Heart health, Gas or Anxiety??? so confused..

[pursuinghappiness]

Hi all, if anyone can shed some light on my case i would truly be thankful. im a 32 year old male who has barely fallen ill except flu here and there for well over a decade and a half that was untill 2014 started. i was feeling slight pain in the chest one day and a day after was woken up at night by skipped beats and palpitations, sweating and massive gastric issues. the pain and symptoms subsided after a trip to the bathroom and having spoken to my loved ones where they all reassured i had probably had gas. well after that day i have been suffering from worries regarding health issues specifically about heart problems. I get chest tightness, pains but they don't radiate anywhere and usually I can do stuff physically like climbing stairs walking etc. I used to be over weight earlier and now a year and a half later I am lost considerable weight because of exercise. I still get tightness in chest, pain in chest but not the center and palpitations if I think too much, all the symptoms go away after using the bathroom. But this has left me feeling scared and anxious and has really slowed me down and affected my relationships. I have had endless EKG tests with normal reports, two Echo cardiographs with normal reports and healthy lvef, one stress test - no sign of ischemia. And my doctors tell me my heart is strong and good, its anxiety and gas. No family history of heart diseases.

I must confess I have been a smoker for the past 16-17 years smoking upto 10-20 cigarettes a day. No drugs no other medications and alcohol I have moderately never getting too drunk. I am trying to quit but my fear is the amount of smoking I've done may have caused my heart some damage even though there is no sign of atherosclerosis in my echo and tmt stress test was fine too. Normal resting blood pressure at 120/80, 115/70.

I do workout with yoga and pushups and walk regularly, still I'm worried about my heart despite the drs assurances... Please advice if I have gas anxiety or heart problems... I'm trying hard to quit smoking. Sorry for the long message... Thanks in anticipation

[jaysonrl]

You're quite welcome.  I come on this forum once in a while to do what I can to help.  When I was in the worst of it, I swore I'd try and help people going through it because it was so miserable.

Seriously though, did you see your doc about medication for gerd and for anxiety?  Ya, people say it isn't "good" to be on it.  However, it has proven effective time and time again in medical research and in the real world.  Also, I want to reiterate it just won't disappear. If it does, that's awesome.  However, it can be a long road but know it will get better.

[pursuinghappiness]

Wow jaysonrl! thank you so much.. You are right i have to stop consulting dr google and webmd.. I'm pretty sure these sites contribute to making health conscious people anxious.
The ticker will do its job, I won't focus on it. I do have acid reflux but taking care of it by a balanced diet. Its the tobacco that worries me and that I'm trying to quit but very hard to kick the habbit.

thanks for your response I certainly feel better :-)

[jaysonrl]

First, did your doc say anxiety?  Sounds like anxiety.  Take it from me and almost everyone on here, been there, done that.

Really, you shouldn't even know what atherosclerosis is if you're not a practicing clinician.  If you're not a practicing clinician, it's time to give up WebMD or any other medical book lookup because it's causing you a LOT of stress.  That's the compulsion in OCD, doing something to feel better when it will actually make you worse and it feels like you need to do it.  Did you look into gerd?  Anxiety is a real nasty thing.  NO heart is perfect.  The ticker keeps on going and will keep on going as long as it can.  Don't think about what can happen, you're doctors cleared you.  If anyone sayd different on this forum, they're just jaded.

I went through the same steps, minus the stress test.  I for sure thought my docs were wrong.  But how good 5 well educated docs be wrong?  A cardiologist from Mayo Clinic, 2 ER doctors at 2 different health care systems without notes to each other and 2 different primary care physicians.  If you Google your symptoms you're going to find the worst possible outcome.  Anxiety can mimic so many things.  I Google'd my own test results and found things I thought I should be scared of.  However, one day, after being on an SSRI for a few months, had been seeing a therapist for a couple months and getting good sleep, I finally realized they were all right.  It was anxiety.  For all the times I thought I had heart failure, or ischemia or cardiomelagany or pericarditis or a unstable angina, it never happened.  It didn't add up logically.

I was an exerciser for my whole life.  Ran Cross Country in high school, did nordic ski racing, did lots of road bike racing, did a couple triathlons and then before all that was training for a marathon.  For a few years I too used a ton of tobacco, I do in fact regret that decision to do it, but, that's not what it is.  I truly didn't get better until I gave up caffeine for a while and started exercising harder, pushing my heart.  Everything started to feel better and balance out.  It's now 8 months later and I still have my small doubts, BUT, logically I know it can't be.  I don't feel my heart palpate or skip beats now like I used to all of the time.  I'm not afraid of ramping my heart rate up to 100% max (190BPM for me).  This ticker was given the clear by the docs and I intend to use as such.  The heart is the last thing I want to go out on me so now, I use my anxiety to be heart healthy and take care of it.  When it's time for my heart to give out, it'll let me know.  I know it'll be different than anything I've felt.  Almost everyone who has had anxiety and heart issues say it's completely different.  In the mean time, I'll just keep it monitored by physicals and doing what I can control (eating well, exercising, getting the right fats and excluding the bad fats, managing stress).

I tell you all this because it might help you realize what it is you're going through.  Anxiety never really disappears, it's kind of a like a shadow waiting to creep up on you.  However, I ask that you please not concentrate on your heart.  Stop Googling the symptoms.  Turn here if you must for anxiety support and nothing else.  It's very difficult to stop looking up symptoms and asking for that type of help online.  You probably feel like you want to take control of the situation and be there for your family and not check out too early.  Get some good rest and ask your primary care doctor for what he/she thinks is the best next step.  See a therapist if you must, someone specializing in OCD and Anxiety.  Reach out to a support group if you must too, like a group on MeetUP.com or something.  Tons of people battle the exact same thing, but when you learn how to get over the shred of doubt, your life will be pretty much back to normal.