusters and there was no mistaking what it was.

When it's your heart, you have a gut feeling. It's definitely an "Oh Sh&%" moment! I assure you you wouldn't be posting on a website asking ;)

"T"

[Ats666]

Thank you for your replies I've had no pains since 10 last night but I'm still scared to move in case it starts them again, but I have so much to do today kids school shopping so I really need to pull myself together :(

---------- Post added at 12:35 ---------- Previous post was at 10:06 ----------

Well they have just started again :(

---------- Post added at 12:46 ---------- Previous post was at 12:35 ----------

I don't know what to do, don't know whether to go to a&e, the pains are not there all the time. They are just sharp twinges that last a second, I'm so scared :(

[spacebunnyx]

For me it can feel like every kind of pain.. stabbing, pulling, aching etc. It can be intermittent or constant. I've even had pain with palpitations and It hasn't killed me yet. Xxx

[purgatory]

I don't know what to do, don't know whether to go to a&e, the pains are not there all the time. They are just sharp twinges that last a second, I'm so scared :(

Hi, well normally chest pain that happens and only lasts for seconds in the form of a sharp twinge is hardly ever related to the heart is is more a muscular related pain or indigestion related.

Another thing that can cause sharp chest pains that can be mistaken for other things is chest acne (not saying you have it) but spots on the chest even the odd one or two can cause sharp twinges or stabbing pains as it is a sensory thing and our brains mix it all up.


I get twinges in the chest all the time and if they last only a few seconds and also if you can pin point the area (place a finger on it) it is not likely to be heart related.

[Edmonton28]

My chest pain has been different throughout my whole experience so far. The initial chest pain was just a sensation of pressure within, centred and burning sometimes. My Dr chalked that up to acid reflux and I took pantaloc which made it go away. Seems legit. Then when I stopped taking the drug, after about 5 days it came back with a vengeance.

When I'm having an anxiety attack or feel I am about to, the pain is different. It is more of a really tight knot just above the abdomen, lots of pressure and shortness of breath.

More recently, I've been noticing its a stabbing feeling with some pain in the left breast area that might last from 3-30 seconds, it seems to be more noticeable when I stand up from a sitting position as well, but it can happen in a sitting position too. Other times it feels just like something is tight, like I'd just done chest at the gym but only on the left side, a squeezing sensation almost. Also under my arms, in the armpits a pain that comes and goes, but when it is there I can literally feel a painful spot under the armpit with my finger. This one has me pretty worried (no kidding right) but I'm becoming more and more convinced that anxiety is just affecting the chest with all sorts of varying pains.

[tiller]

Anxiety chest pain... felt more like a suffocation rather than a deep pain which is usually the case in cardiac incidents. The chest normally feels tight (http://www.belmarrahealth.com/tightness-chest-causes-symptoms/) due to this. Breathing exercises can help with anxiety if you have constant anxiety episodes. Yoga is also a good solution according to this site- http://www.belmarrahealth.com/yoga-may-help-combat-depression-ptsd-anxiety-in-seniors/.

[Ray77]

I had my first and only panic attack about 3 weeks ago. The chest pain was kind of a shooting pain that changed one and off from one side of my heart to the other. My left arm was also very numb. These symptoms continued for about 3 weeks, although they are not as intense as the first week and my days are slowly getting better with less pain/numbness.

I do see posts on this where people had an ECG, I had the same. For me, I didn't want to stop there. I knew the only way I could truly be sure my heart was good was get an Echo/stress test and I also got a Coronary Heart Cat Scan. I heard in the past that an ECG can pick up a current heart attack or recent one I guess, but it might not show 'all' issues that could be going on. I was also told that sometimes the readings on an ECG can be misleading, or not always interpreted correctly. I don't know the truth in all this since I'm not a Dr., but that's all i needed to hear to push for the Echo test and the Coronary test. I actually had an abnormality at the apex of my heart that showed on the Coronary test and the Cardiologist said sometimes that's evidence of a prior heart attack. He said for me, he wasn't concerned and doesn't think that was the case for me. He said my coronary test was great and my calcium levels were at a '0' which is as good as it gets. Still, scared the crap out of me and sometimes I start getting anxiety just thinking about it.

[Jeffrey caz]

Can some help me pls I had sharp pain in chest automatically I think heart ❤ then I have palpation feels like I'm going to die get very anxious cause I think I'm going to di