Anxiety???

Ok I have constant chest pains. I went to the ER and they said I had anxiety. Thats was two years ago. I have been put on Lexapro and Ativan and still have constant pains. I have been treated with previcid also no help. I had an echo and my left vent was slightly enlarged but doctor said it was due to patient habitus? They also gave me a stress test on the treadmill that i finsihed with no problem and reach 100% of max heart rate. I wore a holter moniter and it said no problems. I am 32 years old with no real medical history my appendix ruptured when i was 16 or so. I am fat, about 30 pounds over weight. non smoker and rarely drink. My job is like constant exercise so i get plenty. my cholesteral levels are kind of wack though.
Total = 113
ldl = 40
hdl = 38
tri = 85
bp is 125ish / 60 ish
ef = 75%
Hr is always 56- 62 when at rest.

Ok so my questions--
1 when i work out or get winded my nose seems to "clog" up like i cant get enough air through it. Is this what shortness of breath is?

I have had chest pains for nearly two years EVERY day so given my test i am sure it isnt my heart but just wanted your opinion.
I know I sound like a total anxiety freak but i am lost.

2 could it be heart failure. I mean i feel fine when i lay down and have no real other symptoms of HF but its like my problems are brought on by hard work. Working out, running, etc but given the Stress Test i assume that would have caught HF.

Well I appreciate your time and thanks for any info you can give.

SuperSnell

also with my cholesterol numbers no way for plaque?

[Cleveland Clinic]

supersnell,

thanks for the post.

Unless you are a professional athlete, you can't substitute your work activity for exercise. The fact that you are overweight indicates an imbalance between activity and your metabolism.

Shortness of breath is the sensation of lack of air. It has many causes from deconditioning and sinus problems to primary cardiac and pulmonary issues.

The chronic nature of your chest pain would argue that it is not related to coronary disease or heart failure.

Sometimes asthma or reactive airway disease can cause both symptoms you describe, I would look into that.

There is always a way for 'plaque'. Besides your cholesterol I would look into addressing your activity and obesity.

[SuperSnell]

I would like to also add. This has given me anxiety!! I have had several ekg's ...all fine... been to and ENT sinus were fine. My GP has sent me everywhere and I seem to check out healthy as a horse but i assure you i still have these symptoms.

[hollyloxx]

i have heart problems wth an arrythmia and i have been getting chest pains i thought it was my heart.
it turne out to be my lungs. i have bad allergies, but it never crossed my mind that it could be my lungs(chest)
have you had that checked out?
or your bones? sometimes if i sleep funny my chest bones hurt?

[kitcurious]

Last week, every time I took a deep breath I got a sharp chest pain. I knew it wasn't cardiac because it was directly tied to breathing. I also had no congestion and no fever, so I waited about 5 days to go to the doctor.  By then it started hurting even when I didn't take a deep breath and I wanted to make sure my lungs were clear because there is such a thing as dry pleurisy. Doc said lungs were fine, it was probably a ligament injury. I took Ibuprofen (and used a heating pad) and it subsided within a few more days. I am not recommending you take anything, but using myself as example of how (what is likely) a ligament injury in my shoulder could mimic a lung problem. Something that hurts in your chest is not necessarily your heart.

I hope you feel better.

[SuperSnell]

hey thanks for all of the comments. I am no professional athlete but I play one on tv!! Kinding... I am however a professional sports turf manager. So i walk, run, carry, lift, push, pull ALL day long. I am in pretty descent shape. my fat comes from my eating habits not my exercise habits.

with that being said, I have been chasing this "anxiety" for a little over two years now. its started when I took psuedoephedrine..sp.. and thought i was going to DIE... went to the er had a bp of 180/110 hr around 120 and elevated ST waves on an EKG. They freaked me out telling me it was heart related and then the cardio guy said no and ran another ekg and it was fine. they tested for the tropin things or something... long story short no heart attack. So i just stayed away from sinus medicine and things were great. Well then i would fatigue easy and i told the doc so I had a battery of cardio test and the only thing bad was that enlarged left vent but he said it was just because i was a big guy. 6'2" 230lbs. Not really fat by looking at me just by BMI definition. so my gp tested me over and over for everything under the sun and said they only thing left was anxiety. I accepted that dx and took the lexapro drug and it made me manic but they said it would pass. well that was 8 months ago and i still have pain, still fatigue easy, and still "feel" like i cant breath sometimes.

So the moral is that i am in no better shape today than i was two years ago and it is driving me nuts. If this is what anxiety is i would never wish it on anyone.

Thanks for listening to my rant...

