heart attack symptoms

[colinmckee2]

Just had a really bad jaw pain that lasted around 15 seconds and had 2 pains in my centre chest. Freaking out! I'm sick of going to the er to be told I'm ok. Help?!

[Fishmanpa]

I've had two heart attacks. A 15 second pain in your jaw and 2 pains in the chest does not constitute a heart attack or symptoms. Also, you wouldn't be posting on an anxiety board waiting for responses if you were really in distress.

Positive thoughts

[colinmckee2]

I suffer from health anxiety. How do you explain the pain and the symptoms? I'm only 20 and am petrified. Where do I draw the line between thinking my jaw hurts and I'm having a heart attack. ? Many thanks

[Serenity1990]

^^ What Fishmanpa said.

[colinmckee2]

I took some drugs a month and a half ago - I'm freaking out. I've has 10-12 ecgs, blood tests and an x ray done. All fine. Is there anything else they could have missed or any other tests I can have done to put my mind at rest? Thanks!

[Fishmanpa]

I suffer from health anxiety. How do you explain the pain and the symptoms? I'm only 20 and am petrified. Where do I draw the line between thinking my jaw hurts and I'm having a heart attack. ? Many thanks

Obviously, your post was to seek reassurance. Based on my real life experience, I gave you that.

At 20, the likelihood of a heart attack is astronomical. The likelihood of a niggle or twinge in your body is like 100% as everyone gets them day in and day out. It's part of being alive and human.

The difference is the HA. You're hyper aware of your body. Your mind equates a normal occurrence with something sinister. A cold becomes lung cancer. A slightly swollen node (or not) is lymphoma. Gas pains in your chest are heart problems. A drip of water from a tree is bat saliva which will give you rabies etc. etc. etc. Seeking reassurance is one of the hallmark behaviors of HA. The key is finding ways to quell that train of thought when something normal occurs. CBT is great for that as well as one on one therapy and meds if needed.

I'm not a doctor but I'd bet my next paycheck you're physically fine.

Positive thoughts

[colinmckee2]

I'm on propanolol 10mg 2-4 times a day. I've just taken on a personal trainer to help ease me back into working out. It's the drugs effect that scare me even though they're out of my system I'm just weirded out that they might have done some damage? But he doctors say they haven't. My doctors won't refer me for cbt cause it'll cost them and the waiting list is 6 months. I don't mind paying out of my own pocket if it needs be. Is this possible? Thanks for your detailed response!

[Serenity1990]

I suffer from health anxiety. How do you explain the pain and the symptoms? I'm only 20 and am petrified. Where do I draw the line between thinking my jaw hurts and I'm having a heart attack. ? Many thanks

Not all symptoms are easily explainable, or explainable by any named illness. In fact most aren't. Every day all of us will suffer a sore body part, a tingle here, a shooting pain there, most of us are able to just ignore these things and think nothing of them. Once HA sets in this is no longer the case.

I've experienced exactly what you describe, more than once. Most chest pain is muscular, the next most common is wind. The Vagus nerve which reports sensation in that area comes right up to the back of your neck, and enters at the same point as the nerves that would report pain from your jaw - they are connected. The same reason you might experience jaw pain in a heart attack might cause jaw pain in something as innocent as a bit of acid reflux. Or innocent problems in the neck or jaw could cause sensation in areas further down too.

I'm not a medical doctor, but these are just some of the things I know are possible because of my own health experiences - millions of other relationships between those two regions no doubt exist there that I'm not aware of. The point is you are not a medical doctor either, so trying to understand the exact cause of every little twinge you experience is always a battle you're going to lose.

As a layman, as we can know is that if your symptoms are such that you're on your phone or laptop posting on a forum about them, and only lasted a matter of seconds, it's incredibly unlikely you're suffering something as serious and immediately life threatening as a heart attack.

As always, none of us are in the least bit trained to offer you a diagnosis. So if you have genuine worries about your health you should consult competent medical advice.