DOES IT GET BETTER!!!!!!!

[bella3293]

I just don't know how much more of this I can take.  I feel like I have told my story a hundred times and the doctors think Im crazy.  I am so glad I found this site because coming here and reading has certainly helped clam me.  About 10 months ago I was taken to the hospital becasue out of the blue I felt sick and my heart was skipping beats and racing.  The ER doc ran test and told me that I was stressed and I needed to relax.   I kept have the skipping or flip flopping of the heart off and on.  Last month I was fine and one night I laid down for bed and about 15 mins later I started feeling a burning in my face and chest and my heart started racing.  My hands and feet got real cold and I started shaking throughout my body.  I went to the ER and they took blood, xray and EKG.  They said that I was having Heart Palpitations and to see an internal doc.  For the next 3 days I felt so weak and I got sick after eating.  I felt as though the food was stuck in my throat.  I went to see a doc and he took more blood to check for clots, my thyroad.  I then wore a 24 hr haltor monitor.  All of which was normal.  I was told to quit drinking coffee and to stop smoking.  I have switched to decafe and I am trying very hard to quit somking.  He gave me a prescripation for Sertraline 50mg.   Which I have been on for 10 days now.  The side affects were awful but did go away.  I felt better for the last couple of days but last night for know reason I was laying in bed and my chest for one shoulder to the next started to burn so bad.  My heart started to race and I felt like it was happening agian.  I sat up and it stopped as fast as it came but I haven't had that for days now and all of a sudden it was happening???   Is this a part of the panic attacks?   I woke up this morning with a bad headache the right side of my head and feel very tired.  The doc wants to see a cardiologist even though he didn't find anything but I have to get insurance first.  Could he be missing something?  

[leezy21]

it sounds like anxiety to me i get the sam eweird burning sensations and all those weird feelings.. its all in ur head... the doctor would of ofdund if anything is wrong ..... its just ANXIETY thats why they think ur crazy i bet because they  and many people prob tell u all the time


but all the symptoms u have said goes with anxiety and it sucksss bad i have severe severe anxiety


try switching to effexor xr it will help i think :) good luck and god bless

[cj29]

I am sorry that you are having such a hard time right now with panic/anxiety.  The answer to your question is a resounding yes....this is what makes this cycle so vicious on us both  mentally and physically.  My original anxiety started with heart health as well.  Your story will mirror many members here just like mine.  I had the tests which concluded I was fine but I always had some pain somewhere that would contradict in my mind what the doctors thought.

In my experience when we sufffer from health anxiety, we tend to focus and misinterpret every little feeling in the area we are worried about.  For example, if I sit here and focus on my chest, I can feel my heart beat and actually feel slight pains now and again.  Is it going to hurt me?  No...but if I was anxious about it, I would think worst case scenerio.  In life we have aches and pains almost every minute of the day...it is how we interpret them that makes the difference.

You have had the tests and your doctors think you are good to go medically; that is great news.  It is hard sometimes to accept the results of the tests, but I believe you should because that will lead to an acceptance of the anxiety and that, in my opinion, is the first step to confronting it.  

I have been on Sertraline and I actually prefer it.  In my experience, the side effects do go away over time and it is very useful as long as it is combined with talk therapy.  By talking it through, it gives you the knowledge and the power to learn and about it and although you do not see it now, this whole experience will make you a much stronger person.  It does and will get better...please keep us posted!