Snell

[Mels22]

Ok so far all tests ordered normal. Only thing is abnormal liver. My cardiologist says I don't need to see him anymore but I'm still having symptoms. I have chest pain that is either under my left breastbone or in the middle in my sternum. I also get pains in my back between my shoulder blade. I can eat almost nothing wihtout experiencing pain and belching way too much. I have heartburn some days. I also have shooting pains down my left arm into my fingertips. Sometimes its a dull ache and sometimes its shooting. I have also had a lot of shortness of breath which there is no explanation for. My BP and cholesterol all good and am 25 female. I don't know what else to do. I was even seen by a gastro and given 40 mg nexium for the past 2 weeks and had an upper endoscopy. It showed some gastritis and he did biopsies for h pylori. Those won't get back til next week. He said that GERD cannot be diagnosed by an upper endoscopy. He said its more diagnosed by symptoms and he said my symptoms all sound like acid reflux. He also said gastritis shouldn't cause chest pains...is this true? Should I look for into cardiac? My regular MD, my psychiatrist, my gastro and my cardiologist are all saying not heart related...why can't I believe this? I'm so worried of dying everyday. I'm on ativan and prozac. I am also seeing therapist but its not helping. I'm also having trouble sleeping even with the ativan. Sometimes, in recent weeks, I feel my heart racing as well and sometimes skipping a beat. My questions are...
1. do you think its cardiac?
2. should i get a 2nd opinion?
3. is it possible for me to have a heart attack even with no fam history?
4. do you think anxiety?
5. is the gastro right about GERD and gastritis?
6. how long will it take for nexium to work?
I would appreciate ANY responses. Thanks and good luck to all of you!

[woodruff]

He also said gastritis shouldn't cause chest pains...is this true? Should I look for into cardiac? ...I'm so worried of dying everyday. I'm on ativan and prozac. I am also seeing therapist but its not helping. I'm also having trouble sleeping even with the ativan.

Gastritis can cause chest pain, but  your gut has been inspected pretty thoroughly, and nothing horrible has been found.  I've known people who have serious gastritis, and they are SICK.  You wouldn't confuse them with someone who looked well, and had problems just with gut discomfort and some belching.

"My regular MD, my psychiatrist, my gastro and my cardiologist are all saying not heart related...why can't I believe this? "

You have posted the same symptoms and questions numerous times for several months now, and since you have been checked out quite thoroughly, it is reasonable to say that your problems are not cardiac.  Being young, female, and without family history, you are NOT going to have a heart attack anytime within the next twenty years.

You do have what's called a "cardiac neurosis,"  a neurotic obsession with your heart.  This is a psychiatric problem.  Since you continue to fear dying, and ativan, prozac, and your current therapist are not helping, you need to find a psychiatrist--not a counselor--and discuss both a proper therapy and a change of medications.

If you really wish to feel better, you will be talking to another shrink.  Please post again in a month or two and let us know that you have taken these steps.

[Carrie41]

Woodruff I couldn't believe it.  I went to search for Cardiac Neurious and that is exactly what I have.  I am glad I am not crazy!  I am actually going to see a phycologist next week to try to deal with my obsession about my heart.  I am printing off some of the information I found on this condition and going to bring it with me to say that is what I have!

[Siamo Uno]

I will admit that I have anxiety. And I have had PVC's since I was 20..I am now 50 and going through menopause and the PVC's are getting worse. Monday I had several within a couple of minutes and it scared me. I thought my heart was going to stop. I would feel a flutter, then a normal beat or two, then another flutter. Almost like a fish flopping in my chest. I of course panicked and went to the ER. They did an EKG and kept me on the monitor for three hours. I was still feeling some PVC's during that time. And you know what the dr. told me? That my EKG was fine...no PVC's. And that I didn't show any PVC's on the monitor either. Not a single one. And yet, I felt them!!! So I would like someone to explain this to me. If I wasn't having PVC's, then what WAS I feeling????? I am going to look up cardiac neurosis because I for sure have heart anxiety. I would like to add that when I first started menopausal changes at 43, I had bad PVC's then that were caught on the monitor...it was almost every other beat was a PVC. So I know what they feel like, and this run I had Monday felt exactly the same as all the other PVC's that I have ever had, but they are insisting there was NOTHING on the monitor or EKG...can anyone shed any light on this for me? I'm scared.

[Mike99]

You may want to have them strap a holter monitor for 24-48 hrs.  This should catch any issues.

Mike

[Mels22]

I'm extremely concerned still.  I went to my doctor today cause I had my cholesterol checked again (last time was in September) and my HDL dropped from over 50 to 46...of course my LDL dropped to 55 but why?  Also, my liver enzymes are abnormal.  I'm very concerned as the doctor said my HDL levels are considered low which I know increases your risk of heart attack...what should I do?
Thanks

[woodruff]

Mels, in terms of physical indications of heart disease, you're in the clear.   Time and time again, you post concerns over the same symptoms, or test values that are, statistically speaking, mostly irrelevant.  Always, always, you come back with no significant risk .  But you resolutely dodge the issue of emotional problems.  What's going on here?

