Helo Please

[matthew]

Hi guys,

I am a 26 year old male who enjoys going to the gym 5 / 6 times per week, have a stressful job and am getting married on August 15th of this year.

In November I was on the tube and came over all faint and started to have chest pains and slight shortness of breath. Of course I took myself straight to hospital thinking I was having a heart attack. Had ECG and blood test and urine test and blood preasure taken and all came back fine. Since then I have been feeling anxious and have been suffering with chest pain mainly where my heart is located and I am worried that there is something physically wrong with my heart all the time which is scaring me.

Since this first happend I have been back to the hospital for 3 ECG tests and all have been fine. However when the ECG test was taken I wasn't having the chest pain. I have also had a 24 hour ECG monitor fitted to me which also came back fine. In addition I have had pain in my left arm and cramp in my left hand.

I get these symtoms even when I am not feeling stressed or anxious!

Is anyone else experiencing the same? Is this the physical effects of anxiety?

Thank you so much for your help
_________________
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Matthew

[Qetta]

If the medics can find nothing wrong with your heart, I think you can take it that what you are experiencing is caused by anxiety.

I am very suggestible where my health is concerned, and only have to read about symtoms of an illness to think I am experiencing them!:ohmy:

[Stressed32]

Hi Matthew- I have chest pain every day. I know it is not a heart attack because my arms do not go numb. I find that I swallow a lot more when my anxiety is kicked up and my breathing is shallower. I think this causes more air in my chest. I say this because if I drink a Sprite to make myself belch, the tightness in my chest does get better and goes away. Hope this helps. Gotta love anxiety....P.S stay off of google! I began to "google" my symptoms and had myself having HIV, Cancer, and Lupus!

[Wee-Mee]

Hi Matthew.

Have you been getting stressed or anxious planning the wedding? Or at work or anything?

I get sharp pains down my arm and in my chest at my heart and it only really happens when I'm going through a stressful time or upset etc.

Just wondering.

If you are unsure you should go back to doc and see what they say. The ecg's would show if there was something up though.

When I was anxious at hospital a few weeks ago with an asthma and panic attack,they wouldn't take my blood cos my ecg was all over the place.

I hope this helps.

If you are tensing up your left arm when you are getting the pains in in it that might be why you are getting the cramp in your hand.

I'm not a doc though,But I hope all is okay

Amy xx

[NoPoet]

I am a 26 year old male who enjoys going to the gym 5 / 6 times per week, have a stressful job and am getting married on August 15th of this year.
Those are things that are always on your mind, even when you aren't consciously thinking about them. There is nothing wrong with your heart or your chest, you are experiencing a perfectly normal reaction to the things you are facing.

My advice to those suffering stress at work is to find another job. Full stop!

Good luck with the wedding! :)

[fillyjonk]

Hi Matthew,

Sorry you are experiencing these problems. Although I do not get chest pain with anxiety/panic (plenty of other symptoms though- everone is different) but I know it is very real and possible for it to be a symptom of stress. Have you read the Symptoms link on the left under 'heart' and 'chest pain' on this website?

Although getting married is lovely news, it is listed in the top ten most stressful life events. People don't think it should be as it's supposed to be enjoyable! I just wondered whether that has been the trigger for this if your work life is OK and you've not had problems in the past? Might be worth taking some time to think about what's going on for you and what pressure your under (obvious or not)

Sounds like you've had loads of tests and they are all fine. Try to believe the doc. It is frightening when it's happening to you though I know.

Take care,
Fillyjonk

[matthew]

Thank you guys.

Would I feel the physical symtoms even if I don't feel anxious or stressed?

This anxiety thing is wierd!

[justbananas]

yes you would feel physical symptoms even without feeling stressed or anxious per se (or at least believing you aren't stressed or anxious) - it's a big theme we all face around here. check out this thread for starters:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=46187

[matthew]

Thank you for your responses. It's amazing how relieved I feel to hear that people understand.

