Peak
07-25-2012, 09:14 AM
I posted a thread here a week ago saying that I have been feeling incredibly anxious as I have been having chest pains and fearing a heart attack or angina but also realising that these are also the symptoms of anxiety. Well today I went to see my GP to ask her what she thought the chest pains were, if she agreed it was anxiety and also to see if she would refer me for CBT as my anxiety symptoms just seem to be getting worse and worse.
She said that as the chest pains were sharp this wasn't angina and was probably stress and/or muscle strain from the exercise I've been doing. She said that "if it were angina it would feel like a muscle cramp and would most likely come on through exercise and stop when you rested".
So that should be good news then shouldn't it?
The trouble is I've just done 40 minutes on the treadmill and was absolutely fine for the first 30 minutes but then for the last 10 minutes I started to feel a kinda muscle ache/full, bloated feeling. It wasn't cramp like you get in your leg when you've over done it which to me feels very painful and feels like the muscle has shrunk to half it's size more like a pressure sensation that didn't hurt just didn't feel 'right'. That said I didn't feel weak, dizzy etc and was able to complete my workout at the same pace without any problem. The trouble is that this got me worried and I started looking up the symptoms of angina and one of them was that you may burp a lot. As insignificant as this sounds I have been burping a lot ever since these feelings started and this feeling I had whilst working out resulted in me burping and the feeling went away a bit. Now I had just assumed that for whatever reason I just have a lot of trapped wind at the moment in my chest and that perhaps this is caused by all the exercise I'm doing basically shaking everything up but now my anxiety is taking control and I keep thinking its angina.
I do have raised blood pressure (when my GP took it today it was higher than it normally is but she said it was probably just because I'm anxious)
I do have high cholesterol
I am overweight
I have felt breathless in the past (but when I saw my GP she said it just sounded like anxiety)
I do sometimes get dizzy (but this is only since I've started taking pills for my blood pressure and dizzyness can be a side affect but equally it could be anxiety again)
I have had pains down my arms (but my GP previously said it was probably nothing and since then I actually think I know the cause, that being a pinched nerve in my elbow as that nerve is always tender when I get these pains and due to my commute I spend 3hrs a day with my elbows digging into the edge of an arm rest right where the nerve is. At least that's what I hope it is!)
That said I'm only 39, I have had around 8 ECG's in the past and none showed any problem with the heart and I've had an ultrasound of the heart which came back clear but all of this was over a year ago now.
The rational side of my brain says "trust the doctor she knows more than you" and even as I write this down I can see how stupid it all sounds but then the anxious side of my brain says "but what if they've missed something? The GP didn't even listen to your heart today. Why is your Blood Pressure up today, it's because the arteries have narrowed isn't it?" etc etc etc
I want to believe the rational part of my brain but to me the anxious side does sound very plausible. I just feel like I'm going crazy!
She said that as the chest pains were sharp this wasn't angina and was probably stress and/or muscle strain from the exercise I've been doing. She said that "if it were angina it would feel like a muscle cramp and would most likely come on through exercise and stop when you rested".
So that should be good news then shouldn't it?
The trouble is I've just done 40 minutes on the treadmill and was absolutely fine for the first 30 minutes but then for the last 10 minutes I started to feel a kinda muscle ache/full, bloated feeling. It wasn't cramp like you get in your leg when you've over done it which to me feels very painful and feels like the muscle has shrunk to half it's size more like a pressure sensation that didn't hurt just didn't feel 'right'. That said I didn't feel weak, dizzy etc and was able to complete my workout at the same pace without any problem. The trouble is that this got me worried and I started looking up the symptoms of angina and one of them was that you may burp a lot. As insignificant as this sounds I have been burping a lot ever since these feelings started and this feeling I had whilst working out resulted in me burping and the feeling went away a bit. Now I had just assumed that for whatever reason I just have a lot of trapped wind at the moment in my chest and that perhaps this is caused by all the exercise I'm doing basically shaking everything up but now my anxiety is taking control and I keep thinking its angina.
I do have raised blood pressure (when my GP took it today it was higher than it normally is but she said it was probably just because I'm anxious)
I do have high cholesterol
I am overweight
I have felt breathless in the past (but when I saw my GP she said it just sounded like anxiety)
I do sometimes get dizzy (but this is only since I've started taking pills for my blood pressure and dizzyness can be a side affect but equally it could be anxiety again)
I have had pains down my arms (but my GP previously said it was probably nothing and since then I actually think I know the cause, that being a pinched nerve in my elbow as that nerve is always tender when I get these pains and due to my commute I spend 3hrs a day with my elbows digging into the edge of an arm rest right where the nerve is. At least that's what I hope it is!)
That said I'm only 39, I have had around 8 ECG's in the past and none showed any problem with the heart and I've had an ultrasound of the heart which came back clear but all of this was over a year ago now.
The rational side of my brain says "trust the doctor she knows more than you" and even as I write this down I can see how stupid it all sounds but then the anxious side of my brain says "but what if they've missed something? The GP didn't even listen to your heart today. Why is your Blood Pressure up today, it's because the arteries have narrowed isn't it?" etc etc etc
I want to believe the rational part of my brain but to me the anxious side does sound very plausible. I just feel like I'm going crazy!