My story so far

[fadefade]

Hi all, I just joined today and feel a need to talk about my experiences in the last week and a half. I am a 35 year old man from the South of England, married with 2 children, working as a Project Manager. Apologies that this may be a lengthy post.

I've always had slight anxiety in the past but nothing major (primarily just overthinking) and certainly no panic attacks.

Last Monday evening (after a particularly hectic UK bank holiday weekend) I started to feel short of breath and a dull sensation in the left side of my chest. Looking up the symptoms online, I started to worry that I may be about to have a heart attack. The next day the symptoms were still there so I called NHS direct and after asking me lots of heart related questions, told me to see my GP if the symptoms didn't go by the end of the week.

The symptoms were still there but I thought I would give it the weekend to see if they went - at this stage they were only very minor. They didn't so I made an appointment with my GP for Monday afternoon. On Monday, at work, however I started to feel more short of breath, faint and nauseos. We then called the GP who said I should go to hospital to get it checked out. On the way I suddently felt a very strong sensation in my chest (almost like my heart was leaking or burning) and suddenly could hear my heart pounding. I was convinced I was having a heart attack. A minute later, and following my dad running into the hospital yelling for help, it seemed to subside and they gave me blood pressure and EKG tests.

Following these, which were normal aside from an extremely high heart beat, they sent me to a bigger hospital by ambulance for further tests. Arriving at the hospital, I went into an emergency assesment unit where I had blood taken, an X-Ray of my heart and further EKG & blood pressure tests. All of these were negative but they admitted me so they could do a CT scan of my lungs the next day (I had only returned from Dubai a few days before and they wanted to be sure I hadn't got a blood clot). After a horrible nights sleep (in a ward that was effectively only one lower than intensive care and where the guy opposite me passed away) I had the CT scan and it was negative so they let me go home, diagnosing it as an unspecified viral infection - although I was asked many times if I was feeling stressed.

At this point, I was feeling much better and was looking forward to 3 days of rest to get over the viral infection before returning to work next week. A few hours ago though I started to feel like I had a lump in my throat and couldn't swallow properly although nothing was evident and it was a good couple of hours earlier that I had last eaten. This then set me off into panic mode (although more low key than previously) and it took a good hour of heavy breathing for it to subside. Luckily I found this site, and some like it, and it helped me to understand that it was probably just anxiety related.

Now, a couple of hours later, I'm not sure what to feel. The lump in my throat sensation seems to have largely gone (although I'm now thinking about it all of the time!) and I'm almost feeling back to how I was before it happened.

I'm now very confused though. Do I have a viral infection or are all my symptoms caused by anxiety? What is going to happen in the rest of this week? Can I go back to work next week? What happens if I start feeling panicky at work? I have a relatively senior, stressful, job and I'm very worried about what the future holds.

Sorry about the length of this post - just felt the need to vent. And its actually been quite therapeutic! Thanks for listening

[margaret jones]

Hi Fadefast
Welcome to this great site you will find lots of help/advice here also make lots of friends Take Care Maggie xxxx

[racdun]

