Chest Tightness/ exhaustion

Does anyone have this?  i feel like i get a pressure feeling in my chest, almost like a butterfly feeling you get in your stomach except its in my chest. its not painful but its extremely uncomfortable. like someone is sitting on my chest. dizzy, electrical twinges and pains that last a second. never in the same place . travel around the chest area. sometimes i feel like i ran a marathon like i can't quite catch my breath. i'm a heavy smoker have been for years . so i dont feel like its a lung condition. lungs are clear. i feel like it can be cardiac. i've been to tons of emergency rooms about this and 3 cardios. have done a million tests. ekg, stress, holter, echo, event monitor, blood work. they say all is normal. but this does not feel normal. yes i get anxiety but i really dont think this is an anxiety symptom. i've had anxiety for 10 years but this feeling only happening last 2 months or so. i feel like i get anxiety attack after i feel this feeling. i hate when doctors chalk everything up to anxiety. i have slightly high cholesterol so i feel like maybe these are warnings to a heart attack or something and that maybe docs are missing something because i'm 35 so they say that is too young for heart attack. anyone feel like this?

[maggiemag]

FYI, just because your chest sounds clear to auscultation, does NOT mean that you don't have a lung problem.  I forget how old you are but since you are a heavy smoker (your words), I would get off the cardiac bandwagon and get on the pulmonary one.  Also agree with the exercise recommendation.  It can do wonders for anxiety just from distraction alone and gyms have ICD's so if you keel over, and YOU WON'T, help is right there, just that alone might be reassuring enough to take the plunge and exercise.

[PikaPika88]

Micheal, I got the butterfly feeling in my chest, it follow with few beats, big dumps and tightness.  My tightness in the chest can last half a day long.  I discovered it could be a LBBB.  Just my discovery.  As everyone has LBBB is being told it is harmful and the Drs "DON'T CARE".  I learn to live with it.  Have a run, power walk or strong coffee.  You may have luck!

[deedle1976]

I had pressure and tightness in my chest. It felt like such a real physical thing I couldn't believe it was anxiety. Turns out it that, for me, was.  If you feel tightness in your chest due to anxiety and tension you then start to think too much about your breathing. When you start to think about your breathing you don't breath normally and overinflate your lungs.  This 'overbreathing' tires out the muscles in your chest and making them feel really heavy like it is hard work to catch your breath.  So anxiety can cause real physical symptoms by straining muscles or by causing you to tense them up.  I also had had anxiety on and off for years and hadn't suffered from chest pressure previously, so thought it must be something else. But then I became more focused on the sensations in my chest due to having constant PVCs. Anyway I can't say that what you are experiencing is definitely anxiety but thought I'd share my experience. I think you should try and believe the docs by now that it is not cardiac related. You've had all the tests so it is your only choice really I'm afraid.

[Michaelccc]

thanks maggie. i guess i have to try to quit cigs.   pika what is LBBB ??? and are you trying to say that LBBB is harmful or is NOT harmful ??  Deedle. so you had the same feeling in your chest . like tight. starts to freak you out like thinking its heart attack about to occur?  and the breathing thing yeah . does it feel like you forget how to breathe at times and then it feels like you are overbreathing? i don't know like i said i've had anxiety disorders for 10 years and never felt this before thats why its bugging me out. but after i started pvcs a few months ago then all this other stuff like this started happening to me. what worries me is that i read sites like this and i see people writing that their docs tell them all is ok and then they insist on tests like angios or whatever and then they find out their arteries are clogged and they are suffering from ischemia and dilated aorta and all this weird stuff. so how is one supposed to feel like they are ok. and everytime i go to a doc they say the same thing if symptoms persist or feel a pressure in chest or short of breath go to ER . but i feel those things most of the time . how do you distinguish it from nothing to something serious?

[deedle1976]

"How do you distinguish between those things and nothing serious?" Well first of all if it were due to clogged arteries the sensation would get worse with excercise/ exertion and would get better when sitting down resting. Also if you had clogged arteries you woudl have had ischemia show up on your stress test.
Yes I felt like that ALL the time. Literally 24 hours a day from the minute I woke up. I felt like my body wasn't breathing properly by itself so I had to think to breathe but my chest felt so heavy. AWFUL feeling. I didn't even think I was stressed when I was feeling this. But I think stress can be subconscious. Funnily enough I really noticed my symptoms improved the day after I saw the cardiologist. So I realised than it probably was anxiety, then gradually after a while I realised I was no longer aware of my breathing or chest most of the time. I just kind of forgot to notice it, and it went  away. All this happened after the birth of my child 7 months ago. The PVCs were pregnancy induced and got me thinking of my heart/chest so when the anxiety came along a few months later that was where I felt the symptoms. I was just too focused on bodily sensations there. I really think I strained the muscles by nothing breathing properly all that time. I was breathing voluntarily all the time (because I was thinking about it) whereas breathing is meant to be an involuntary process that your body does automatically. My chest felt heavy and fatigued like after you exercise a new muscle in a workout. Gradually it felt normal again.

