I'm 39 y.o. female, drink 2-3 beers daily, nonsmoker, never exercise. I have been having the reoccuring feelings that I'm going to have a heart attack and need some reassurance. I have been to a couple of Drs. who tell me that the pain I feel is anxiety/acid reflux. My bloodwork shows normal (except platelet count is a little higher than normal but Drs. have reassured me for 10+ years now it's nothing to worry about), blood pressure normal, cholesterol normal, and no real heart problems run in my family except my father has borderline high blood pressure/high cholesterol, and both my grandmothers had high blood pressure. I constantly have chest pain and of course, escpecially now since Prez Clinton had these previously undetected problems, and John Ritter dropped dead of a heart attack, I feel like the Drs. are missing something. Then to make things worse, today I found out a friend's mom died of a heart attack 3 days ago-- she was 60 y.o. non-drinker/non-smoker, ate organically, exercised regularly, never sick. Obviously her death is quite a shock because of the healthy lifestyle she lead. She, along with people like John Ritter, must have these undetected flaws in their hearts and I am so paranoid that I also have something wrong with me that the Drs. are missing. When I get shooting pains in my chest, neck, down my arms, and in my upper back I freak out and am convinced it's my heart. Sometimes the pain is bad and worries me so that I would like to go to the ER, but I don't go because I also feel like I'm just overreacting. And when I have bad indigestion I freak out, since now there are studies showing that women have different heart attack warning signs than men do, with indigestion being one of the signs. I guess since I'm still alive after all of the times I didn't go to ER I guess it always is just anxiety, right? Or I would be dead by now?! Help!!! I don't know if I should go to new Drs. to be re-checked or just deal with all of the aches and pains. I feel that if it was just in my head I would be able to cope with Xanax or something, but since what I feel is physical, it really worries me.

Have you done a stress test yet? The doctor should order it and also they can attach a monitor for 24 hours on you. If not that then they can do an EKG. If they all come back nothing then maybe you should look into just having stress. Stress stress stress. You'd be surprised what your body does. Sorry to hear about your mother. You have a lot going on and you may find symtoms will worsen. Xanex probably will help and if you go to a doctor and let them know your mother just died and your symtoms are , chances are you will be put on a mild sedative. Good luck to you. Stay strong. Your very young for a heart attack but don't hesitate to get your blood work done and your cholestrol checked. By the way, just and FYI My mother when she drinks beer gets your symptoms. She never did before but now she's older she can NOT drink alcohol. Somthing else to see about.

acid reflux is sometimes called GERD and is common for anxiety sufferers

get some xanax or some other valium type meds and take as needed, they relax the muscles also and should help with the pain

have you thought about costochondritis.I have his condition.I suffer from anxiety,have been for years now.well I started having this chest pain right in the middle of my chest,pressure and everything.they have ran all the tests possible,not heart related.its costo.an inflammation of the muscles between the ribs and sternum.feels like a heart attack.do a search on it.

Thanks. I've never heard of costochondritis, but I will research it. I had an EKG 3 months ago at the Dr. office; he said it looked normal (but I thought you can have a normal EKG and still have underlying heart problems? This is what I worry about- like there is something the Drs. are missing). I've probably had 6 EKGs over the course of the last 8 years, all normal results. I also had the treadmill test/ultrasound 8 years ago; the cardiologist said everything was operating normally. But again I have doubts because I am a daily drinker and I have done street drugs (coke, meth, LSD, and pot) in the past, socially. I don't think I've used enough to have damaged my heart, but I always wonder if my daily drinking of 2-3 beers is damaging my heart now. Then again, the French/Italians drink wine daily and have low rate of heart disease (not sure how their livers are holding up). I've also had the tube down my throat to check if there is any acid reflux damage; Dr. said just very mild damage. I was on Nexium but it didn't seem to make any difference. So it sounds like all of you are telling me it's anxiety, and part of me knows it is. It's just the other part of me that has those stupid doubts that drives me nuts.

Ihave had more ekg this past years than I can count.and still I still worry about it.I want my life back. :(

Heike, I feel like I could have written your post myself. I too have most, if not all of the same issues that you are referring to. I don't drink at all, so I doubt having 2 beers a day is the problem. I do smoke though. The Dr's also say I have a mild case of GERD, which I have not found any of the Rx like Prevacid & Prontnix to help at all. I have finally after much denial and many many medical tests come to accept that it must be anxiety for me too. Even though I have accepted it, I still don't fully understand it. I'm trying to work on that now with this Program from the Midwest Center for Anxiety & Depression. I just started it, I have no idea if it will work, although I feel pretty optimistic about it. I'm about 4 tapes into a 16 tape program. It just floors me to realize how much I can relate to some of the issues they talk about.
Remember that anxiety is something we create in our own minds. If we can learn it then we can un-learn it too.

I wish you well.