Anxiety & Heart

[John23a]

Its been a few days now i have been having this pain exactly where my heart is and its worse in the morning when i wake up. The pain is hard to describe, its not like the everyday pain people get. It feels weird. Anyone else know what im talking about? i have done 3 tests on my heart about 2 years ago and they all came back normal. Im 19 and i suffer from anxiety.

[SassyLassie]

I have been told I have costochondritits and the pain does mimic heart pain. When I press on the "spot" that hurts, it will be exactly the same as the pain itself. I have done lots of research on this, and they all point to the costo. It is an inflammation, but, it sure can scare a person. With me, when I am stressed or extra anxious, I will get the pain as I am very uptight and this causes muscle spasms and the rib pain,.

[MrGreen]

Someone else asked nearly the same question. So I may as well copy and paste the reply I made to their post here too. Hope it helps a little bit.

You focus too much on your heart. Inner focus. Paying it too much attention. Thus making you more aware of the beating. By been more aware of the beating you get frightened at times that all is not right with your heart and this quickens the pace up. Normal anxiety. But how do you manage to change things? That is what you need to focus on. Is there anything at all you can do different to make a change in your life? Take you attention away from your beating heart. It might be worth keeping track of what thoughts you have when you imagine something might be wrong. What symptoms it brings on. How you react to these symptoms. Sit down and study, maybe a weeks worth or writing, and then ask yourself could you have thought in a different way. Reacted in a different way. Giving yourself more than one choice. It doesn't always have to be ' no, my heart, I must be dying '. Could you have thought anything else at all? Maybe ' I have just walked some, that is why my heart is beating like that '. It's about finding a way to take your mind off your heart. And it can be done by changing the thoughts and reactions. Just one suggestion. I am sure you will get many more. Just hope you find an answer.

[kcraine]

I used to get  exactly what you're feeling...  I still do occasionally.  It doesn't scare me like it used to because I know it's my anxiety.  I have been in the Urgent Care/ ER/ Hospital 4 times since last July because of heart/chest pain and trouble breathing.  I had an echo cardiogram, a stress test where they injected me with a fluid that made my heart speed up to an unbelievable level, and then some other cat scan on my heart.  Also, I've had, god only knows how many ekg's and blood work to make sure I didn't have heart disease.  My ekg's come out funny sometimes because of my anxiety (which is why they admitted me into the hospital in Jan., '09), but all the other tests looked great.

As for the heart and chest pain:  mine gets extremely bad when I'm having heavy duty anxiety-  I wake up in the morning and it's there, often times when I go to bed at night or lay down it comes back.  I sometimes get very nauseated from it and have even thrown up on numerous occasions.  It's often accompanied by my heart racing or thumping... but not always.  Sometimes the pain goes down into my left ribcage and is very painful-  all anxiety.  I had a really hard time accepting that because the pain was so intense and it felt so very real.  I couldn't believe that my body could be put into that state from anxiety alone, but I've come to realize that anxiety can rack your body with pain.  Accepting it and realizing that that is what it is, has turned my life around.  It took going into an urgent care about a month ago and being literally chewed out by a doctor, who said I was taking advantage of the healthcare system and needed to go to a psychiatrist, to make me believe.  Many, many docs have told me they think it's anxiety, but not quite so brutally as he did.  Anyway, I got really pissed and now I'm so grateful to that guy for making me see the light!  My life has turned around.  I'm seeing a psycologist and feeling much better-  all the body pain goes away, too, over time.

Here is what I take when I get that pain in my heart:  1 omeprazole, and 2 extra strength tylenol.  I drink a big glass of ice cold water and the pain is usually gone within 10 minutes.  It does wonders.  Omeprazole (Prilosec) will help your nausea, too.  Just helps the stomach, overall (oftentimes, the chest and heart pain is just serious indigestion aggravated by anxiety, which makes sense, because indigestion comes mostly when you lay down).  You can buy it over the counter at a drugstore or grocery store.