You're too young to have heart disease, and you have no family history, anyhow.  You've had a lot of heart tests, which you pass with flying colors; you can do your ordinary activities (which heart patients cannot; ask Al Dente);  but I haven't heard that you have been aggressively pursuing the only logical alternative, which is psychiatric care.  Yeah, you say you've had a little counseling and some psych drugs that haven't worked, but as to the next step?  Is it possible that you NEED a heart condition for some reason?

If you don't want to live like this, destroying your marriage and the emotional health of your child, I'd like to hear that you have made an appointment with a different shrink and discussed other meds and another strategy.  You need to let go of this neurosis and get on with your life.

[Mels22]

Woodruff,
Thanks for trying to help me.  I realize I have a problem with this but I continue to have chest pains and that fact that my HDL #s are lower than my 52 year old mother scares me more.  I am going to see a new psychiatrist next week and possibly go on different meds.I will let you know how that goes but can I ask you some questions?  You said you have fibro too, what do you do for it?  I've been on a new diet for it for 3 weeks and for some reason my overall cholesterol went down with my LDL but unfortunately so did my HDL.  Isn't it true that women should have one higher than 50?  Mine is 46.  How do you get HDL up?  My mom's is 70.  I don't  know if its the new diet or not.  Anyway, I've had less pain recently with it so if this new doctor helps hopefully all symptoms will subside.   I can't remember but do you have heart problems?  I'm sorry if you do.  We watched my husband's grandfather die of CHF and it was so scary.  Well anyway, I appreciate your time and any suggestions and answers you have for me...THANKS!

[woodruff]

You have no symptoms of real heart disease, and your chest pains wander about too much to be heart related.  It

[Mels22]

Woodruff, sorry about your valve.  My sis-in-law has the same exact thing!  I appreciate you always giving me advice and I know its annoying to have me fret about the same things but I feel lost.  I was doing better for a while.  My baby got all better and is crawling now!  I can't believe I missed so much and I don't want to anymore.  I am going to a new psychiatrist that specializes in anxiety.  Hopefully that will help although I still in the back of my mind think...ouch, pain...must be my heart.  Mostly it would stay on the lower side of my left breastbone but yesterday the pain was like a squeezing sensation that would come every nine minutes.  I freaked out.  My blood pressure was only 99/60 so I figured I was ok.  Today it has been moving around/mainly on the lower side but its this deep twisting feeling I never got before and I'm more than concerned now.  I am also burping so much that I gave up eating most everything.  Anything I eat, even bananas make me burp up a storm.  I can't stand to wear anything remotely tight and I'm bloated and exhausted and not sleeping well.  I also have neck and shoulder pain.  My questions are...
1. Could this be prinzmetal's angina?  I read it was common in young women and the only way to dignose it is to cause the spasms during an angiogram
2. Why all the belching, gas, pain all of a sudden?
3. Could it be gastritis or GERD?
4. I've now been on 40 mg nexium and a strict non-acidic diet for 30 days now and it hasn't helped...if it were gastrointestinal, wouldn't this have stopped by now?  Doesn't that sound cardiac?
5. Do you think I can ask for calcium channel blockers?
I understand I have no risk factors, but I have ALL the symptoms and I'm just afraid they are missing something.  I mean look at Al, it took him a while before they finally diagnosed CAD for him.  I don't know what else to do. I've started an aspirin regimen just so there is something I can do about my fears.  Would a 24 hour holter show anything?  Please help.
Any suggestions would be more than appreciated.
Happy Holidays!

[Mels22]

Here is a post I had found from a while back....sounds just like me only no MI yet...see I told you this could happen even with clean tests...does this not worry you????????

If your instincts are telling you there is something wrong, you should push to have it checked into further. That's what a nurse at a large hospital told me while I was in the cardiac care unit having atypical angina investigated. Although most of the doctors were nice, I do not believe that they actually thought there was anything seriously wrong...when I was handed maalox and sent home, it confirmed my feelings that the doctors did not feel there was anything wrong with my heart. If it weren't for the nurse, and my family doctor, who reassured me that it was "not in my head", I'd probably be in bad shape right now.
In fairness to the doctors, I have been told that my case was a little unusual and did not fall into some of the typical patterns.
I will "try" to summarize my history as you really don't need to be reading a novel haha, although it may be difficult.

