can my chest pain happen for this long?

[hiallz5500]

this is my second post and ive been having left chest pain/stinging EVERYDAY. i have been to a cardiologist twice and they said im fine yet i still think im not and think i might die cause i have these pains in my chest the WHOLE day like literally non stop. i have a habit now which i walk around almost every where with my hand on my left chest and kind of clenching it and it isnt super painful but it is annoying and i can feel it. along with the chest pain i have always had irregular heartbeats with it, slow heart beats when getting up(i feel my pulse slow in my neck) and fast heartbeats by just sometimes walking up steps. it's ridiculous and i cant stand to live like this no more.

my pain is on my left chest always random(above breast, below breast, center a bit but more on the left). now the kind of scary thing which i never had before is that i get light left shoulder pain now that radiates from my shoulder to my arm and back a bit for the past 2 days. i ignore it and it goes away but right when noticed it isn there no more it comes back


can anxiety chest pain happen everyday and for HOURS straight or is that not normal? im thinking about goin back to a cardiologist again for the third time.

i feel like im the only one that had them everyday and the whole day even while at school.


im 17 and this just makes me mad but scared cause i dont know if its something bad like heart disease or just anxiety. im not overweight, 6"2, and weigh 185lb

[SunnieDebris]

Hey, there. Glad you found us! I'm not a doctor, but based upon what you're writing, I'd say that your doctors are probably right. If you had actual cardiac issues, they wouldn't hurt for that long. It would either resolve and stop hurting, or kill you by now. Your heart wouldn't be able to be tensed up for that long without ill effects. Your doctor would have found something by now. If you want my advice, I would seriously consider therapy. You're young, you've got your whole life in front of you, and you're expected to make some pretty significant decisions soon that will affect the rest of your life (but hey, no pressure). I'm sure you have a lot to talk out.

[heyikr1]

Not a doctor, but if your doc says its not your heart it more then likely isn't. Heart related chest pain from what i was told does not last for long periods of time (constant) and usually goes away with rest. I get like this when my anxiety is real bad. Try to relax and trust your doctor.

[Fashoom]

You're way out of range for any of the risk groups for heart disease, which would be men 40+, overweight, smokers, etc. OTOH increased/irregular heartbeat is possibly the most common symptom of anxiety disorders, and we see young, healthy folks on this board every single day who are scared to death they are going to die from a heart attack.

Rather than seeing a cardiologist for the third time, visit a psychiatrist and tell them what is going on. Even though your heart is almost surely fine, you are suffering. You don't need to. Visit a psychiatrist and get yourself some help.

[raggamuffin]

You said it yourself, it scares you. You fear the pains etc. However your body is producing these pains because of months, maybe years of anxiety, worry, fear etc. Your body is simply showing you it's exhausted and needs to recover. Every time you start panicking about the pains you're kicking in the fight or flight response, more adrenaline will flood your body to fight or fly from perceived danger. But there is NO DANGER simply your own fears and worries about signs your body is giving out to say it needs rest from all this worry.

The primary locations for adrenaline filled blood to flow to this are the chest wall muscles to protect the vital organs from impact and also the limbs. Over extended periods of time with anxiety the list of symptoms can be almost endless. It's perfectly normal, just don't work yourself up about it. That's the last thing your body wants; more fear and worry adding to an already tired and stressed out body.

That's why a firm favourite ache and pain for anxiety sufferers is chest pain. Trust me I been there, had it daily for weeks on end. Can be sharp and sudden or dull and long lasting. Other times feels like someone is sat on my chest. I've had anxiety pains multiple times every single day for nearly 2 years. Sometimes i'd be in absolute agony...why? Because all i'd be doing whilst it hurt was being scared, worried, sometimes angry. Convinced I needed to "beat this thing". But there's nothing to beat, nothing to fight. You need to stop worrying.

Do yourself a favour, stop fighting it. Fighting does nothing other than work yourself up and makes the pains last longer. Your body wants to recover, so allow it to do so. You'll only start getting better when you stop trying to get better.

Allow the pains to happen, don't fight it. Accept it's anxiety. The cardiologist is right, you may doubt it. I doubted doctors for over a year and a half. Kept going to new doctors, trying to get different opinions, convinced there was something they'd missed. Trust me, that 's never the case. You're young and healthy and you're not at risk. They'd have spotted any heart issue very quickly, that's their job. You don't have 5+ years medical experience. Therefore you need to start to accept it's anxiety, when pains come don't fear them. Let them happen, they'll go faster. With acceptance and removing fear you're allowing your body to start healing itself. It will take months but the pains will become less and less frequent.

Ed

[Courtneykinns]

I get this all the time! Im only 20, & i get it when i have trapped gas too. Its just anxiety, & worrying makes it sooo much worse. Your body is just tired from all the anxiety & needs to rest!