Is it normal for your heart, left arm, and face to hurt because of anxiety?

[Shawn Ian Contreras]

I've had heart attack "symptoms" before but when i got checked they said it was probably anxiety.

Every night my heart starts to hurt really bad, then my left arm, and my jaw and face will hurt. My heart will pound or stay the same. I'm always scared when the a symptoms start because it comes out of nowhere and lasts all night. It makes it difficult to sleep.

So is this a common side effect of anxiety?

I'm 26.

[Ryker]

Yes, that's pretty normal.

In cases of bad panic I've had crippling pains in my arm and chest, legs too. It's very hard to have to believe that they can be 'in your head'.

The thing to spot is the external triggers that cause that sequence of events. In my case i'd get those symptoms in a supermarket, or busy public place, like always. As soon as I allowed myself to rely on my real knowledge that, to the best of mankind's knowledge and experience, supermarkets don't cause heart attacks - I could safely explain the real reason behind that chain of events that was leading to the feelings.

Knowing you're not having a heart attack is a good start when it comes to stopping worrying about having one.

Hope that sort of makes sense, If you track back to the events or thoughts, or circumstances that start the painful chain, and examine them, you can start putting a plan together to get on top of it.

R.