I was having the chest pain last night when I started this thread. The really weird thing is that I always get it after having had some intense anxiety, but not at the actual moment that I'm having anxious thoughts. Like - last night - it came on when I thought I was quite relaxed.

This started in 2005 during a very tough period in my life. I did go to the ER back then. I really thought it was a cardiac event. By the time I got to the ER, the pain was all over with and they found nothing wrong. When it happens I have no shortness of breath or any other symptom.

Thanks for the concern, winter. I do know it's anxiety . . . sometimes just social anxiety. Today I'm going to visit cousins. That was on my mind a few hours before the pain started. I can always trace it to some particular thought that has made me fearful.

I hate to think that I'm this neurotic . . . that I'm worrying so bad that I give myself pretty intense pain. But it's not like a panic attack, and the worrying has died down by the time this thing starts. Another reason I know it's anxiety is that I can talk myself out of it just by realizing that it is not a heart attack. Still it's like an elephant has a foot on my chest.

I've been to a cardiologist a few years ago. Nothing was found other than I do have an unusually fast heart beat. One doctor told me that was anxiety, also, which I do not believe.

Thanks for the feedback. I felt so alone last night when this set in. Thanks for sharing George and lost. I feel less bizarre now.