Heavy chest - very worried

[hunny]

Hi

I havnt posted here for quite a while as i have a 5 month old baby and she keeps me busy(which is good most of the time!)

I have had feelings of a very heavy chest over the last week and its really worrying me.It feels like theres a brick pressing down hard right in the middle of my chest.I also feel my breathing is restricted and my pulse has been very fast for all this time too.Ive felt very dizzy and weak too adn ive been getting palps which are in my stomach too

I went to see my GP yesterday and she is doing a whole array of bloods and checked my BP and wants me to have an ecg.She kept frowning during the examination and i kept saying"whats wrong",and she said "Im worried in case i miss something"!!

Now,im so so worried,she knows im worried about my heart ever since i was told i had a murmur two years ago.She says things might have changed since i was last checked(i had a holter monitor in August last year)

I was previously told my heart was ok,but she must have heard /seen something to worry her.Im really struggling to get a breath as i type this

Does anyone else have any experince of this?

Thank You

Hunny x

[nomorepanic]

Hunny

Have a good read of the website Symptoms page and also under the Welcome topic there is a thread about commons posts.

Both will help reassure this is normal.

[birdinumnum]

Hi Hunny,

I'm 100% sure that if your gp had found something wrong, she would've sent you into hospital for an ecg right away.
You've got a 5 month old baby, you are probably tired and sleep deprived, the symptoms you are describing are text book anxiety!
Try to sleep or relax as much as possible, and you'll probably see your symptoms disappearing.

Birdi xxx

[hunny]

Thanks for replying


My pulse is racing today,iwhich i know is a bad thing,i have a sore throat too

Im sure i have a heart problem,i feel so bad

[birdinumnum]

Everyone I know has a sore throat at the moment!
Your pulse is racing 'cause your anxious.

Birdi xxx

[Jo3016]

Hi Hunny

I have been feeling very similar to you over the last few weeks. I feel heavy chested and I know I am breathing too deeply which is causing chest pain and palpitations. I know it feels awful but I am trying not to panic as I know I have had these anxiety symptoms before.

I am four months pregnant with my third child and have major building work going on in my house. I know it is stressing me out and these are such typical anxiety symptoms. Please try not to worry - I know it is easier said than done! Your doctor is just being over cautious and if you are anything like me, if she had sent you away saying it is just anxiety, you would not have believed her anyway and been googling symptoms.

I really hope you are feeling better soon.

[debpanic]

i am exactly the same i cant stand it it feelsas if i am running out of air please any advice gratefully received im like this everyday its like i have a strap around my chest getting tighter and tighter so awful please help:weep:

[EebyJeeby]

OK people - listen up!

Before you can make progress on this, you need to BELIEVE that these symptoms ARE caused by anxiety.

You know when you are stressed, you tend to tense your muscles up and you get achy limbs or find yourself gritting your teeth or making tight fists with your hands? Well this chest stuff is EXACTLY the same.

You have muscles between every rib (called intercostal muscles). When you are overly tense, these muscles tighten up (and there are a lot of 'em), so you feel like a heavy weight on your chest or a band or cage round your whole chest which is tight. That's because it IS! It's not your heart, it's muscular! I know it feels like it must be some awful heart thing, but it's truly not and nothing bad will happen.

OK so how to make it better? One word - RELAX. Easier said than done I know, so the way that works best for me is as follows:

1. BELIEVE it is anxiety and that you CAN relieve it yourself.
2. Take some time out and go and lie down somewhere quiet.
3. Slow down your breathing.
4. Put your hands on your belly.
5. Breathe in through your nose, but breathe deeply into your abdomen so that your belly rises more than your chest. This is called diaphragmatic breathing.
6. Hold the breath for a count of 5.
7. Breathe out slowly out of your mouth for a count of 7.
8. Repeat, making sure that your out breath is always longer than your in breath (exact times are not important). Do as often as possible during the day.

Diaphragmatic breathing takes a bit of practice (get those bellies rising!), but it works because it slows your heart rate, stops you taking shallow breaths and overbreathing, and makes it impossible for you to continue panicking. The great thing is that it's something you can do in bed, or during the day at work or any time you can take 5 mins for a sit down!

Eeb x

[davidthegnome]

Thanks for that informative post EebyJeeby, it even helped chill me out. I don't get the "heavy" feeling very often but I do get chest pains and tightness that occur pretty much at random. I usually write it off as anxiety, but some times it really gets to me, like if I think about it too much or am coughing a lot.

