Advice on symptoms - please help me. - Anxiety Message Board

Soodle · 06-22-2005, 01:55 PM

Am 27 Years old and have been suffering with 'whatever' this is for around 2 years. The docs say anxiety although my symptoms are more or less 24 hrs.
They are:

Shortness of breath (after a meal particularly).
Tightness in the chest, throat and jaw.
Racing pulse when I stand or do any light activity.
Vision problems (blurry, flashes etc).
Occasional pain in shoulders, chest.
*These symptoms aren't particularly when I do any physical activity*

The tests I have had:

5 ECG's
Stress ECG
24 hr ecg
Echo
Chest X Ray
Numerous blood tests eg - cholesterol, cardio enzymes, thyroid etc
***All have come back normal***

I don't smoke, have normal cholesterol and BP, have no close family history of heart disease and am not overweight.

My first symptom was a very hard, slow heart beat one night, but since then my heart seems over sensitive to everything. Have seen a cardio, chest specialist and numerous other docs who keep going on about anxiety, although I don't necessarly feel anxious when the symptoms come on and I don't have panick attacks.

Can anyone relate to these symptoms I'm having?
Am convinced I've got some serious heart problem or something which is literally making me miserable. I feel so trapped and don't know where to turn.

Please help me.

Comptons · 06-22-2005, 02:07 PM

I can relate to these symptoms - except for I DO get panic attacks. Seems when I'm anxious - I'm super sensitive to my heart beat, pulse, breathing, etc. Sounds like you've run the whole gamut of tests and doctors - so the best advice I can think of is to trust in them, try to relax and see what happens. This is the for sure test - if you can accept it and it's truly anxiety - it will go away - even if only for a while.

katidid95 · 06-22-2005, 02:28 PM

I'm having a similar experience. A few months ago I had a major panic attack after a death in my family. I've never had panic attacks or anxiety so I belived something was terribly wrong with me. I had heart palps, rapid HR, chest tightness/pain, insomnia, headaches, etc. I had blood tests, urine tests for different tumors, EKG, echocardiogram, 2 different heart monitors with negative results. At this point the cardio sent me back to my GP who did a test for anemia (I was normal) and kind of suggested we wait and see (since I didn't want to take anxiety meds (other than to help me sleep for a couple of weeks). Anyway, my symptoms aren't as severe as they were a few weeks ago, which makes me also think it's anxiety although this is hard to accept. I recently had all my hormones tested and was very low in most and low/normal in some (I'm female, 46) and soon will begin taking bio-identical hormones. This Dr. says we may attribute elevated anxiety to low hormones. We'll see if this helps...I'm still confused though as to why I have anxiety symptoms when I don't really feel upset or anxious (my symptoms happen at random times)

Comptons · 06-22-2005, 02:54 PM

Katidid95 - I've said this many times on this board and it's important for new anxiety sufferers to know that you don't have to be in a stressful situation to have anxiety symptoms. Most of the time you have physical symptoms due to a "build-up" so to speak of stress. It can hit you at a time when you are totally happy, relaxed, calm, etc... This is why it's such a huge problem and scary for most. I do believe the chemical changes in your body can also be contributing to the anxiety. Good luck!

tnmomofive · 06-22-2005, 03:34 PM

YES! ...i have had all that many times and as the last poster said.you dont have to feel anxious to get those or many other symptoms of anxiety.
I have had all those and loads more.I can remember sitting down relaxing my heart pounding away hard and fast for days at a time where i couldnt sleep at night.I could be slowly and easily mopping my kitchen floor and have bad shortness of breath and heart palpitations even to where i would swear my heart had stopped for almost a minute.
There are just tons of anxiety symptoms.I know how ya feel too about thinking you have some heart problem.i have thought that about myself and still sometimes i have to tell myself many doctors have told me my heart is fine.I have thought ive had everything from heart problems, to brain tumors,to HIV,to lupus and on and on and on lol...i laugh but when i am in that state of mind it is not fun or funny .....very miserable.
Things that have helped me during high anxiety is 1.let myself know no matter how bad it gets ,how bad i feel it is NOT an organic illness it is anxiety.
2.take some deep breaths in and let them out real slow.
other then that i have been on medications before and if your anxiety is really messing with your life then you might want to ask your doctor about them. good luck and take care