Looking for a piece of mind

[alfisback1]

Hi again everyone, sorry I have been inactive on the board, I've just been busy with college. Just to reprise here's my previous post:


Hi everybody, my name is Chris, I'm 20 years old and I live in America. Lately I've been having discomfort in my chest and very minor pains on the left side of my chest. I don't really open up to people about my problems so I was very glad when I found this messageboard.

When I lay down I feel some discomfort in my chest which makes me stay up an extra hour or so before I can get to bed. Sometimes I get nervous that my heart is just going to, well stop but then I constantly check my heart rate and it's always in the 60-80 beats per minute range. I finally built up the courage to go to the medical center here on campus and the nurse said my heart rate, blood pressure were fine. Sometimes I find myself slipping into mild panic attacks where it gets a little tough to breath and my mind starts thinking of all the bad things that can happen.

I try to tell myself that I'm fine, like I said I'm 20 years old, I play intramural Basketball here at school, and when I don't have a game I run 1-2 miles. My heart doesn't bother me when I exercise, but more-so I worry about my health when I have downtime with nothing to do. So that's why I came here, this board seems to have a great group of members looking to help out!

So for the past few days my worries about my chest went away, but then I had a killer sore throat, it would sting when I swallowed, and in the morning I noticed I had some blood in my mucus, but that would go away after I coughed it up in the morning. I would only feel decent when taking tylenol and using Halls for sore throats. Now that my sore throat is going away I'm starting to focus on my chest again. Also just a few minutes ago I went to the bath room and noticed blood in my stool. It's not the dark clots that I read should worry you, it was red blood on the side of it. So of course that doesn't ease my mind. My heart rate is still in the 70-80 range daily, it seems I worry less when I don't have class/something big going on.

Has anyone experienced this? What the best way to deal with the anxiety? I'm trying to stay away from using meds to correct it.

[bananas13]

nice to meet you chris... my name's kaylee and im 19 and from america as well. i went to college last semester, but am taking a semester off right now to get my depression and anxiety under control.

ANYWAY... i know how you feel. with me, it's more my breathing that im fixated on (like i fear im gonna stop breathing or something) but it make me anxious to think about my heart rate as well. i also get pains on the left side of my chest that come and go -- it usually feels like one of my ribs in poking my lung... its weird.

the best way to deal with it is not to think about it. i know, thats way easier said than done... but its your thinking that creates worry and when you arent fixated on it, you dont worry about it. its good that u notice that youre not thinking about it when youre playing basketball or running -- it proves that you CAN distract yourself. i know youre probably thinking "how am i going to forget to think about it??" trust me, it happens with time. read an interesting book or do something you enjoy in your downtime, it'll get better.

one way that i cope with things is i think to myself "what am i worried about? nothing is wrong with me. and if something is, then it is."

as for the blood in your stool... its usually nothing. it happens to me once in awhile... usually when im constipated or have diarrhea. its probably just a tear in your bowels. i wouldnt worry about it unless youre turning the toilet water red or something.

[alfisback1]

nice to meet you chris... my name's kaylee and im 19 and from america as well. i went to college last semester, but am taking a semester off right now to get my depression and anxiety under control.

ANYWAY... i know how you feel. with me, it's more my breathing that im fixated on (like i fear im gonna stop breathing or something) but it make me anxious to think about my heart rate as well. i also get pains on the left side of my chest that come and go -- it usually feels like one of my ribs in poking my lung... its weird.

the best way to deal with it is not to think about it. i know, thats way easier said than done... but its your thinking that creates worry and when you arent fixated on it, you dont worry about it. its good that u notice that youre not thinking about it when youre playing basketball or running -- it proves that you CAN distract yourself. i know youre probably thinking "how am i going to forget to think about it??" trust me, it happens with time. read an interesting book or do something you enjoy in your downtime, it'll get better.

one way that i cope with things is i think to myself "what am i worried about? nothing is wrong with me. and if something is, then it is."

as for the blood in your stool... its usually nothing. it happens to me once in awhile... usually when im constipated or have diarrhea. its probably just a tear in your bowels. i wouldnt worry about it unless youre turning the toilet water red or something.

Thanks for the response, it's just great to hear that other people understand what it's like.. It's very comforting.