Problems with heart or crazy anxiety?

[Sash]

Hi Guys,

Hope that you're all well and enjoying 2013 so far.

I seem to really only post here intermitently when experiencing very heavy bouts of anxiety which I find extremely dibilitating.

It is always the back and forth in my head as to whether there is somehting real going on or it is just an extreme physical manifestation of anxiety based on my my surroundings/environment and goings on.

I have currently for the last few weeks (pretty much since moving back in to the family home in London, whilst wiating for my new house to be ready up north) experienced what feels like problems with my heart / chest / lung areas on a day to day basis. I am 26, I have had a lung function test as early as back end of last year, as well as an ECG test and a chest x ray around mid last year - all being fine - and i am experiencing some very crazy symptoms such as:

• Tight chest (standard anxiety, i know this one well enough to be able to move off from it)
• Palpitations while resting (same as above)
• Very consistent left arm numbness throughout the day
• even after climbing the stairs, heart beating like mad
• Sharp pains around my lung area on each side
• occasional numbness around one side of my face
• one particular area of right chest feeling very sharp pain, especially in mornings
• short of breath

I know myself well enough to know that things like climbing the stairs and experiencing a rapid heartbeat / shortness of breath is probably more psychosomatic because I am subconsciously always processing these things through my mind and trying to 'scan' myself for potential problems, whether i realise it or not, and therefore become hypersensitive to my body and how it feels.

I basically cant decide as to whether I need to go for a chest x ray to find out if there is something wrong in my heart/chest/lung area or whether to just go with the bog-standard 'anxiety' answer, which, as a lot of you probably know, just doesn't feel adequate as an answer based on how real the symptoms feel.

I admit, I have a lot going on at the moment with work / finances and my anxiety always peaks around those times, its a trend. Even with that, I feel incredibly vulnerable health-wise at the moment and obviously have a fear toward something really shit happening as well as there being something underlying that needs to be identified 'before its too late'

Any advice and feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks

S

[xxcraigiexx]

I am also 26 and I have all the same problems with my anxiety. I have had almost every test done on my heart and I am told it is fine but the physical symptoms manifested by my anxiety make me think otherwise. From time to time i experience palpitations, chest pain, and shortness of breath to the point where it almost feels like I am suffocating. I try and exercise as much as I used to before all of this started but my heart beats so fast. I've been to two doctors and they both tell me that I am physically fine. It would never hurt to get a chest x-ray to rule everything out. Stay Strong :)

[NixonRulz]

Tight chest (standard anxiety, i know this one well enough to be able to move off from it)
• Palpitations while resting (same as above)
• Very consistent left arm numbness throughout the day
• even after climbing the stairs, heart beating like mad
• Sharp pains around my lung area on each side
• occasional numbness around one side of my face
• one particular area of right chest feeling very sharp pain, especially in mornings
• short of breath

Yes to all of the above and manay many more

If you have a clean bill of health, more than likely this is anxiety related

My physical symptoms cease as soon as I feel them and start slowly belly breathing.

Shallow breaths (whcih anxious people always do) will cause the muscles and blood vessels to constrict causing the hear palipitations, heavy chest, and pains in the chest area

First sign to me is it feels like someone is tickling the insides of my ear. I just take a few deep breaths, with my belly movong up and down, and it goes away so none of the other physical symptoms come anymore.

Watch when you are anxious for the first thing that starts feeling strange. More times than not, that will be the symptom that first starts.

Instead of analyzing the feeling, take a few deep breaths and ignore it.

It will be on its way out.

[Sash]

Hi Guys,

Thank you for the feedback.

NixonRulz, it sounds as if you have quite a good way of recognizing the behavioural traits associated with an onset of panic / anxiety and have worked to block them out when you begin to identify them. I really admire that and from what I have observed of my own behaviour, I am incredibly subservient to my anxiety, with a really stupid imbalance to the ratio of how often I basically take control and overpower that detrimental thought process, maybe 5-10% of the time at most.

Even after 5 years of all of this shit, it always seems just as threatening and potentially sinister as the last <insert symptom> and <time it occurred over> - I find it extremely hard to rationalize that this is yet 'just another' anxiety symptom taking the form of something very debilitating, but something which in actuality is not there. When I feel as aware of how my body is, and as hightend as I do, it is very difficult to relax in any way because of the consistent reading in to things and in some how saying that 'this part of my body is doing this because of XYZ, resulting in something bad, etc'

I try my hardest, where possible, to not pay attention to these physical manifestations of what I believe to be anxiety, but the physical feeling, even when just simply running up the stairs and feeling a bit breathless / heart pounding, im like holy shit, something is wrong. It's been years now, and my symptoms come in swings and roundabouts and I always say 'but i've never experienced it like this time' or 'this time its different because <reason>' -

I guess when all these things are occurring simultaneously, such as numbness, pain in chest area, sharpness in chest area, heart feeling 'strange' and shortness of breath etc, it is difficult to step back and go 'hey, actually its nothing', it just doesn't compute, even though if i took a step back and looked at my environment and current lifestyle and the transitions I am going through, the likelihood is that it is just anxiety.

I have been doing some insane shit to reassure myself such as time how long I can hold my breath for in order to feel vindicated that my lungs / chest / heart are actually fine, sounds a bit whacky but I have done this fairly often recently and everytime I comfortably hit the 1min mark and I sit back and go 'right, im fine' and then the next 5-10mins later, im back in the same mental space of the anxiety.

I am going to take myself to the docs on monday and ask fora chest x-ray / blood test and just get this out the way with, and as stupid as it sounds, and although I really feel that deep inside I somehow know its nothing, I feel that I need to validate that in order to move this to one side and allow myself the mental capacity to just get on with my stuff, feeling reassured, but hopefully also allowing myself, in turn, to not let myself do this but to face my anxiety more directly in future.

I appreciate the comments and feedback.

Regards

S

[NixonRulz]

First, it is great that you are ruling everything out medically. Make sure that nothing is causing this. It's rare but does happen

You mentioned that I block it out in your post. That is so far from the truth

If I block it, that means I am fighting. I so not ever do anything ever but to let it come and flow through me. It quickly leaves when I don't react.

I hope your tests go fine, which I expect they will

Keep posting your thoughts and feelings

So many people here to help

[dooges]

NixonRulz,


Excellent advice...

What helped me when a wave of anxiety was coming was to say " good on you brain what a re you trying this time" and then physically laugh at it. Sounds weird but acknowledging it and moving on without feeding the anxiety made my body get rid of the worrying habit it had become used to.

It didn't happen overnight but dam it made a huge difference in the long run. So much so that I can look back now at 90% of the posts on this forum and others hand recognise where people are going wrong.

Feel free to message me anyone for chat or advice..

Face it

Dooges