Hunny, I'd just like to say hang in there. I've had the palps all over the place, some times I can feel them in my wrists, or head, or even in my arms. It usually comes on for me when I'm laying down to sleep. When it happens I tend to pop in a movie and that kind of helps distract me. Just the noise, I don't watch it, just close my eyes and focus on sleeping.

What you're describing sounds very much like anxiety. Keep us posted though on how you're doing. I hope everything goes ok for you. Just think of all you've managed through already, you can handle this and you've got the little one for encouragement and motivation.

Good luck and God bless you, you'll be in my prayers and thoughts,

Dave

[skylight2007]

Hiya there Hunny, everyone here has given you some really good advice, all I can add is that you try to relax, I know that little might is keeping you busy, but I feel you, will be ok. take care of you, skylight.

[asanil]

OK people - listen up!

Before you can make progress on this, you need to BELIEVE that these symptoms ARE caused by anxiety.

You know when you are stressed, you tend to tense your muscles up and you get achy limbs or find yourself gritting your teeth or making tight fists with your hands? Well this chest stuff is EXACTLY the same.

You have muscles between every rib (called intercostal muscles). When you are overly tense, these muscles tighten up (and there are a lot of 'em), so you feel like a heavy weight on your chest or a band or cage round your whole chest which is tight. That's because it IS! It's not your heart, it's muscular! I know it feels like it must be some awful heart thing, but it's truly not and nothing bad will happen.

OK so how to make it better? One word - RELAX. Easier said than done I know, so the way that works best for me is as follows:

1. BELIEVE it is anxiety and that you CAN relieve it yourself.
2. Take some time out and go and lie down somewhere quiet.
3. Slow down your breathing.
4. Put your hands on your belly.
5. Breathe in through your nose, but breathe deeply into your abdomen so that your belly rises more than your chest. This is called diaphragmatic breathing.
6. Hold the breath for a count of 5.
7. Breathe out slowly out of your mouth for a count of 7.
8. Repeat, making sure that your out breath is always longer than your in breath (exact times are not important). Do as often as possible during the day.

Diaphragmatic breathing takes a bit of practice (get those bellies rising!), but it works because it slows your heart rate, stops you taking shallow breaths and overbreathing, and makes it impossible for you to continue panicking. The great thing is that it's something you can do in bed, or during the day at work or any time you can take 5 mins for a sit down!

Eeb x
Nicely written with good exercizes.

[Tinkerbellx]

I get that feeling too, tight/heavy in the middle of my chest. I've got it now actually, it's not nice but I know it's anxiety, although part of me worries that it's not which I know is so silly, as I've seen a cardiologist when I rushed to A and E in a mad panic..

[x-cupcake-x]

Hey,
I also suffer with chest pain, almost every day. Mine feels like someone is sat on my chest and also sometimes I get a feeling of being crushed from both sides too. This makes my ribs feel a bit bruised and tender but it comes and goes. I don't know what to suggest to ease it, but do know that you're not alone and I had 3 ECGs, a chest Xray and a full set of bloods when I went to A&E with this and they all came back fine. Anxiety is a git! X

[springrobyn57]

hunny, i don't know if you still come on this site or not, i am curious what you ever found out? your words are exact ally how i described it to my doctor today, a brick laying in there, i had an upper gi series done a few weeks ago and not this is how i feel..... he did and ekg, and sent me for chest x-rays . so the fkg was normal, waiting about xrays. it is very UN-nerving trying to explain how we feel, I dont know about you but i get so winded doing anything and now i have myself all worried that they are missing something, because i know what i feel isnt right...ugh......

[Ginafaye]

Hi, I have been reading the posts you have all been putting on here and someone on another forum had mentioned to read eabyjeebys post. All I can describe is that just recently I have started with a tight chest. It is not always there but I have started to notice it happening more and more. It's so tight I feel like something is pressing down or squeezing the ones inside my chest together. The more I think about it the more it hurts :( it has a sharp pain sometimes and I feel like I could crack my chest if I spread my arms. I feel like I can't take enough breaths in. It's really horrible, never had anything like it before. I can also feel it in the top of my breasts. I have had a lot of stress just recently with family members and feeling quite frustrated and angry. Will this be why? Please help. Gina