Posted by John Sandy on December 18, 2003, at 18:09:56
In reply to Re: Chest pains and panic disorder, posted by carolee on November 7, 2003, at 7:41:11
I am a 21 year old male- recently I started having tightness in my chest, shortness of breath, and some numbness in my left arm. I used to smoke pot all the time since high school and never had any bad experiences, then last winter, I noticed my heart racing, extreme anxiety and the feeling that I was going to die.
The next day I felt fine, I smoked a few more times and the same feelings persisted, to varying degrees, it was always a very bad experience, but I would never feel any ill effects the next day. I stop smoking pot for about 6 months. Then last month I tried it again: this was the worst experience of my life. My heart was racing, and it felt like my chest was burning, or something burning in my lungs, I had the shakes or what I think might have even been a mild seizure and I was sure that my heart stopped once that night and at one point I felt a very sharp pain in the upper left part of my chest, like something was bursting.
It was much worse than my previous experiences, I didn't sleep for about 2 days because I was too scared I would die during the night because of my heart stopping. I eventually noticed that unlike the other bad experiences, the feelings did not go away, instead, my chest felt very tight, and my left arm would occassionaly feel numb.
I went to the Emergency room that night, they did an ECG and monitored my heart rate, but they didn't think anything was wrong, if only, Acid reflux. I then went to my doctor and had bloodwork, ECG and X-rays done- all were normal. I don't feel anything like I used to before this experience, when I play sports, I can't exert myself at all, I have to stop because I start feeling my pulse racing and I will have difficulty breathing. I continuously monitor my pulse, and often cannot fall asleep at night for fear of a heart attack. I am also very jumpy and even though the doctor has found nothing wrong with me, I still feel a tightness in my chest and acid reflux pills have not helped at all.
From what I've read on this board, it seems that my symptoms are consistent with anxiety attacks- specifically one brought on by drugs- are there any treatments- does anything help?
poster:John Sandy
thread:3295
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031213/msgs/291369.html