Aa
Frustrated with chest pressure/heart and GERD symptoms
I've posted a lot of this info here before, but I am really having trouble accepting that everything I experience is just caused by anxiety. Anxiety definitely intensifies everything, but I strongly disagree that it is causing all my current problems. I am very frustrated as I feel doctors just don't understand.
Anyway, I am 23 yrs old and I was very sick in the Winter with High Blood Pressure and Tachycardia (constant for a couple months). My blood pressure and heart rate was high all the time, even when I was in deep sleep in the E.R. on a high dose of I.V. Ativan. Nothing would make my heart rate come much below 100 for a few months. I was even told doctors that "some people just have a high resting heart rate, and maybe you have just developed primary hypertension since it runs in your family." None of this was true as the HBP and Tachycardia became episodic, and is now gone. I wasn't suffering from anxiety when this all started but anxiety increased as my health got worse. They never found out what caused all this. Despite the underlying anxiety and some other issues, I think I am better off now.
Now I worry about my health, and I can admit I have developed Panic Disorder. On top of this I had a bad few weeks of gastrointestinal issues. I get clumps of food stuck in my esophagus creating a tremendous amount of pressure. I've had the same types of symptoms during the winter months when I was ill, and thought about seeing a GI doctor, but I was more concerned about the heart symptoms and blood pressure. I still have a lot of trouble exercising as it makes me feel really ill. If I do a few pullups, i get a lot of chest pressure and chest discomfort. The discomfort feels cardiac related, but I am pretty sure it's not since I have had a huge workup throughout the past 6 months or so. Recently, I tried to convince myself that everything was just anxiety, and had a doctor prescribe me Prozac and Klonopin. Prozac made me 10x worse, so I stopped that, but I still take the Klonopin as needed. Klonopin helps with my anxiety and panic, and HELPS with the chest discomfort, but it doesn't make it go completely away. I tried Pepcid AC, Zantac, Rolaids, etc, and nothing was helping much. I thought nothing would help until someone had me try chewable Acidophilus. As long as I take them religiously after I eat anything, it gets rid of my chest discomfort. I went a couple days without any, and as soon as I got my own bottle, I had relief. My resting heart rate is also much lower and recovers much faster when I take the Acidophilus.
I saw a GI doc today that told me if the Acidophilus is working, continue doing what I am doing. He told me the gastro symptoms is not related to my heart, but I say ********! I didn't know my true resting heart rate is close to 60 bpm, and the Acidophilus has everything to do with it.
What's also strange is that I get a very slow heart rate sometimes (bradycardia). I get tachycardia 99% of the time, but I've had a couple nights of bradycardia. One night I had chest discomfort, so I took my pulse and it was in the 40's. This scared the living **** out of me as my pulse has never been close to that, and visited the E.R. with with a panic attack. Of course when I got to the E.R. my pulse and blood pressure were elevated, so no bradycardia has been seen by a doctor. Last night I had chest discomfort and a slow stuck heart rate again that stayed about 60 even after climbing a set of stairs (very abnormal for me). I felt pretty anxious about it last night, and surprisingly, the anxiety didn't have much effect on my heart rate. Normally that type of anxiety would increase my resting pulse to around 100 bpm, but it was like my heart rate was stuck.
After my doctor visit today, I tried to see if my heart issues could possibly be caused by by my GI system. I know self-diagnosing isn't good, but I am frustrated as I don't think anxiety is the heart of my problem (no pun intended). I guess I would fall under the definition of a hypochondriac as I don't think I have been given a correct diagnosis by my doctors, and want a better answer. I am always analyzing what my body is doing, and think about my health constantly. I will go some weeks trying to ignore everything and not pay attention to my body and health, but it's hard to ignore everything when I am in constant physical pain. My body screams "help me". I know the obsessive thinking can make me feel physically worse. I don't obsess about my health at all when I feel good physically.
