Sudden anxiety out of nowhere. Tons of symptoms

[DAH]

About 2 months ago, I had a sudden heaviness in my chest. I never felt this b4. Normaly something like this would not bother me. But for some reason, this time it has consumed me. Eventually, that led to sharp pains in the middle of my chest, tha radiate straight through to my back(between shoulder blades). This pain is crippling. I can not do a thing while i have this. Each spell lasts 2-3 minutes. Since then, i have seen my family doc. Where she gave me EKG(no problems). Blood test(everything perfect), and chest X-ray(great). She told me it was probably anxiety, and prescribed adavan. Needless to say that did nothing to help. So I went to cardiologist. He said my heart was fine. After googling, which I know has caused me more anxiety than I need, I've come to the conclusion it is gastrointestinal. At the moment, my current symptoms are swollen glands (jaw) which my doctor said weren't swollen. But I think they are. Constant chest tightness, neck pain, upper and lower back aches. Also tingling in my neck- jaw area, arms and testicles. Is it possible that this is all anxiety? My whole life for 2-3 months has been hell. It is all I think about. It all started with an odd feeling in my chest. Anyway, I am seeing a GI doctor tomorrow. I'll post my findings from the visit. If anyone has remedies, Please post. Thank You in advance.

[twistedwhisperd]

Hiya,

sorry to hear your feeling like that. I have anemia and that started my panic attacks off. It does sound like you are experiencing anxiety/panic attacks. I also sometimes get chest pain when i am having a anxiety attack, i felt like i was having a heart attack and of course that made me panic even more.
I know you dont believe that nothing is wrong, but if your doctors have done tests and they have all come back clear, its likely that it is all in your mind.
Its like your mind playing tricks on you.
I get numbness, tingling and pins and needles sometimes when im having a really bad panic attack.My one fear when im having one is that im going to stop breathing and die and then i worry about my son, and how scared i am to leave him alone.

I hope today goes well.

Hailie x

[harasgenster]

Hi
The above poster is right. It's a combination of your mind playing tricks on you and physiological symptoms of anxiety.

Tingling around your body can be from overbreathing. Your body needs a certain amount of carbon dioxide and if you are breathing too fast your blood gets overloaded with oxygen while the co2 is forced out. This leads to tingling sensations, particularly in the extremities. This was explained to me by a paramedic.

Also, a lot of people talk about noticing this symptom most in their left arm, which is obviously scary, but if you get this it is probably just the fact you are focusing on the most scary symptom.

GI problems are common in anxiety as the stomach can be easily upset by stress. I get a lot of acid reflux and I can have very bad, doubling over-type pains if that gets nasty. The worst pain comes for me if I haven't eaten for a while and it can come on suddenly if I haven't noticed my stomach is empty. The pain is in my stomach, chest, under my ribs and often spreads to my back. But this is normal, I have always had it. If you're getting strong pains from a GI problem, make sure you eat regularly and you are having enough food (don't let yourself go hungry). You might want to cut down on certain foods and drinks as well, which can make it worse: coffee, spicy food, orange juice, tomatoes, alcohol etc. Also, if you do feel you're getting heartburn, don't drink milk. A lot of people think it'll soothe the stomach because it seems like it's going to, but the lactic acid in it actually makes things worse (so I've heard...) Drink peppermint tea, take an antacid, suck on anything mint flavoured, have chewing gum etc - this will be more helpful.

The aches and pains sound like they're caused by tensions due to the anxiety (this is very common as a symptom) and, as for the swollen glands, I have the same thing. The glands in your neck are sensitive. They go up and down slightly due to the slightest thing and touching them all the time will also cause them to swell (not a doctor, this is just something someone has told me). Also, if your doc says they are not swollen then they are not swollen. Sometimes we focus on symptoms that are bothering us and we notice what we think is swelling - we have just overblown it in our minds.

I always think something's swollen or something is different but I get someone else to look. There's never any difference, no one can see it but me. The mind can do incredible things :)

[Chris hill]

Hello there i have the exact same thing ,all tests clear but it does worry me aswell.