[PikaPika88]

LBBB = left bundle branch block

I'm sorry, I actually want to say "it is harmless"  that meants is NOT harmful.

I got no rest when I feel chest tighness, SOB and dizzyness.  Just live with it.....  I just wish it can let me dig out everythings strucked there.

[Michaelccc]

deedle thanks again. i didnt know ischemias can show on stress tests. i thought an angio had to show ischemia or clogged arteries. just curious did you ever get that "winded" feeling with the chest tightness. like a feeling like you just ran but didn't run  or even walk. ??

Pika. you said you got SOB and dizziness. what is SOB ??

[deedle1976]

Yeah. Totally. I told the doctor I felt out of breath all the time....felt like I'd just been running up stairs or something when in actual fact I was just sitting there doing nothing.

SOB = shortness of breath ie feeling like you can't catch your breath.

[Michaelccc]

wow that is so crazy. those feeling really feel like cardiac in nature. its just so weird to me that for 10 years of anxiety disorder i never felt this stuff and then boom last few months chest stuff

[FLBrat]

welcome to the world of getting older Michael.  And just think, you are speeding the process with the cigarettes!!  The cigs are proably a majority of the cause of your problems...

[Flycaster305]

Smoking cigarettes constricts the blood vessels, including the heart arteries.  Constricted heart arteries cause angina.  It's really that simple.  I'm sure you have been warned by your health care providers that smoking is the single worst thing you can do to yourself.  

[Michaelccc]

fl brat.   lol  yep guess so getting old

flycaster.     so you are saying this sounds like angina that i have??

[FLBrat]

michael, read flycaster again...

smoking CONSTRICTS the blood vessels, INCLUDING the heart arteries.  (Now really pay attention here) Constricted heart arteries CAUSE angina.    

Yes, it really IS that simple.  

Flycaster is telling you that you are causing the pain in your chest by puffing away on that nasty cigarette.  He is not saying you have angina due to heart disease. (Only your doctors can determine that.)  Once more:  you are making the majority of your own problems by sucking on that butt.  I am willing to bet big bucks that none of your doctors have said, "Mike old boy, keep sucking butt, it's good for you!"

You will feel better, smell better, enjoy your food more, breath with ease and lessen many medical problems if you QUIT SMOKING.  The chemicals and additives in that death stick are harming your body and causing many of your problems.  

You are extending a lot of effort to find out that something else may be the cause of your many and varied symptoms so that you can continue to smoke.  Guess what, it will always come back around the circle to you need to quit smoking.

[Benjaman47]

Can anyone help me here. I am 13 years off age.. i have a cold and everytime i deep breath i pain gose  through my upper left side chest hit hurts the most when i am in bed and laying down. I dont smoke or drink (is it just because im sick?)

[vienna13]

Don't smoke? Don't drink? WHOO. ..really? How would you? You are just a kid!!!
Why don't you talk your Mother about that 'chest hurt?'

[Momto3]

Could be the cold.  Are you coughing?  Any chance of bronchitis?  If you are still not feeling well, you may want to look into a doctor appointment or a visit to the urgent care.

Hope you're feeling better.

[vienna13]

Brat said it so well; you know we want what is good for you!
My son few years younger then you, after stopped smoking felt a great deal better, he had symptoms not with his heart but with his stomach before , started to feel better right away, now feels perfect, healthy and happy with his decision.
Plus he is spending that money he doesn’t waste anymore on cigarette  in the health food store.  

[vienna13]

for  .....more then 3?

[Benjaman47]

hey thanks guys alot!

[Momto3]

vienna13,

Who me?  More than 3?  Not me......3 of my own, foster kids, dogs and critters....zzzzzzzz

[vienna13]

Hmm.. You must know what I meant, but never mind....
You should advise for a 13 years old to go to her mother. You are not her mother that is what I meant.

[Momto3]

Seriously, I have (had) no idea.  

When I suggested that the poster consider an appointment with his doctor or visit an urgent care facility, I assumed he would be accompanied by his parent/guardian.  I assume his parent/guardian are already aware of his illness??  Oh well.

[Tarheelguy1967]

My recommendation is to quit spending so much time in the heart forum, and spend that time exercising and starting some program to help you quit smoking.  I bet that if you do those two things, you'll start to feel better because you'll be spending time doing something active rather than typing in a forum with a bunch of folks about a heart problem, which certainly can't help your anxiety issue that you mentioned.  Might sound harsh, but that is honest, well-intended advice.  I am in no way saying you have no right to be here - because you do.  But if you REALLY want to feel better, then I'd offer that spending so much time on this site is not the answer and will only increase your anxiety and discomfort.  You are fairly young, and you state above that you have had millions of tests that all come back w/ good results.  I recommend that you get out and enjoy your youth, set yourself up with exercise and a good diet, and stop smoking so you won't have a need to be on this site 15-20 years from now with a real heart problem.  Take the steps now to avoid a future problem.  Good luck!

