Anxiety or Something Else?

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the board but wanted to see what everyone thought about a recent problem I'm having. I'll start off by saying that I'm a 30yr old female, pretty slim, with no other health issues. about a week before Christmas I had some heartburn for a couple days. I took some Tums and it went away. Then a couple days before Christmas the heartburn came back. I started taking Prilosec, avoiding anything spicy, acidic, and caffienne and still the burning continued. It didn't seem to matter what I ate, everything made it worse. On Christmas day I ended up going to the ER with chest pains that radiated down in my left arm. It also wasn't the typical burning pain but a sharp ache that had settled over the top of my left breast and up toward my collar bone. They did an EKG, which was normal, and that was about it. The doctor told me I had espoghatis, gave me some Nexium and sent me on my way. I took the Nexium for about a week without much relief and stopped when I started getting tingling in my hands and feet. My symptoms since then had progressed to constant belching and a burning in my throat that would start in the center of chest and move up to under my chin. I wasn't eating much since everything was causing pain. I lost about 6 pounds over the course of two weeks.

I followed up with my primary care doctor earlier this week and she gave me Prevacid. The burning pain in my chest at the time of the appointment was just about gone, but I was still having the belching, the burning sensation under my chin, and an occaisional sore throat. When they took my blood pressure at the doctor's office it was 102/74, which shocked me as I've never seen it that low before. I was told it was ok and that anything under 90 was considered low. Yesterday I woke up with a pain in my chest and was slightly dizzy. I asked my husband to take me to the ER as I was having that unusual pain again that took me there the first time. They did another EKG, a chest xray, blood work, and CT scan of my head (due to the dizziness) and everything came back normal. The ER doctor basically said they didn't know what the problem was and sent me home.

I'm generally a worrier, especially about health issues. When something doesn't feel right I tend to focus on it and I think I let anxiety get the better of me. I've also been going through a lot of stress lately that I"m trying to get a better handle on. Anyway I'm beginning to wonder if this pain I'm feeling in my chest lately is anxiety driven. I've been constantly worrying about this issue for a few weeks now, convinced that I have some kind of heart condition that the doctors are missing. I've never had any heart related issues before, I don't drink, I don't smoke and there is no heart disease in my family. I find myself waiting for the pain to strike as soon as I get up. At different times of the day I'll feel like I'm lightheaded and I've had brief periods of nausea, which I think might be related to the Prevacid. Has anyone experienced anything similar? I'm not taking any other medications besides the prevacid and while I haven't been diagnosed with any kind of panic disorder I definitely think I need to talk to my doctor about it. I'm starting to feel like a hypocondriac, googling every symptom and expecting the worst.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for listening!

Hello and welcome!

I am sorry to hear of your recent gastro and anxiety issues that have been causing you such physical and mental stress.:( These two things can go hand in hand...so seeking to treat them together will help in decreasing their effects both in an individual manner, and the combined effect as well!

Hibee has advised you well...so I will just add the link for your Resources here. The self-help exercises can help you tremendously while you await your consult with your doctor regarding anxiety treatment options.

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=9&m=104206

Keep posting with us if you find it helpful...support is key!

Scaredy Cat

Hi Lisa- I'm Lisa too

Sorry about your recent struggles. If you do a search at the top of the forums, you will see manyyyyyy posts similar to yours regarding heart fears, tests, ER visits, etc- all of which have boiled down to anxiety.

That's not to brush your symptoms under the rug. They're real and scary. GERD seems to be a real trigger for anxiety because it presents as chest pains, pains down the arms, etc- just like your symptoms!

I'm thinking get your GERD under control (possibly meds/relaxation techniques/diet), & as your symptoms improve, so will your worrying & resulting anxiety.

What you're going through, although it feels scary and is unique to you, is a very common experience many people here have experienced as well.

Best wishes!
Lisa

Awesome job on using the postive mantras and breathing!!! Way to go!:)

Keep up the good work, and posting!

S.C.