Chest pains

[MissBee]

I have been suffering from chest pains for the last 4 weeks or so. Everyone keeps saying it's probably down to my anxiety but I've not even been feeling that anxious.

The pain isn't crippling or constant. It's not stopping me exercising or going about daily life. It's more of a sharp twinge or dull ache in my heart area spreading up towards my shoulder. I saw my GP who took my blood pressure and said he was confident it wasn't heart related but I have health anxiety as well as GAD and I can't shake the feeling there is something seriously wrong in my heart. I am scheduled to have an x-ray to check lungs etc but I don't even feel like it's worth going because it won't show up anything in the arteries of my heart.

I know I should take the GP's advice on board and stop worrying but I can't. I am only in my twenties and there is no family history of heart disease. My cholesterol and everything is OK. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

[Emma1027]

Going through a similar situation myself so I know how I feels. You can't help but worry and think the worse but somehow you have to think positive. I think there is a very strong chance it's anxiety but they have to rule other things out too. I am not going to worry about the outcome as of yet- shall deal with that when it happens but I am really hoping it's the anxiety. Yeah it's terrible but better then something that could be a lot worse.good luck with it.

[MissBee]

Sorry to hear you're going through it too Emma. Have you seen a doctor?

The thing is I always go see a doctor if I'm unsure (especially if it's something in a dodgy area like this) but then I just doubt what they've told me anyway! I always feel like they should have done more. I feel like I'm being fobbed off but I guess if he genuinely felt there was cause for concern he would have done further tests.

Worrying makes it worse but it's hard not to worry sometimes. The weird thing is my anxiety has actually been ok lately.

[Emma1027]

Yes I saw a doctor yesterday and he said the chest pain could be a few things. I guess I am more of a optimistic as I am looking at it in a more positive light. There is a chance it could be stress related and caused by anxiety. Tests are usually just to rule health conditions out so at the moment I might as well chill out and worry about outcomes later on- if he was that concerned I would have been sent to the hospital and I'd know something was wrong. Chest pain can be frightening.

---------- Post added at 08:17 ---------- Previous post was at 08:11 ----------

I know what you mean about feeling fobbed off-I felt like this for a while but actually got a lot of support yesterday which made a huge difference. It's easy to over think health worries and Google symptoms or think the worst. I've had illnesses over the years and thought I was more ill then I was actually feeling but it wasn't actually that bad- anxiety seems to fit most problems ie chest pain, not sleeping well, not eating, relaxing ect and with anxiety you worry. Worrying is actually one of the worst things you can do but yet you have little control with. This is terrible and I've got depression now too. I keep trying to calm myself down to see if it helps.