[Michaelccc]

thanks for all your help everyone here. i am trying so hard to quit smoking. it is the nastiest habit and so tough to quit. whats up with the 13 year old here. is that real?

[deedle1976]

Took a health scare for me to quit. I repeatedly went numb down one side and thought I was having a stroke. I was terrified and until diagnosed 4 months later thought to myself 'if this turns out ok I'll never abuse my body again'. Stopped cold turkey. Sometimes it takes something like that to make you realise your own mortality and  look after your health rather than taking it for granted (not saying this is what you are doing).

[jlwc2c]

Written with concern for you:
I agree with Tareelguy when he suggests staying away from internet sites that obviously get you more anxious about symptoms (i.e., "Are you saying I have angina?") and spend more time focusing on what the doctors and long standing research have told you to do:QUIT SMOKING.  You're spending a lot of energy looking for a way to justify to yourself that your lungs are not affected and why your precious cigarettes can stay in your life longer (if you'll be honost with yourself).  You're kidding yourself and wasting valuable time and energy that could be spent building the determination needed to quit. Go to web sites that focus on the damage of cigarettes and that may help scare you into quitting NOW. Or....go walk the halls of the nearest hospital cancer unit.  I work at a hospital and I would much rather have my heart disease than lung cancer any day.

You've missed an important message earlier: cigarette smoking is a MAJOR risk factor for heart disease. Cigarettes DAMAGE pulmonary function FIRST then go on to damage cardiac functioning.  THIS IS PREVENTABLE.   Don't keep focusing on "what ifs" with aches and pains.  Consider yourself blessed that you have these aches and pains that are yelling at you to take care of your body and quit poisoning it.

Get help to quit since you don't appear to be able to do it alone.  It is easier to help you quit smoking than to refer you to an oncologist and watch you waste away with chemo and radiation.

[Michaelccc]

deedle  :    how long ago did you quit. what did you diagnose four months later?

jlwc2c  : yeah i know all about cancer i just saw my aunt die in front of me a few months ago which is when i started to get pvcs by the way. that same day at the hospital.   i mean i felt pvcs before that all my life but i felt them maybe once a year had no idea what they were but then after her death a few months ago they kept coming like a few a day thats when i went to a doc and found out they were pvcs. thats when all this heart stuff and thoughts about heart issues got into my head. cancer is horrible though, beyond horrible.

[deedle1976]

The diagnosis was epilepsy. Nothing to do with the smoking, but the scare I got was enough to make me want to look after my health. I think when you are young you think nothing will ever go wrong with your body. Then this numbness thing started happening dozens of times a day. I thought it was something life threatening and that kind of gave me a sense of my own mortality. So no more ciggies.This was 8 years ago and I haven't had another cigarette since. Well I tell a lie. Once I took a cigarette after a few too many beers but it made me feel sick after 2 puffs.

[Michaelccc]

epilepsy my ex has it too. mild case of it.    i'm sorry to hear that . you must feel amazing after quitting cigs. wow. i can't even imagine what a change i'd go through if i didnt smoke. lungs, heart, circulation, getting your taste and smell back, teeth, breathing normally again. your face probably looked healthier , eyes, better sleep i'm sure. wow. i wish i can quit

[often]

Michael....stop wishing and do it.  Have you discussed it with the docs?  There are many aids out there now that do seem to work.  think about Laser treatment.  Everyone I know had exceptionally good luck with it.  It is not horribly expensive.  Or talk to the doc about the meds.  Just do it.  Never, ever quit quitting.   So start now....

[Michaelccc]

i think i saw something about laser treatment once. and i thought it was a joke or a spoof or something. i mean why would a laser help you quit? but now i see its real . so how does it work what do they do zap with a laser everytime you want a cig?? lol

[deedle1976]

You'll find that the craving goes way quite quickly once you get all the toxic chemicals out of your system. After a couple of months you won't even want a cigarette and then you'll start finding them quite repulsive.

[Michaelccc]

that sounds great.  i don't even remember what its like not to smoke or taste food or feel air

[often]

Michael...if I remember correctly, they use the laser on certain areas sort of like acupuncture?  At any rate, my one friend had it done a number of years ago when it was new.  He had to go to Canada.  I think it was one or two times...and he had a free follow up if needed also.  Seriously check into it.  But make sure whatever you do, you find someone reputable.

