Posted by Johnny5 on November 5, 2003, at 15:36:43
In reply to Chest pains and panic disorder, posted by Amanda on February 28, 1999, at 11:38:54
hey all, this forum helped me feel less alone.
i'm a 21 yr old male, and over the past 3 weeks i've been on quite a ride. initially i began having tightness in the chest and a few spots of pain in the chest for a second or two. after about a week of this, i was sitting around watching tv and all of the sudden i started hyperventilating and my throat got really dry. i felt overwhelmed and scared to death, and i thought i was going to have a heart attack or something. i went to the emergency room, and just like most people here, chest xrays and ekgs were negative.
two days later i had the same sort of attack, but much much worse. it went on, at various strengthts, for probably around an hour. this was much scarier than the last time, so i went back to the ER. the same tests came back negative, and i started to think it was panic disorder. (i study psychology).
i had a hard time accepting this for several reasons. for one, my chest pains seemed to distinctly related to the heart. some of them moved from my left side down through my arm. sometimes my wrists hurt as well, and i even had a few pains shoot down my leg. secondly, i initially saw a psychiatrist who was hesitant to prescribe me any medication until my symptoms got worse. he did give me xanax (.5mg) as needed, and they seemed to help a bit. over the past few weeks, i have thought this could be asthma, heart problems, panic, who knows. it's been really stressful.
i also have mitral-valve prolapse, which is a pretty common heart condition that simply means that my mitral valve is shaped a little differently than most hearts. it's not a cause for alarm for most people and about 7 million americans have it. one of the ER doctors told me that some research has shown that there is a relationship between people with MVProlapse and people with panic disorder. this was somewhat comforting, but my pains persisted.
i just got off the phone with my psychiatrist's office, and our follow up appointment has been moved up. the nurse at my doctor's office told me that he saw no reason to see me again and that he really thinks it is panic/anxiety related. i'm starting to become more confident in this theory, especially since i stumbled across this site. i still wish i had more answers but i guess it is possible for people to have the types of chest pains that i'm having to have panic disorder.
poster:Johnny5
thread:3295
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031105/msgs/276903.html