What's this burning sensation?

background. I've had anxiety for the past 4 years. And the severity has be fluxuating from extreme to  nothing. I had been on top of it since September but the Christmas time brought it back a bit but still managed with the occasional panic attack (only while driving for some reason). On the 31, I decided to use the snowblower to clear a path for the propane delivery guy before the snow got to hard. It was a long path to make and at the street the pile from the snowplow made had already harden at the bottom so I had to really work the machine up and down and shovel some snow that was to high or hard. The path was open enough and I gave up fully going through with the machine and pulled it back up the small hill. When I got to the top, I got a dizzy spell, chest pain and felt so warm that I could have taken my coat off. I realised that I hade obviously pushed myself too much and it was time to head back inside. After a break, I turned and headed home. It took a while to feel like my heart had calmed and it made me anxious to feel as such.

I took it as easy as I could with two young kids 4 and 6. I figured I must have pulled my chest muscle too because I felt like a band around my chest. Here and there during the day I may feel a pinch or pressure right in the middle of my chest yet I can do some physical things and not feel it at all.


On and off the last four night, I've waken up during the night with heart palps, that chest pain, anxiety (normal for me) then I feel like the tip of my ears are burning then a horizontal line across my forehead followed by a burning waves through my whole body. I take the blanket off and try deep breathing and positive thinking and while attempting to get my heart to it's usual speed I get bouts of shivers and burn waves. When the burn waves stops and the shivers gets worse, I go back under the blankets and feel that pain in my chest but am afraid to move and make it worse. Has anyone ever felt the burn waves with anxiety?

My anxiety surrounds my heart health. I've had an ECG(2-3 years ago), EKG (2-3 years ago) and two holter  monitor(2010 and 2012). I have Extra ventricular palps but the rest is all good.  

[birdie0907]

Read responses to this guy's post and understand that the doctor's diagnosis is correct. Once you accept that, your anxiety about heart danger will disappear along with the associated chest pains that anxiety does to play tricks on you.

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Anxiety/Anxiety-causing-heart-to-flip-flop/show/1872986?personal_page_id=890501

[riicky92]

As you can see in my post above anxiety can do some funny stuff to the body try to relax and for get about it i no its easy said then done but if you need to go to a doc and get a full work up because people with anxiety can still have other problems to not saying you do but better safe then sorry

[birdie0907]

The only problem Martine mentions is a history of chest pain for which she has had lots of doctors state there is no heart issue so a full workup is making a mountain out of a molehill.

[MartineMoreau]

I hate going to the doctor because I'm aware of the anxiety and I always question myself if this is again anxiety and I hate wasting my time and a slot for another patient the may need it more then me. I was pretty sure this was anxiety but had never had the burning sensation hence why I wrote. Also, sometimes just writing it down and knowning someone may read it helps reduce the anxiety.

birdie0907 I'll read the suggested board a little later. Thanks.

I started drinking more water and will attempt to get a bit more active slowly to help reduce the anxiety. Thanks for your replies.

[birdie0907]

Exercise is recommended to reduce anxiety and I hope it works for you, but I never found it to be any help when I was worried.
You have been cleared by the doctors, so if you can believe them the anxiety will go away. If you can't, you need therapy and possibly meds, but think about it for a while right now and ask yourself why don't you believe a trained experienced professional doctor's diagnosis. You aren't a doctor so you need to accept the expert's diagnosis otherwise the anxiety will just nag you and give you more "symptoms" of heart attacks.

[MartineMoreau]

I totaly get what you are saying about having to trust the doctors. But what doesn't help is that I know someone who was told she had anxiety over and over by a doctor but hers didn't do test or just one, she eventually decided to go to the ER when it got to bad and she had emergency triple by-pass. Which is making it a bit hard for me to fully trust them but I am trying to just go over that. Since I saw a cardiologist for one of the test. I'm rambling I know.

For the exercice, I've been told that exercising more will help get healthier and better sleep and the whole cycles reduces anxiety. I hope it works too.

[MartineMoreau]

oh, and thanks for your reply much appreciated.