Anyway, after my appointment today, I googled something along the lines of "bradycardia and tachycardia with GERD". I don't recall the exact search phrase I used, but I ended up finding something very interesting called "Roemheld syndrome" on Wikipedia. The syndrome is not very well known in the U.S., but basically gastric pressure stimulates the vagus nerve causing either bradycardia or tachycardia. Now of course I can't self diagnose myself, but I do fit the description of that syndrome pretty well. Sigh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roemheld_Syndrome
Anyway, I am 23 yrs old and I was very sick in the Winter with High Blood Pressure and Tachycardia (constant for a couple months). My blood pressure and heart rate was high all the time, even when I was in deep sleep in the E.R. on a high dose of I.V. Ativan. Nothing would make my heart rate come much below 100 for a few months. I was even told doctors that "some people just have a high resting heart rate, and maybe you have just developed primary hypertension since it runs in your family." None of this was true as the HBP and Tachycardia became episodic, and is now gone. I wasn't suffering from anxiety when this all started but anxiety increased as my health got worse. They never found out what caused all this. Despite the underlying anxiety and some other issues, I think I am better off now.
Now I worry about my health, and I can admit I have developed Panic Disorder. On top of this I had a bad few weeks of gastrointestinal issues. I get clumps of food stuck in my esophagus creating a tremendous amount of pressure. I've had the same types of symptoms during the winter months when I was ill, and thought about seeing a GI doctor, but I was more concerned about the heart symptoms and blood pressure. I still have a lot of trouble exercising as it makes me feel really ill. If I do a few pullups, i get a lot of chest pressure and chest discomfort. The discomfort feels cardiac related, but I am pretty sure it's not since I have had a huge workup throughout the past 6 months or so. Recently, I tried to convince myself that everything was just anxiety, and had a doctor prescribe me Prozac and Klonopin. Prozac made me 10x worse, so I stopped that, but I still take the Klonopin as needed. Klonopin helps with my anxiety and panic, and HELPS with the chest discomfort, but it doesn't make it go completely away. I tried Pepcid AC, Zantac, Rolaids, etc, and nothing was helping much. I thought nothing would help until someone had me try chewable Acidophilus. As long as I take them religiously after I eat anything, it gets rid of my chest discomfort. I went a couple days without any, and as soon as I got my own bottle, I had relief. My resting heart rate is also much lower and recovers much faster when I take the Acidophilus.
I saw a GI doc today that told me if the Acidophilus is working, continue doing what I am doing. He told me the gastro symptoms is not related to my heart, but I say ********! I didn't know my true resting heart rate is close to 60 bpm, and the Acidophilus has everything to do with it.
What's also strange is that I get a very slow heart rate sometimes (bradycardia). I get tachycardia 99% of the time, but I've had a couple nights of bradycardia. One night I had chest discomfort, so I took my pulse and it was in the 40's. This scared the living **** out of me as my pulse has never been close to that, and visited the E.R. with with a panic attack. Of course when I got to the E.R. my pulse and blood pressure were elevated, so no bradycardia has been seen by a doctor. Last night I had chest discomfort and a slow stuck heart rate again that stayed about 60 even after climbing a set of stairs (very abnormal for me). I felt pretty anxious about it last night, and surprisingly, the anxiety didn't have much effect on my heart rate. Normally that type of anxiety would increase my resting pulse to around 100 bpm, but it was like my heart rate was stuck.
After my doctor visit today, I tried to see if my heart issues could possibly be caused by by my GI system. I know self-diagnosing isn't good, but I am frustrated as I don't think anxiety is the heart of my problem (no pun intended). I guess I would fall under the definition of a hypochondriac as I don't think I have been given a correct diagnosis by my doctors, and want a better answer. I am always analyzing what my body is doing, and think about my health constantly. I will go some weeks trying to ignore everything and not pay attention to my body and health, but it's hard to ignore everything when I am in constant physical pain. My body screams "help me". I know the obsessive thinking can make me feel physically worse. I don't obsess about my health at all when I feel good physically.