Hope that helps!

kcraine

[Emma82]

I didn't mean to make you more anxious about it, just the opposite!  If it is costrochondritis (which is really really sounds like it is), then try to relax b/c its really no big deal.  Just inflammation that can be caused by any number of things and is totally harmless.  It usually goes away on its own, but if not and if its really bothersome, doctors can give you a steroid injection (which I opted out of, b/c the thought of putting a needle in my chest was scarier than the pain).  Given your age and the fact that you've had normal heart test results before, I would really try not to worry about it.  Bring it up to your doctor next time you see him/her, just mention the symptoms....I guarantee that without you even suggesting it, he/she will say "costrochondritis".....ok, I can't guarantee that, but I'm pretty sure!  I've had multiple doctors tell me this.  I purposely didn't tell them that other doctors in the past had diagnosed me with it, b/c I didn't want them to brush it off as nothing else.....but the fact that multiple docs have told me this (including ER docs), I guess I just need to accept it.  Its annoying and painful, but is not dangerous.

[John23a]

ok im now convinced that im suffering from the same thing..i just find that spot *its right on my heart between the ribs" and when i press on it i feel the exact pain i get when i wake up..its just shocking because i got this again after a year or so..so there is no cause for it? do you have it all the time or does it happen once in a while? is it a serious condition? now my anxiety is even worse because i was thinking its anxiety related and i was like okay what ever its gonna get better as soon as my anxiety gets better but now that i found out its some other problem im kind of freaking out although it doesnt seem to be a serious condition. Are there any complications with costochondritis? and does it get better over time?

i did a quick search and it seems like that a virus can cause costochondritis too. Well few days ago i had a slight low grade fever and i was feeling very tired. Im thinking maybe it was a virus and im getting this as a result. But i had the exact same problem a year ago so im not sure.

thanks again

[Emma82]

I know how that goes, my doc chalks everything up to my anxiety.....of course, she's usually right!

Lots of times just taking an anti-inflammatory like ibuprofen can ease it.  Also applying heat or cold can help...treat it like you would a sore muscle or something.  I had a hard time accepting this was my problem for awhile, b/c the pain doesn't feel like a sore muscle or cartilage or anything like that to me.  Its hard to explain, but its usually like an all of a sudden sharp pain....feels like its right in my heart, not my cartilage.  But then my doctor pressed her fingers right on the exact same spot, and the pain felt exactly like it did when it flared up all on its own.  I thought that meant my heart was bruised or something, but she explained that that pretty much concluded it was costrochondritis.  From what I've read and been told, its completely benign and there isn't really a known cause for it.  Some people have it once and then never again, and for some people it just comes and goes randomly.

[John23a]

thank you Emma for the response..

i wonder if thats the case..because this pain started coming back to me after like a year or even more..during this time i did a lot of exercises and i never got the pain..i dont usually have it everyday..like it started coming back to me after a year or so..and its worst in the morning when i wake up..like i had a severe pain for 5-10 min when i woke up today and after 10 min the pain was gone..right now when i touch that spot i feel a little pain it might be my imagination tho not sure..if thats the case what is the cure? and i dont think my family doctor would be too concerned because everything that happens to me he links it to my anxiety..

[Emma82]

Does it hurt to press down on that spot?  The place you're referring to sounds like the place most affected by costrochondritis....which is a cartilage problem, not a heart problem.  It affects the cartilage that connects the breast bone to the sternum, and I've read its usually on the left side, which is why so many people confuse it with a heart problem.  If pressing down on it mimics the pain, than thats most likely what it is.  Anti-inflammatories can help, or if it really persists, some people get steroid injections.  I've had it on and off for years, I think its aggravated by anxiety, or at least seems to be in my case.

Its probably best to get it checked out either way, good luck!

[John23a]

oh i forgot to ask i also get nausea when i wake up for couple of hours could that be due to anxiety too? and about the heart pain some people tell me its a heart problem but once again its not a chest pain, there is this spot right on the left side , like right on my heart that hurts not my chest