[birdie0907]

I am not a heart doctor so have no idea why your friend ran into trouble but I bet she is 1 in a million. You have had lots of tests which indicate you are in fine shape.
The 2 situations are unrelated unless you are thinking you will be one in a million too. If that is the case, think of all the other diseases you can have that have more than 1 in a million chances of catching, like leprosy from shaking hands with the wrong person. I read about one that in this black comedy although it is full of exotic diseases that unfortunate people catch like tomato skin where your skin turns like that of a ripe tomato - http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0684856484/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=485327511&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0684852802&pf_rd_m=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&pf_rd_r=0DXXVYZDDQ0BQE02R7JB

[Paxiled]

My only comment here to birdie is, trusting doctors is foolish.  Medicine is a crapshoot.  Blind faith feels good, but it can get you into trouble.  That being said, that doesn't mean this person doesn't have a great doc who gave great advice, it just means you have to keep your critical thinking about you and not believe doctors are more than just a human being as flawed as any other, not some mystical being who isn't motivated by greed or is tired or isn't that good at what he or she does as with any other professional.  If I had the symptoms of this person and a history of heart irregularities and wasn't anxious, I'd check with my doctor just to be sure.  But it sounds to me like this person doesn't exercise regularly and may have strained something by doing too much exertion for her fitness level.  Just a thought.

[birdie0907]

She has had 6 tests in 3 years so I don't think doctor error due to a sleepy day is likely. If one doc did all the tests then the only variable left is switching doctors for the next test if she still wants another test done.
The second paragraph says she does some physical things and doesn't feel pain at all which is a good sign. The only time she goets pain is when not resting. That doesn't prove there isn't a problem, but makes the hard exercise causing pain in the first paragraph look suspicious.
That is all I can say as I am not a doctor. In my province I can phone in to the hospital and talk to a nurse for free who reviews the situation and will advise whether to come in or not.

[MartineMoreau]

I'm a bit better now. I've had ups and downs with anxiety and am back with occasional panic attack. Now the feeling of like something bad is about to happen seems to haunt my days. I have great days where I try to exercise a little with strengtning exercise hoping that my feeling of pulling and incomfort in the chest is just muscle strain from not being as in shape as before.

It is frustrating to be able to do some work and feel fine and then do some other work and feel like I over did it. Of course the accumulation of doing this one on top of another will make me feel like I over did it and feel a pressure in my chest. The constant question of is this just anxiety or is it something else seems to haunt my daily life. The most frustrating is that before I started having hypothyroide I was confident and healthy person. Very active and since having this I also started having anxiety and slowly reduced my activity levels and I know I"m not as active as before but when I try to reintroduce some activity I get anxious and that uncomfortable in the chest.

I'm not sure where I stand in the trust issue with the doctors. They did do the tests, I"m with a new one that did the last holter, I'm just finding it hard to figure if I need to go back or if it'll be a waste of time.

[Miska1989]

My anxiety is also around heart I think everyones is at somepoint. But we cannot know whats gonna be wrong with us only God knows, and Im
Thinking alot of people wanna die so they kill themselves, so It cant be that easy to die just by urself, at some point we all have to give up the controll and accept that we dont know what will happend later :) dont make plans live just from day to day. And if all test and results are fine then they are fine . And dont you think we all would be feeling worst then this if something bad was going on with the heart. Never seen a person having a heart attack sit here and type and share their symptoms

[Miska1989]

My anxiety is also around heart I think everyones is at somepoint. But we cannot know whats gonna be wrong with us only God knows, and Im
Thinking alot of people wanna die so they kill themselves, so It cant be that easy to die just by urself, at some point we all have to give up the controll and accept that we dont know what will happend later :) dont make plans live just from day to day. And if all test and results are fine then they are fine . And dont you think we all would be feeling worst then this if something bad was going on with the heart. Never seen a person having a heart attack sit here and type and share their symptoms

[Miska1989]

My anxiety is also around heart I think everyones is at somepoint. But we cannot know whats gonna be wrong with us only God knows, and Im
Thinking alot of people wanna die so they kill themselves, so It cant be that easy to die just by urself, at some point we all have to give up the controll and accept that we dont know what will happend later :) dont make plans live just from day to day. And if all test and results are fine then they are fine . And dont you think we all would be feeling worst then this if something bad was going on with the heart. Never seen a person having a heart attack sit here and type and share their symptoms

[MartineMoreau]

Your hit the button on the nose there. That is what I keep trying to convince myself of but some days when the feeling is so overwelming I just can`t seem to help it.

[birdie0907]

Your Jan 30 question was whether it is worth going back. If you have had all these other tests and they found nothing, you need to ask yourself if you think they will find something this time. I know my answer but will refrain from repeating it.
You have to feel it in your heart, so to speak, what to do and stick with it. If you are thinking they will find something then you will not be able to relax until you have another test. All the other tests said you are ok, and no new symptoms have come up other than ones that are classic anxiety, so you have to make your decision with those facts.

[MartineMoreau]

Thanks, I am keeping this in mind and am trying to work on getting control of my anxiety just not always easy to say the least.