Anyway, after my appointment today, I googled something along the lines of "bradycardia and tachycardia with GERD". I don't recall the exact search phrase I used, but I ended up finding something very interesting called "Roemheld syndrome" on Wikipedia. The syndrome is not very well known in the U.S., but basically gastric pressure stimulates the vagus nerve causing either bradycardia or tachycardia. Now of course I can't self diagnose myself, but I do fit the description of that syndrome pretty well. Sigh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roemheld_Syndrome
My endo told me that I do have postural hypertension. My blood pressure increases upon standing. It's like POTS, but the opposite. He said it's fairly common (like POTS), but not very well studied or understood. He is a very respected doctor in the Dallas area and has published a lot of medical journals. He took a lot of time trying to help me (about 2-3 hrs each visit), but he finally said, "I don't know". The last time I talked to him (a few months ago), he suspected it was bacterial or fungal infection since the lymph nodes in my chest go crazy, and since I had repidly appearing and disappearing pleural effusion.
Unfortunately, my PCP didn't want to test me for anything anymore. Every visit is just a waste of time and money. She tells me nothing is wrong with me and tries to push some SSRI on me. I've had major depression and anxiety before, I got help, and I was treated. Unfortunately, what I am going through is nothing like before, and I am not depressed.... at all. I do have panic disorder though.
I have a new doctor, and she wants to test me for Lyme on Monday. I told her I had been tested before, but she said the test I had was not adequate for chronic lyme. I have been bitten by a few deer ticks over the past few years (including a nearly microscopic nymph a couple months ago actually), but never seen a rash. I am not too optimistic that they will find Lyme, but that would be great news to me if I do. I'm sick of being sick.
Unfortunately, my PCP didn't want to test me for anything anymore. Every visit is just a waste of time and money. She tells me nothing is wrong with me and tries to push some SSRI on me. I've had major depression and anxiety before, I got help, and I was treated. Unfortunately, what I am going through is nothing like before, and I am not depressed.... at all. I do have panic disorder though.
I have a new doctor, and she wants to test me for Lyme on Monday. I told her I had been tested before, but she said the test I had was not adequate for chronic lyme. I have been bitten by a few deer ticks over the past few years (including a nearly microscopic nymph a couple months ago actually), but never seen a rash. I am not too optimistic that they will find Lyme, but that would be great news to me if I do. I'm sick of being sick.
I am still feeling sick in the morning, but atleast I don't feel nauseous this morning. Symptoms are pretty consistant lately. By afternoon I feel better. I haven't been feeling anxiety lately, which is nice. I am taking nothing for anxiety and I'm not doing too bad. Chest is bothering me a little bit, but it usually does. I was able to walk a couple miles yesterday, which was nice. It's about all I feel comfortable doing, but it's better than nothing, right?
Haven't been getting much replies lately. My memory seems quite impaired sometimes, so it's good for me to keep a log anyway.
I want my old self back.
Haven't been getting much replies lately. My memory seems quite impaired sometimes, so it's good for me to keep a log anyway.
I want my old self back.
So, I have completely stopped Klonopin. I feel good for the most part. I don't think klonopin helped me very much once my body got used to it. I don't think it made me feel much better, and the withdrawal was quite intense even though I was only on it for a month. I did better on ativan. I took it only when I really needed it (during acute attacks).
I saw the ND yesterday, and I really liked her. She is a naturopath, but she prescribes pharmaceuticals when needed. She wants to look through my medical records, and I am seeing her again next week. She started me on just a multivitamin and fish oil for now. I bought a good multivitamin made from raw foods (vitacode), and metagenics fish oil.
I have to say, I've only been on these supplements for a couple days, but my mind hasn't been this clear in a while. Maybe it's just a cooincidence, but it's still nice to have a clear mind. I usually feel pretty foggy and have issues with things like memory and math. I used to be good at math, so it's strange when you start having troubles with basic addition.
Anyway, the only weird thing I've experienced lately is morning headaches and nausea. I wake up with a headache and nausea around 9 AM, and it usually goes away by 1 PM. Any guesses in what causes this?
Also, I drove 4 hours today without feeling panic. I had some hot and cold flashes while driving, but I solved it by turning on and off the AC. Pretty simple. My adrenals seem to still be a bit on overdrive sometimes, but even though it doesn't feel right, I am learning to just ignore the sensation instead of being scared by it.
