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Hi everyone, I'm a 27 year old male and for the past year and a half, I've been having chest pains. They've gotten worse and more frequent, now almost daily chest pains. I also have a fast heart rate average of 100 BPM, during flairs, I have difficulty breathing and tightness in my chest and throat, and sensation like there's pressure on the upper part of my chest like someone's sitting on it. My doctor sent me for an echo and it came back perfectly normal. I also had an EKG done and everything looked normal as well so my heart appears to be healthy. My doctor put my on enderal 160mg, a beta blocker, to treat the symptoms I've been experiencing and it has helped. My heart rate is now 65-75 BPM, I get less chest pains and less breathing problems. He also diagnosed me with generalized anxiety with anxiety/panic attacks.
I still have almost daily chest pains that come and go throughout the day. I also have this strange symptom where sometimes if I lie down on my left side or on my back, it feels like a tightness around my heart and my throat. I also have been feeling these hypnic jerks when I'm going to sleep. Just as I'm about to fall asleep, I jerk awake and feel this horrible sinking, rushing feeling in my chest and I take a sharp breath like a gasp and wake up. This can go on for over an hour as I'm trying to fall asleep until I'm so exhausted I just pass out. This happens maybe once a week. I'm also having frequent panic attacks. About every other day. They just hit me randomly and I feel chest pains, crushing feeling and tightness in my chest, difficulty breathing, feeling light headed like I'm going to pass out, and just an overall impending doom feeling. I try to do breathing techniques but they don't always work.
My doctor also doesn't like giving out benzos like xanax so he gave me hydroxyzine, which is an antihistamine but it's also used to treat anxiety. I try not to take one when I get a panic attack because it makes me so tired I can't function the rest of the day until I can go home and sleep it off. Sometimes my heart will start pounding so hard I can feel it and it triggers a panic attack because I think my heart is going to stop. Nothing triggers these palpitations, they just happen randomly like all of my symptoms and it goes on for hours whether I'm at rest or active.
I'm so sick of feeling like I'm going to have a heart attack and die almost every day. It's such a horrible feeling like this rush of panic washes over me and I have to be ready to call out for someone in case I need an ambulance. I'm afraid I might have a thoracic or abdominal aortic aneurysm that I don't know about or atherosclerosis or a mediastinal mass that's going to kill me one day because my doctor missed it. I know it's all my anxiety talking and making things up for me to worry about but I can't stop worrying. I rarely get a good night's sleep because I'm afraid of lying on my left side or waking up randomly to check my pulse (I check my pulse about 20 times a day) or wake up to a hypnic jerk. I want to get back into working out because that's always been a big stress reliever for me but I'm afraid I might die from a heart attack at the gym.
I'm normally a very logical and realistic person so my anxiety is constantly clashing with that part of me and I feel like I'm going crazy. I'm thinking about going to see a psychiatrist to see if that will help because these symptoms are taking over my life. I feel like I have a time bomb inside me that could explode and kill me at any time. Sorry if there are any typos, I'm writing this at 3am because I'm having chest pains and I can't sleep.
0 likes, 3 replies
daniel91307 JakeAksis
Posted
Hello Jake,
i can completely sympathise with every symtpon your experiencing, I have everyone of those symptoms too. It's horrible. I feel like when all these symptoms hit me I'm at the beginning of a heart attack. I try breathing techniques but this time has helped me a lot. Stay strong and keep going, your not the only one.
daniel91307 JakeAksis
Posted
Hello Jake,
i can completely sympathise with every symtpon your experiencing, I have everyone of those symptoms too. It's horrible. I feel like when all these symptoms hit me I'm at the beginning of a heart attack. I try breathing techniques but this time has helped me a lot. Stay strong and keep going, your not the only one.
bonnie28687 JakeAksis
Posted
Hello I've had depression and anxiety for many years. Yes I am on meds. When in doubt excerise!!! It's a stress reliever . Depression is stuff from the past and anxiety is stuff in the future. I was in denial about everything. Listen to your body. One day at a time. You can think about a whole life time in a minute , it's stressful. Don't think about things you have no control over, like the future. Stay in the moment.
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