Heart problems or reflux/health anxiety?

[Sumter15]

Hello all,
I've been dealing with health anxiety for about 9 months now. During my initial HA episode, I felt chest pain and thought I was having a heart attack. I was taken to the hospital and had an EKG (which was all clear), and blood tests also showed no issues. After that visit, I struggled a lot with symptoms like numbness at extremities, head fullness, finger stiffness, one-sided headaches, etc. with symptoms that made me fear MS and ALS, but those symptoms are mostly gone now. I had been mostly symptom free for the past 2 months.

Before I continue, there are three important things to note:
1. I was diagnosed with reflux 2 years ago (though it's more like silent reflux than regular reglux).
2. Connected to the diagnosis process of the reflux, I had a heart checkup about 2 years ago (with an ekg, a stress test and a 24-hour holter). All was normal.
3. I am in my 20s.

Two weeks ago, I started feeling a bit of a dull pain in my chest. Because of reflux, this is not something I'm unused to. I started taking my ranitidine again and got tums to combat it. However, it is presenting a little differently. I started to bloat, which made it uncomfortable to eat. Today, my chest feels full, and has been so for the entire day (and it isn't really improving with rest). I'll have occasional pulsating aches in my arm. After a day of walking around a lot, I am extraordinarily tired. I'll have occasional dull chest pain. My stomach grumbles (though that is probably reflux related). I have the occasional heart palpitation. The ranitidine and tums aren't really helping all that much either. During the past 9 months, my diet hasn't been the healthiest and I've been relatively sedentary because it's been hard to motivate myself to reintroduce exercise into my routine. I'm worried that it really is heart related this time. But I also don't trust myself at all. During the summer, I chased every little rabbit hole and went to the doctor a lot (which means I spent a lot of money). It's wholly possible that this is yet another instance of health anxiety.

[bin tenn]

I do believe it sounds like anxiety is controlling your thoughts at the moment. I say that because, in your 20s, heart disease and especially a major cardiac event is generally very unlikely. Unless you have a congenital heart defect, and undiagnosed heart defect, or other immediate risk factors (e.g. hard drug abuse), it's my understanding that the risk is extremely tiny. In an otherwise healthy person, it normally takes decades of unmanaged high blood pressure, poor cholesterol, etc to create problems. For example, I have family history and I'm down to about half a pack a day of smoking, I'm 30, I have mildly elevated BP controlled by a beta blocker, and I've had an episode of afib (in August 2016) - yet, my cardiologist recently told me he doesn't need to see me regularly for at least another 10-15 years for more aggressive screening, unless anything changes.

Granted, he's not your cardiologist, but I hope that helps quell some of your fears. Maybe putting it into perspective. I get it though, I have been highly concerned about my heart health for at least a few years. So I definitely know how worrisome it can be. Just hang in there. And of course, if you begin feeling new symptoms, or things don't improve, or you otherwise feel you're in danger, don't hesitate to see your doc or emergency room.

[Clydesdale Epona]

I agree with bin ten defo sounds like silent reflux and your anxiety is controlling your thoughts.
Your risk factors are very low so there's no need to stress too much.
If you feel your ranitidine and tums aren't working then you could go back to your gp and possibly get put on something before (i'm on omeprazole and gaviscon double action for mine)
x
Best wishes :hugs:

[Sumter15]

I do believe it sounds like anxiety is controlling your thoughts at the moment. I say that because, in your 20s, heart disease and especially a major cardiac event is generally very unlikely. Unless you have a congenital heart defect, and undiagnosed heart defect, or other immediate risk factors (e.g. hard drug abuse), it's my understanding that the risk is extremely tiny. In an otherwise healthy person, it normally takes decades of unmanaged high blood pressure, poor cholesterol, etc to create problems. For example, I have family history and I'm down to about half a pack a day of smoking, I'm 30, I have mildly elevated BP controlled by a beta blocker, and I've had an episode of afib (in August 2016) - yet, my cardiologist recently told me he doesn't need to see me regularly for at least another 10-15 years for more aggressive screening, unless anything changes.

Granted, he's not your cardiologist, but I hope that helps quell some of your fears. Maybe putting it into perspective. I get it though, I have been highly concerned about my heart health for at least a few years. So I definitely know how worrisome it can be. Just hang in there. And of course, if you begin feeling new symptoms, or things don't improve, or you otherwise feel you're in danger, don't hesitate to see your doc or emergency room.

This actually helped put things in perspective a lot. The internet does a good job highlighting the extreme cases of people in their 20s, and I need to remind myself that those are the vast execption of cases. I've also been under a pretty high level of stress as of late. My blood pressure is generally fine, and so is my heart rate. I also stopped taking the ranitidine, which actually seemed to improve symptoms (chest fullness decreased quite a bit, which makes me think the issue was too little stomach acid and not too much). I'll just have to wait and see. Thanks again.