First time on anxiety forum, looking for advice

[baclover]

Hello, this is my first time on one of these forums. I'm 23 years old and I have had anxiety all my life, but have never been diagnosed with it from a doctor since i've never had the money to pay for doctors visits. I'm also sure that I'm a hypochondriac, as most of my worry is about my health. My anxiety has heightened to it's worst in the past few months and I feel very helpless and alone. Since September 2013 I have had chest discomfort and occasional bouts of dizziness where I feel as though I almost pass out. I work next to a Cardiologist who was kind enough to see me and did two EKGs on me, both being normal. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to get 100% better and in the past few weeks the chest discomfort has gotten worse and is actually mildly painful, even when I'm not already worried and anxious. In fact, sometimes I think I'm having a great day, not worried about anything, and all of a sudden a pain will hit me. It's never consistent either. It will come and go, sometimes it hurts on the left side, sometimes the right, sometimes I have pressure down the middle of my chest, and sometimes all three. Now my sleep is being compromised from the anxiety from the pains. I know that I'm just making the pain more prominent with the worrying but I can't seem to stop it. I always have this worry in the back of my mind that the chest pain and dizziness really is a symptom of something worse. I talk to my boyfriend about all of this and he keeps telling me he really thinks nothing is wrong. I want to believe him so badly but the pains, dizziness, and anxiety make it so hard to believe. I'm sorry for the long post, I'm just hoping to find someone who has gone through the same things. Everyone with anxiety that I've talked to always have such different symptoms than I do, which makes me feel more alone. Thank you so much for taking the time to read. Please let me know if any of you have any advice.

[NixonRulz]

Hi, Baclover. Welcome

Your story is all too familiar to everyone here. A lot, if not most people in here have health anxiety in one form or another

And those that have it, focus most on the heart. I did the same.

Your boyfriend doesn't have anxiety issues so of course he thinks you should believe the EKG.

Nothing against him at all. If you don't have the pleasure of a anxiety disorder, you have no idea how difficult it is fighting with your own thoughts

Anyway you can find a way to see a doctor and get a prescription for an SSRI would work wonders

We often don't like taking meds but those that can get past the fear of side effects usually have great results

If you have been fighting this for quite some time, you know the difficulty when trying to do it on your own

Meds, therapy and any relaxation exercises will make a huge difference.

Once you get the mind calmed, you can begin the process of working on overcoming anxiety from a much healthier place

Lots of people will greet you and be here to help and support

Again, you certainly aren't the first to feel the way you do, although what you are feeling its hard to think anyone else could be so miserable.

We all are or were in your exact same situation

It gets so much easier and you will soon find that to be true.

PS- you better say where you are from and your first name before E-Man asks

We are kinda on a first name basis here.

I'm Michael from the US

[alismami]

Hey you are definitely not alone I have had extreme anxiety about my heart and chest discomfort all of the above and it is really hard to believe it is all anxiety related but it definitely can be it's crazy how much our mind can control our bodies I am just starting with all this anxiety crap and it sucks I know but it's good to know you're not alone! We will get through this :)

[NeverToo...Fear]

Hi Baclover, nice to meet you and welcome to the site :)

Health anxiety, particularly the heart has plagued me recently as well. For about 5 months now. I get exactly what you describe. The pains on the left, the right. Pressure in the center, feeling dizzy..
And I won't even be worrying and the pain will come from nowhere. It's so annoying, especially when the Doc says you're fine, but you still feel bad.. it sucks. It's so easy to doubt when we feel that way. We can't help but always choose to believe something is wrong.

Nixon has some great advice, but I just wanted to come in here and say hi and that you don't have to feel alone.. plenty of support here. :)

[jjh333]

I had the exact same heart/chest symptoms that you are dealing with before I realized that they were mostly due to anxiety, rather than any type of heart problem! I would have pain and discomfort in my chest and in my back on the left side. Once I started taking an SSRI and my anxiety started to become more manageable, my chest symptoms disappeared!

[reiewer]

I have the same exact symptoms as you. Lately I have been getting dizzy and pains in my left and right chest areas and also nausea. It's really scary but I feel better knowing I'm not the only one