Please Help Me! Abdominal/Chest Pain!

[Chrissy364]

Hello! I'm a 17 year old female and I was just diagnosed with GAD and Panic Disorder. I have had it since June 19th, 2009. I'm not taking medication for it yet, but I will. I get a multitude of symptoms including chest pain and heart palpitations that last all day long. Anyway, a new problem has been occurring more than usual. After I eat a meal, even its a very tiny meal like soup, I get an intense pain in my abdominal region and chest area that feels like someone is pressing on my chest and stomach. It also feels like a brick was placed in my chest and stomach/abdominal area. I cant breathe and I cant stand up after this happens. It really hurts and I have to go lay down on the couch. It has happened everyday after I eat for about 4 days now. On the 11th I went to the ER due to heart palpitations and chest pain and had 2 EKGs, 1 chest x-ray, and blood work done; all normal. Not to mention the mention all the doctor and Urgent Care visits I had the month before. I thought it was all my heart (which I still think it could possibly be) but the doctors said it was fine. I'm starting to wonder if this is a gastrointestinal problem too; not just anxiety. Does any one know of any gastrointestinal problem or stomach problem that can cause chest pain and heart palpitations too? I do not think this is heartburn or acid reflux, or GERD. I mean often I get a burning sensation or pain in my chest, but that is different and does not occur right after I eat. This is different; as I said it feels like an immense fullness in my chest and stomach/abdominal area that resembles a pressure or squeezing feeling. I cant breathe really or stand up. Anyone have any ideas on what it could be??? PLEASE I need to get some answers before I spend another $2000 on a ER visit!!!!!!!

[lamb888]

Hi Chrissy,
Well, I'm not a doctor, so I can only go on my personal experience. I'm 58 years old, nd abot 20 years ago, I started having panic attacks. I didn't know what was happening to me! So, I went to a counselor, and she explained that panic attacks come on from a chemical imbalance in the brain. I would start to feel like I was going to pass out, chest pain, etc. You actually feel like you are having a heart attack. They put me on Proazc, and I haven't had another panic attack since!
As for your stomach, you really need to go to a Gastro Doctor. Are you the nervous type?  I ask, because I am, and I've had IBS ever since I was a kid. I get terrible spasms, whenever I get upset.
Please, try to find a doctor, to check you out?
I wish that I could be of more help, I know how scary panic attacks are! My youngest son gets them. He woke me up at 3am one time, insisting that we go to the ER, he thought that he was having a heart attack. They admitted him, ran all kinds of tests, and found that his heart was just fine.
But, everyone is different, so, I would urge you to see a doctor as soon as you can.
Feel better!

[ggreg]

Dear Chrissy,
I have panic disorder too.  About your eating problem, I have to suggest the obvious, becuz it sounds like gas to me, and an ordinary alka seltzer ought to relieve that pressure you're feeling in your abdomen when you eat.  When a person is nervous, food just freezes up in the tummy, and gas will form, so the seltzer ought to at least take away the gas pain and allow you to move around.  If that doesn't help at all, then maybe you have a little ulcer, google research about that and see what all is okay to eat... for example, if your soup was hot, that's going to hurt the ulcer.

I'll give you a trick to bring down the anxiety a notch or two.  Just do some really deep breathing, ten times, whenever your heart races.  The medicine I took for panic was Klonopin while I went thru a year of behavioral therapy, really helped me a lot.  
GG