June 2003 (female, age 39), no risk factors (with the exception of being a smoker), had tingling and numbness in both arms, shortness of breath, a feeling of bad gas, and an "uneasy feeling" while I was washing my car. I dismissed the symptoms. They continued off and on all day and evening and the pressure in my chest felt like a balloon inflating from below my breasts to my neck, and from shoulder to shoulder...I still dismissed it as gas.

The next day, numbness in left arm only, a feeling of indigestion (which I had only ever experienced when pregnant), extreme fatigue, shortness of breath. It continued off and on most of the day , and after dinner, while cleaning up, I tried to ignore what my body was telling me, but ended up slumped over the counter and it felt like there was an elephant on my chest. I was rushed to e.r. I had had a heart attack with a blockage in mid- LAD cleared and stented (the funny thing is that no one could tell me how I got a blockage when I do not have high cholesterol).
I was sent home and told to go into the cardiac rehab program for 3 months and strongly advised to reduce stress in my life.
I continued to have symptoms off and on,passed all tests, including a thallium stress test, given maalox and sent home.

Jan. 2004-my family doctor pushed to have an angiogram done (I was quite willing to go on with my life and hoped the symptoms went away, luckily he was not comfortable with my symptoms).
Angio showed restenosis in stent, had 2 more stents (drug coated). Felt great afterwards.

April 2004-symptoms started again, choking feeling, pressure, feeling of food stuck in my chest, extreme fatigue. I passed ecg, echo, stress test.
Family doc added tiazac (cardizam?)to the rest of the meds I was taking. It helped, but not a lot. I gave up on going to specialists, despite the fact that symptoms were getting worse or more frequent. instead, I started seeing a psychologist because I wanted to be objective to the fact that these symptoms may be in my head (she did not feel they were).

May 2005 another heart attack. I had been tired of having to rest off and on during the day or take nitro to relieve symptoms. So, this day, I decided instead of resting, I would go grocery shopping. The chest discomfort got worse in the store, I still shopped, came home and tried nitro. The nitro helped, but did not get rid of it completely. My husband wanted to take me to the er, and although I knew it was my heart, I did not want to go until I knew it was bad enough that it would show up on an ecg. I just couldn't stand the thought of having another doctor look at me like it was in my head, but I knew if I pushed myself a little more physically that day, I could make it worse and then they'd believe me(I know, I know, that was really stupid). I guess I left it a little too long. The good thing was that it was captured on an ecg and the proof was also in my elevated cardiac enzymes. Angio showed that the stents were clear and there were no new blockages , which really surprised the cardiologist. He was very good and said to me "you women humble me every day. I learn more and more each time I deal with a woman as your symptoms can be so unusual".

It sounds strange, but finally I felt validated. I actually was beginning to think the symptoms were in my head.
They still do not know for sure what is causing the problems, but think it is Prinzmetal or Variant Angina. But, I agreed to be part of a research study. It made me feel good that I may be able to help prevent this from happening to other women.

I live on a lot of medications, but life is good now...except when my medications are wearing off in the morning and at night. Although sometimes I have a few moments of feeling sorry for myself (a pity party, I call it haha), because of the major changes this condition has caused in my life. Then I give myself a kick and try to be grateful for the fact I'm still on the planet and I have learned a great deal in these past few years. I live my life differently, and I'm enjoying it to the fullest.
Good luck with everything. My purpose of "telling my story" so to speak, is not to scare you, but to give you some moral support if you truly are feeling there is something wrong inside and no one seems to be listening. You know yourself best. Go with that.
Take care, Janne
p.s. sorry about the long post.

[Mels22]

one more question...
is your bp usually high while having a heart attack?

[JAGERSMOM]

Hi, I am so glad I found this website!  Thanks to everyone who is sharing their stories. I am a 39 year old stay at home mom with 2 small children .  I have had 4 attacks of sinus tach since late October which have lasted around 24 hours each (130 bpm).  My blood pressure has been terrible and I am now on a beta blocker which is helping so much.  The blocker is also helping my pvcs.

I have had a huge battery of tests including blood work, chest xrays, holter monitor, EKG, gall bladder and upper GI which have all come back clear! But after losing 20 pounds in the last month out of fear for my health,  it is still hard to believe that nothing is wrong! My doctor is suspecting anxiety, but I am not aware of anything specific causing me stress(except the heart problems!).  The only other evident problem is severe sleep onset insomnia.  

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has any experience with taking meds to control anxiety long term. My doc has suggested Paxil. Right now I am on Alprazolam(Zanax) for the attacks, but sometimes it doesn't actually reduce my pulse and it wipes me out so bad.  

  Has anyone tried any natural alternatives to the drugs?  What can anyone tell me about adrenaline? When I get tachy, I feel exactly like I do when I have gotten in a car accident.  Racing heart, dry mouth and I feel like I have to go to the restroom.
Thanks for  considering these questions. SGJ