Suffocation in breathing with chest pain & anxiety

[Victor_kim2000]

Hi ,

I have  a problem which i cant realy understand ,

Actually for past two month  , sometimes ,  while sitting in my office(i am a software developer). i had problem in breating ,Initialy i ignored it.  

Jst fot the record , I dont Smoke/Drink   & my age is 25.

Then i had a fever for about a week  , in which i took some general cold /fever medicines (without prisciption).

I have a haabit of eating spicy food , so after i get up from my fever i ate some spice food again , & went to my office .

In my office i had a chest pain(at the centre of chest) . I immidiately went for an ECG &  BP check(within half hour of pain).

Both ecg  & BP were normal , the doctor adviced me anti acidic medicine.


Initially , i had relief with Anti acid , but later i didnt affected.

But my real problem started after that ,  

I really got scared due to that chest pain,

Since then , my whole chest has cramped up with lot of  pain and a burning sensation when i moved my hand over my chest.
I often feel difficulty in breathing .

I felt like pin getting prickled in my chest .

I get so much panic some times , specially in night .
I feel problem in breating while sleeping & feel tht my heart is beating fast & irregulary.


I stated geting nervous day by day , about thinking that i have a  heart problem .
i feel that i have pain in my heart when i walk fast.

Now the problem has exsacturated so much , that i feel fear to walk  fast & speak loudly.
I had around 10 ECG , earlier , all ECG were fine , but now there seems some problem with ECGs,
hence doctor adviced me of anti depression  & anti panic mediceines.

Now i am unable to understand , where my problem is  :
Is it due to acidity?
Do i have a heart problem?
Do I have some Chest problem (my chest  X ray is fine).
Some chest muscle related problem?

I have become really depressed , please help & advice me how to move foward .

Regards,
Victor

[Kevin Pho, MD]

There are a variety of reasons, and I certainly agree with the EKG as an initial test.

Rule out heart or lung causes can be considered, and I would start with a simple chest x-ray.  Other tests to exclude a blood clot in the lungs, as well as imaging the look at the heart structure, can be done with a CT scan or echocardiogram, respectively.

Acid reflux is possible, and should be considered if the aforementioned tests are negative.  

And yes, a muscle problem as well as anxiety are also possible, and should be considered if the cause remains elusive.

These options should be discussed with your personal physician.

This answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice - the information presented is for patient education only. Please see your personal physician for further evaluation of your individual case.

Kevin Pho, M.D.

KevinMD.com
Twitter.com/kevinmd

[humaira83]

A related discussion, suffocation/ breatlessness/anxiety was started.

[Amber6106]

Probably not likely, but have you been checked for gallstones? I had a lot of your symptoms (chest pain, tightness, difficulty breathing, anxiety due to these symptoms!) and turned out i had huge gallstones and had to have my gallbladder removed.  I was 23 at the time. Sounds like you arent a likely candidate for them, but you never know.  Your gallbladder isnt really anywhere near your chest (lower right side kind of under rib cage) but my pain was always in the middle of my chest and would come on suddenly and last anywhere from a couple minutes to all day! Very painful and made it hard to breath - felt like someone was punching me in the chest.  Initially i would wake up with these attacks in the early morning.  I was misdiagnosed as having acid reflux and anxiety - i do have acid reflux, but this was way beyond the pain of regular heartburn! Good luck to you.