Hi ya, your story sounds very similar to what happened to me, even down to your hospital experience and tests. If your tests have come back all clear that is a good indicator that there is nothing serious wrong. The ECG will sure rule out any cardiac events that could be causing this and the CT of the lungs puts them in the clear. Also your blood tests will rule out any heart problems or inflammation in the body, kidneys and liver and general mineral levels would have been tested. The reason I am going through this is so you will not be sitting wondering if the doctors have missed something. Thats what I did and I wasted probably 6 months or more worrying over what was wrong with me. I was also told it was a viral illness but after repeated episodes I came to the conclusion it was anxiety/panic related and went back and checked with my doctor.
When we are stressed we usually are the last ones to see it hitting us. Every day we get a little bit more stressed and our body accepts this as the new normal for us until one day the body cant accept any more and like a pan of milk on a hot cooker we boil over ie we have a panic attack. So now we have the panic attack part done we feel a bit tired because suddenly all that energy that was building up inside us is gone. Because we are tired we start to worry why or maybe it might be a case of having a few other symptoms of anxiety like dizzyiness or palpitations or tingling, faintness, headaches etc. So then we go and worry why we are having these symptoms and what they mean and the pressure starts building up inside us again until we boil over again and restart the cycle. Do you understand what I am trying to say to you. Break the cycle now - dont fear they symptoms you have - the faintness, palpitations, pounding in your chest, shortness of breath etc are all just symptoms of high stress. Just one thing on the shortness of breath is that when we are stressed we tend to change our breathing to short shallow breathing. This type of breathing is called overbreathing or hyperventilation and is also a cause of chest pain and the other symptoms you have. Hyperventilation doesn't have to be the typical picture we have of someone gasping for breath. If you want to check and see if you are hyperventilating count how many breaths per minute you do and whether it is noisy or whether your chest or stomach is moving. Our breathing should always be silent and unnoticeable.
So as a first step accept that if all your tests have come back clear accept that there is nothing major wrong, it is more than likely a stress reaction thats bothering you.
Then check your breathing and see if you are overbreathing. When you breath in, your stomach should rise (not your chest) and when you breath out your stomach should fall (again not your chest). You should only be breathing about 12 breaths per minute. If that is a problem area then there are relaxation exercises you can do to correct it without too much trouble and its an instant relaxer.
Make sure you are getting enough water during the day and stay away from caffeine and alcohol for a few weeks until your body has settled down. If you smoke (also a stimulant) try and reduce.
Hopefully this will only be a short term bout of stress but if you learn to make healthy changes now it will never get to the overboiling stage again.
Dont fear the fear!
Best wishes
Rachael

[so shaky]

Hi fadefade

Writing/talking through what is happening can be very therapeutic. this and other websites like it can be really helpful too - it helps to know you are not alone/going mad/imagining things.

The start of a panic does feel very much like all the symptoms people with heart problems describe so its no wonder people having a panic attack think they are having a heart attack - I thought so the first time i had one. And just because you've had problems earlier this week doesn't mean you'll have any more ... it's not as predictable as that (unfortunately - it would be easier to handle if predictable!).

What has happened my be viral or may be anxiety or a bit of both. What I do is have some strategies at the ready in case of incident (especially at work). The if you start to feel iffy (regardless of cause) you can call on the strategies there and then. Find out what works for you ... some things i have tried that work:

Breathing excerises - excuse self to escape meeting/office - go to the loo (or outside is better if you can) and do some breathing exercises - there are loads on the internet to try. At first I printed out a list and put it in my work diary/Jacket posket for emergency situations (!!) but now i know them off by heart and start them on the way out of the room! I find it breaks the cycle and stops me feeling stuck in a situation. I always walk round the block before returning to the office so that I see 'the outside world' and know I am not stuck anywhere!

Guided meditation/Muscle relaxation CDs - I have a whole stack of these and I listen to one in bed at night and then at other times if I am having a panic. They talk/calm you down and teach you how to counter the tensions in your body which lead to pounding heart etc. Again I have learnt the techniques and can now do them anywhere where it is quiet and i can sit/lie down.

I think the main thing is to try not to pre-empt things as sometimes in the past I have found myslef worrying/panicing about 'what if i have a panic'. thankfully now i have learned to stop that cycle. I still have blips but I know I will come through them.

Hope a bit of this helps in some way!
Take care

[fadefade]

Thank you so much for the replies, especially racdun & so shaky for the information and advice. I feel so much better and positive now and the only sympton I still get is the lump in the throat but I've found I can just ignore that now!

Once again, thank you - I really appreciate it.

[blueangel]

Hi there

The "lump in the throat" symptom is very common and one that I used to get a lot some years ago. The proper name for it is a globus hystericus and it's a horrible sensation. I used to get it for days at a time and it just wouldn't go away.

Your symptoms certainly fit in with the profile of anxiety that many of us here know and love ( not), but I suppose it is possible that it could have been a virus, as they can have all sorts of strange effects. The problem with anxiety though, is that it creates a fear of fear; the effects of it are so awful we become consumed with fear that it will happen again - and of course it then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.