I still think anxiety is just a symptom of and underlying issue, but I know I need to deal with the anxiety, or else I will feel worse. I won't stress over not having a diagnosis, but I am optimistic that they will figure this out or that it will go away on its own. What's strange is that I feel very mentally stable through all this. Is there anyone else here that feels mentally fine, but is very physically affected by anxiety? I'm starting to feel a bit alone here.
I saw the ND yesterday, and I really liked her. She is a naturopath, but she prescribes pharmaceuticals when needed. She wants to look through my medical records, and I am seeing her again next week. She started me on just a multivitamin and fish oil for now. I bought a good multivitamin made from raw foods (vitacode), and metagenics fish oil.
I have to say, I've only been on these supplements for a couple days, but my mind hasn't been this clear in a while. Maybe it's just a cooincidence, but it's still nice to have a clear mind. I usually feel pretty foggy and have issues with things like memory and math. I used to be good at math, so it's strange when you start having troubles with basic addition.
Anyway, the only weird thing I've experienced lately is morning headaches and nausea. I wake up with a headache and nausea around 9 AM, and it usually goes away by 1 PM. Any guesses in what causes this?
Also, I drove 4 hours today without feeling panic. I had some hot and cold flashes while driving, but I solved it by turning on and off the AC. Pretty simple. My adrenals seem to still be a bit on overdrive sometimes, but even though it doesn't feel right, I am learning to just ignore the sensation instead of being scared by it.
I still think anxiety is just a symptom of and underlying issue, but I know I need to deal with the anxiety, or else I will feel worse. I won't stress over not having a diagnosis, but I am optimistic that they will figure this out or that it will go away on its own. What's strange is that I feel very mentally stable through all this. Is there anyone else here that feels mentally fine, but is very physically affected by anxiety? I'm starting to feel a bit alone here.
How can I get the chest pain to go away??
Upped my benzos for the night. Also tried Kava, Valerian, etc. Nothing works. I'm very chilled. I guess I'll try some aspirin too.
I used to have hydrocodone left over from when I hurt my shoulder. Last time I had pain like this, popped one of those, and it went away. I've asked my doc to give me some when I had that pain, and she said something like "You shouldn't be taking that stuff for anxiety".
Gonna take a hot bath because I am freezing. I think I need help.
Upped my benzos for the night. Also tried Kava, Valerian, etc. Nothing works. I'm very chilled. I guess I'll try some aspirin too.
I used to have hydrocodone left over from when I hurt my shoulder. Last time I had pain like this, popped one of those, and it went away. I've asked my doc to give me some when I had that pain, and she said something like "You shouldn't be taking that stuff for anxiety".
Gonna take a hot bath because I am freezing. I think I need help.
Doing even worse today. Was able to get work done, but the chest pain and chest pressure won't leave me. It's cold outside today, and when I walk outside, I feel extremely chilled and the chest pressure and pain is almost immediately amplified. If I get warm, the pressure and pain is much less intense. Anxiety? Really? Why I am I sensitive to the cold.
I am so confused. I'll do good some days, and other days the pain defeats me. I fought through the pain today only to feel worse. I'm trying to accept that it's just anxiety, but it really doesn't feel like anxiety. It's intense physical pain. I feel like I need pain killers. What is wrong with me.
Blood pressure: 147/104 (atleast it's not 220/160 like a couple months ago)
Heart rate: 85
I need some rest.
I am so confused. I'll do good some days, and other days the pain defeats me. I fought through the pain today only to feel worse. I'm trying to accept that it's just anxiety, but it really doesn't feel like anxiety. It's intense physical pain. I feel like I need pain killers. What is wrong with me.
Blood pressure: 147/104 (atleast it's not 220/160 like a couple months ago)
Heart rate: 85
I need some rest.
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the Anxiety Community
Find out what can trigger a panic attack – and what to do if you have one.
A guide to 10 common phobias.
Take control of tension today.
These simple pick-me-ups squash stress.
Don’t let the winter chill send your smile into deep hibernation. Try these 10 mood-boosting tips to get your happy back
Want to wake up rested and refreshed?