This anxiety thing is wierd!

[justbananas]

also this post by itoldyouiwasill contains an analogy in it which i always liked regarding the staying power of anx symptoms! read, rinse, repeat.

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Re: MS
I have just copy and pasted this from a reply I posted in another thread...it may help with understanding how physical anxiety can still exist even though we may no longer feel mentally anxious:

'Yes, we all have a traditional view that anxiety is a mental condition but when mental anxiety becomes chronic it will all too often become physical. I prescribe to the rain barrel view of anxiety. What basically happens is that over a period of years we employ bad anxiety management and out anxiety threshold is slowly increasing...in other words the rain barrel is filling up! Now, because this happens so gradually we are actually unaware that our anxiety threshold is increasing...if we where able to tranfer our anxiety level onto somebody with a normal level thoughit will feel incredibly intense to them.

So, we keep filling the rain barrel up and all the while our body adjusts and we just fail to realise we are on a collision course. Now, what generally happens is that we then experience a stressor (can be good or bad) and our anxiety threshold responds by increasing but today is the day that the barrel is full!! Basically, this is the point that our emotional anxiety HAS to become physical..the water is pouring over the top and it is the same with our anxiety...we think that this is all 'out of the blue' but the reallity is that years and years of poor stress and anxiety management have finally told.

At this point it is incredibly common for physical anxiety to manifest itself as neurological sensations. This is because we have, in effect, fatigued our central, periphiral and sympathic nervous systems and this causes a whole host of wierd and wonderful neuro sensations. The problem now is that instead of thinking that we need to allow our bodies and minds time to recover we fall into the trap of literally pouring petrol on the anxiety fire and we analyse these symptoms and convince ourselves we have MS, ALS or whatever is your disease of choice...you are now in the health anxiety loop.

One of the things you here time and time again is 'how can this be anxiety if I'm no longer anxious'? The thing is that even though we may have turned the tap off the barell is still full. Another useful anology is to think of an overweight person...years and years of a poor diet will have made them overweight, if they decide to go on a diet after a week of eating the healthiest and best food ever they are still going to be overweight...it is the same with anxiety, we fall into the trap of thinking that it is all about what we are thinking at the moment...this is our biggest mistake, once anxiety has become physical this indicates it is a chronic condition and therefore it can take us just as long to correct the problem as it took to get into the state we are at. The sooner we stop dumping anxiety on top of anxiety is the point that recovery will slowly start but because we fail to see immediate results we doubt everything and once again employ all those old stalwarts such as over catastrophising, black or white thinking etc etc that are going to keep us locked in the loop'

[nomorepanic]

Matthew

I have merged the 2 posts together as it is confusing having 2 the same at the same time on here.

[matthew]

Thank you, I will read with interest!

[Stressed32]

This is WONDERFUL! I have been trying to figure out what 1 event in my life caused me to feel this way! God Bless YOU because now I know it is not 1 thing, but all of them put together! I do have a question...how do I empty my barrel because I am ready to be back to my old self again.

[NoPoet]

I've said this somewhere before, and I might add it to my signature:

"If the symptoms are 'weird', it's probably anxiety"

:)

[justbananas]

we're all trying to empty our barrels! it's a step by step process really.. mostly accepting it's anxiety when you feel symptoms.. and practicing relaxation, letting your body heal from there..

if you aren't doing therapy, it can really help

[matthew]

Other than pain do any of you get wierd sensations such a bit like pins and needles where your heart is?

[Stressed32]

Matthew- Last night I was laying in bed...calm as could be, not worrying about anything and my chest began to prick and hurt...like it hurt to breath. It went away quickly. Anxiety is the worse thing I have experienced, but if you learn what is going on, it gets less scarey each time. For me, I get like de ja vu feelings...even though I am fully aware I am no psychic...and my anxiety will get to going b/c I get a "feeling" that something is about to happen. It is crazy but you learn to live with it over time. God bless and good luck.
Stressed32