A year later and I'm back - Is this really anxiety????

[dan84sim]

About a year ago now I went to bed feeling fine but as i drifted off i suddenly came crashing awake with a a pain in my chest and a really really fast heart beat, I thought I was having a heart attack.
For about 4 months after that it got really bad, pains everyday, shortnesses of breathe everyday, headaches, you name it I had it. I kept going to Doctors and hospitals yet I was always told the same, I am fine....
I've had ECG's, 24 Hour heart monitoring, Blood Tests, Brain MRI, Chest X-Rays and everything is clear.
I learnt to cope with the sudden pains, with the shortnesses of breathe and the fear of the Doctors being wrong.
Recently though they have started happening more and more frequently again, I get shortnesses of breathe when i sit down, when i walk around, they don't seem to happen when I am stressed or feeling anxious, they can happen at anytime, that is what scares me that something serious may be wrong.
No one has been able to tell me why it is happening or how to stop it so it leaves me to think and worry about it.
I say I am not an anxious person, I have always had a morbid fear of death though, I used to stay awake at night scared that one day I will die, or when I was a kid I would go into every other bedroom but my own as I was scared of being on my own and to check everyone in my household was still breathing. Death scared me from the age of about 6. I have lost a couple of close friends and my Dad and I can't seem to shake the fear off.
Other than that I have a happy home life, a great work life and a good social life, this anxiety (if that is what it is) ruined my last job, I am determined it won't ruin this one but i feel that it has started to.

Is this anxiety? Can chest pains happen out of nowhere and for no reason, do shortnesses of breathe start for nothing even when I am relaxed? Am i causing my body to do this, why is my heart beating really fast all the time?

They are questions no one has been able to answer yet and the fear of doctors not being able to diagnose or advise me on them just makes it all so much worse!

Dan

[Lizzyg]

I am just like you. I get shortness of breath, palpitations etc even when not stressed and then these symptoms stress me out!
I always find it hard to understand how my mind and physical symptoms are connected??? The other day I was driving along thinking about what to cook for tea and the hyperventalation just came from nowhere.
I am having CBT and am learning to accept these physical symptoms and not to fight them or worry about them. They are there and very real and very unpleasant but are not going to hurt me. I just accept ok this is how I am at the moment, it runs it course and then goes. I used to panic about it and had some really major panic aattacks just getting completely out of control.
Hope this helps a little, anxiety is such a difficult condition to live with but I think it makes us stronger and more compassionate people!

[looking4answers]

Yes... its anxiety... I am 56 and have had it all my life since a very young child. It comes and goes and Im not sure it ever goes away entirely but gets better and then worse depending on how well you can control it but you never should be surprised by it coming back.... good luck to you and hope you are feeling better

[ronski]

Hi Dan
It sounds to me that you may be hyperventilating and that in it's chronic state can give you the symptoms and sensations that you describe. In fact with Chronic Hyperventilation the symptoms get better with exercise but can be intolerable if sedentary. Yes if that is the case then it is anxiety based.