Chest pain/ angina/ stress/ anxiety attacks? ...please share your experience.

[Halftime Hope]

What experience do you  have with this?   Recently an adult in my family who has been thoroughly checked and cleared (no blockages, etc.) has begun having chest pain attacks.  They come on suddenly.  Sometimes nothing is going on that would point to stress, but other times they are clearly associated with a stressor.  These are not "I think I'm going to die" anxiety attacks, just intense pain in the center of the chest. 

 

I know people here have mentioned chest pain associated with anxiety attacks (ETA: and also now with esophageal reasons for pain.)   Please share whatever you know that would help.

 

Thanks!

[Spryte]

Has this adult been to a cardiologist, aside from the checking they might have done at the ER?  A cardiologist might like to order a stress test or other tests.

 

My mom was recently (a week ago) released from the hospital - she has angina and some low level blockages.  She's now seen a cardiologist for follow up.  The cardiologist is not concerned at all, but she does have nitroglycerin in case of emergencies.  

 

How are the adult's (that sounds so strange) counts re: cholesterol, etc?  

[Night Elf]

I experienced this a few years ago. I would have slight chest pain, my heart would speed up, and I felt like I couldn't catch my breath. My doctor did something, can't remember, and an asthma test. I was then referred to a cardiologist. I had an ultrasound and a stress test. They didn't find anything so diagnosed it as anxiety. We knew I had anxiety but I had never experienced those kinds of symptoms. They would just come on suddenly, not tied to anything that might have been stressed. My psychiatrist gave me Ativan for an as needed situation. I don't take it regularly, only when I feel an anxiety attack. I have a general anxiety disorder which just means I suffer from anxiety and can have attacks randomly. They do seem to get more frequent if I'm particularly stressed about something. I've never had those symptoms again though, thank goodness. They were scary.

[KarenNC]

Acid reflux can cause esophageal spasms that are really painful and centered in the chest (speaking from experience).

[Halftime Hope]

Has this adult been to a cardiologist, aside from the checking they might have done at the ER?  A cardiologist might like to order a stress test or other tests.

 

My mom was recently (a week ago) released from the hospital - she has angina and some low level blockages.  She's now seen a cardiologist for follow up.  The cardiologist is not concerned at all, but she does have nitroglycerin in case of emergencies.  

 

How are the adult's (that sounds so strange) counts re: cholesterol, etc?  

 

Yes, thorough testing has been done.  I do think the next step will need to be getting to the root of what is causing this pain, therefore, more tests. 

 

In the meantime, I'm here asking what people have experienced, and the input is helpful.

 

Thank you.

[Halftime Hope]

Acid reflux can cause esophageal spasms that are really painful and centered in the chest (speaking from experience).

 

Do you think the spasms from reflux would be timed to coincide with stress moments? (6 times)  or before a meal (1) (no stressor that time)? or when one is out of breath with a bit of exertion (1) (walking and pulling something heavy)? 

 

Thanks for the input.  How did you treat it?

[Cindy in FL.]

I have acid reflux and find that it can act up at all different times. Stress, bending over, eating the wrong foods (this can cause problems for days), pressure on my abdomen (even from leaning against the counter), physical activity because it can cause abdominal muscles to tighten, etc. Sometimes I have to think pretty hard to figure out what causes it because it doesn't necessarily act up right away.

 

Acid reflux causes me to have heart palpitations (vagus nerve related), slow or fast heart rate, heartburn, chest pain, shortness of breath, anxiety to name a few symptoms.

 

Hope you can get to the bottom of this!

[Jean in Newcastle]

All of my esophageal spasms were during or after a meal.   (Not that my experience is necessarily normative!)

 

Has the person been checked for pericarditis (inflammation of the lining around the heart).  

[Catwoman]

I don't know if the person has had a cardiac catheterization as part of the testing, but that test can pick up blockages in smaller vessels that can cause symptoms like you are describing, but that don't show up at all during stress tests.

[Halftime Hope]

I need to see if family member will agree to my helping unearth the test results, somewhere in their house.  I think it involved nuclear imaging, but I did not go to the appointment with them.  (That will have to change as well...but there done this before with elderly.)

 

Understandably, family member doesn't want to hit or miss with three specialists until we hit the right diagnosis.  Sigh.  Thus all my questions.  Thank you, everyone.  I appreciate your input--keep it coming.

[gardenmom5]

I figured out sometimes it was because my potassium was low.  eat a banana. 

 

eta: that was for ones with pain.

 

the other thing I've done for the panic type attack- was seriously upgrade my intake of b-vitamins.  they are the "stress" vitamins, and when under stress your body uses more and gets snippy when it doesn't have enough.   I was also unhappy to learn b12 is stored in your gallbladder.  mine was removed, so I can't store it at all.

[TracyP]

I went to the doc about a year ago with chest pains, high resting heart rate, and a racing heart in the middle of the night. My doc ruled out thyroid and heart issues so I diagnosed myself with stress/anxiety issues that were being exacerbated by caffeine. It wasn't one thing, but a generally stressful life. I took several steps that have helped. 1) I quit coffee. I switched to green tea and the move has been....tolerable. ;) I miss coffee like crazy, but I do have far more energy throughout the day - w/o the slumps I used to feel. Also, I tried to go back to coffee and started to get chest pains and woke up with a racing heart on day 3. For me, I think giving up coffee has had the biggest impact. 2) I started exercising. I was a healthy weight and generally in good shape. I partly wanted to get in better shape and lose a few pounds. But the bigger reason was to use exercise as a stress reducer and start waking up early to get a better start to my days. 3) I went to a boxed curriculum for a short time to help me lower my workload. Obviously this won't work for your family member. The idea that for a time you do things that you consider less than ideal in order to make life easier could be applied to most people, though.

[KarenNC]

Do you think the spasms from reflux would be timed to coincide with stress moments? (6 times)  or before a meal (1) (no stressor that time)? or when one is out of breath with a bit of exertion (1) (walking and pulling something heavy)? 

 

Thanks for the input.  How did you treat it?

 

I don't remember exact circumstances. In general, something like prevacid, raising the head of the bed 4-6 inches, don't lay down after meals, don't eat within 3 hours of going to bed, don't wear tight-fitting clothes around waist.

[gardenmom5]

exercise was mentioned as a stress reducer.   during a particularly stressful time - I "cleaned" used brick.   required a hammer and brick chisel - and I could do ten before my arm gave out.  felt really good to hit something.  hard.  (and I had cleaned used brick for garden projects.  :001_smile:  I got them free U-Haul off craigslist.)

 

even as simple as walking will help reduce stress.   I do yoga off dvds.  there are many out there (some better than others), and for all different fitness levels.  there are also quite a few which are led by men.  (one male yogi gave up weight lifting to do yoga.  he's more ripped than when he was lifting weights.)   here's a list of 77 ways in which yoga is beneficial.  I found this on a nursing site.