[FLBrat]

they place the cold laser behind the ear, at the length of skin between your forefinger and thumb and around the sides of your nose.  you feel nothing.  from what I was told, the spots work for control the need for the cig, calming your nerves and to reduce appetite.  all I know is that after I had it done, I didnt think about a cig, slept like a baby and actually lost a few pounds.  DO IT.

[eca]

I got the almoust same symptoms like Benjaman47; but no pain when i laying down.Just an intense paine wen i am sneezeing,for about 1 minut in same spot.And hard to  get back to my breath rythm.Got it for 3 wecks now.Can someone help me to?
                   Ty

[FLBrat]

Benjamin has a cold.  Are you posting about a cold on a heart forum?

[Michaelccc]

sounds like i'm going to try this laser thing. hope its not some fad or scam but hey i guess we'll see.  

[Michaelccc]

any other heavy smokers here? did you quit? how?

[Happy2girls]

There is a new "Smoke Addiction" forum on this board.  

[FLBrat]

I WAS a heavy smoker, and it worked for me.  It was somewhat reinforced with the diagnosis for my heart three months later.  (and before you suppose, it (laser) had NOTHING to do with my heart condition.)

[Michaelccc]

so laser worked for you ? how much was it and how many times do you have to do it? what happened with your heart? what heart condition did you get? are you ok?

[FLBrat]

$125 US.  I had the option of a second free session, but my health problems put the kabosh on that.  I have CHF and cardiomyopathy.  The doctors were talking transplant and believe me, no second session was needed.  Hmmm, breath and have a beating heart or suck butts....no problem.  By the way, the company I worked for reimbursed $150 of the treatment, you might check your HR people and see if they have wellness incentives available to you.

[FLBrat]

I am sorry, just as I hit enter I noticed I said $125, it was actually $175

[FLBrat]

so, consider what you spend going to the doctor or the ER, it is a bargain.

[Michaelccc]

i'm so sorry to hear of your heart troubles. how old are you ? arent you too young for chf? are you getting it treated? my friends dad has it but he is obese and he is around 65.

[FLBrat]

I am 50.  Dx at 48.  I dont think that CHF or cardiomyopathy gives a rats butt how old you are though.  Just happens I guess, then you overcome what you can. Sometimes I wonder if the hurricanes didnt blow something nasty my way.  I am on the east coast of FL and got to experience the three hurricanes that  season.  Frances, Jeanne and the other one.  I am being treated.  I had a BiV ICD "installed".  In fact, I am headed to Mayo on Monday for my twice-yearly check.  I use Carelink during the rest of the year to "call in" my device interrogation.  Pretty cool thing.

[Michaelccc]

so is chf reversable? i mean if you completely change your eating habits and everything. ? i would think that it would be. what caused it anyway? genetic? eating? lack of exercize? why do you need an icd for cardyomathy? arent icd for arrythmias?

[FLBrat]

CHF can be compensated.  Everything in life is improved with proper diet and exercise.  Genetic?  My mom has it.  Eating...I have never had really bad dietary habits.  Worst is that I am southern and everything was seasoned with salt pork.  Always very low cholesterol #s.  I am and always have been active, hiking to gardening.   I loved riding my bike.  I had the ICD because two very intelligent and caring doctors advised me to do so.  It works, so that is all that matters.

[Michaelccc]

teko      thanks for the website i will definetly check it out and see if if works for me

fl brat    it may sound silly but are you taking flax seed oil?   you may benefit from it. it is a natural anti inflamatory and as far as i know chf is inflamed and enlarged heart walls. every little bit would help right? you may want to look into a water ionizer and its benefits. it basically oxygenates the body so the heart has to do less work .

[FLBrat]

natural methods never sound silly.  i will look into the suggestions michael.

[Michaelccc]

ok . you can find flax seed oil in any high end grocery store or health food store. organic preferably and look up the possible benefits for the heart. and definetly look into water ionizers and alkalinizing your body for better health and rebuilding healthy tissue throughout the body. also i read a book the other day. well actually still reading it and it is helpful in many things, mental, physical and emotional well being and getting over and curing anything you want to. its called "the secret" and some people swear by it

[PikaPika88]

Micheal, are you from one of the South East Asia country?  Organic Flaxseed Oil and ionizer water....  Those my mum and my sis used in their country which is very popular.  Over here, no one mentions or knows what is ionizer water.  Yes, organic Flaxseed Oil sold here but hardly heard people used it.  May be it sold mainly for tourists only!

I got the patch that can reduce weight.  It can stick on the body (arm of leg).  I want to reduce my bloating tummy so I stick it on my tummy.  I only try 2 times.  It sticked too hard and unable to pull out so I gave up.  I'll try again.

[Michaelccc]

hi, no i'm from u.s.  i'm from new york very flax seed oil is very popular health in the health conscious community . not ionized water though.