heart palpitations & chest aches

I have Generalized Anxiety and it has been exactly a year ago that I developed alot of physical symptoms. It started with a heart palpitations than I developed high blood pressure then the anxiety started, I had one panic attack and ended up in the E.R I thought I was having a heart attack.....scared the heck outa me and I have not been the same since.

I have been to the doctor and have had a few tests to make sure my hearts ok, but the thing is when I had these tests I never had a palpitation...i like my dr. but she said we are not going to do anymore tests......but I think the constant worrying about my palpitations has caused me to have anxiety.

I take a beta blocker for my heart palps and for my high blood pressure....but i still have heart palpitations plus I was on Zoloft for 10 months then I found it did not make much of a difference...I hate taking pills that are to with my brain.

Anyhow my worries are the heart palpitations because they say the symptoms are like you have heart problems..I guess my dr's assurance is not enough.
I sit all relaxed and my heart fops in my chest with such force sometimes that it really scares me...I have practised mindfulness, yoga but not to the point of where it is a daily thing,,,do they ever stop as quickly as they started......I pray for it to just go away....there is not one person that I know that suffers with what I except I read how normal it is on the internet, I just don't know anybody personally....so I feel so alone and scared sometimes.

ceepei

Welcome to PC! Glad you found us and posted.

Since you have had all the tests and your doc says there are no other heart issues than the high blood pressure and palpitations and you are on meds for it, I think it's safe to say that they are being caused by your anxiety.

My daughter has suffered from the same dibilitating symptoms when she has anxiety attacks and has been to the ER numerous times.

One thing that I found worked for my palpitations was to cut out all caffeine from coffee, to chocolate, to soda. Some kind of daily excercise is good for it too. Not only does it help your heart and respirations, it also helps you sleep better at night too as long as you don't excercise too close to bedtime. Something as easy as going for a brisk 15-20 minute walk can do wonders.

When you feel the palpitations coming on....sometimes a good strong cough will help calm them, or drinking some water and even just finding something to do to occupy your mind to take it off the thought of the palpitations. Don't forget some good slow deep cleansing breathing...into your diaphram (not your lungs). This will help to calm you as you go through the anxiety and/or palpitations.

I know it can seem like an endless vicious circle at times. Know that you are not alone, many of us here suffer these kinds of things. Hopefully others will chime in on what works for them to calm themselves.

I wish you well. Take good care of YOU!


sabby

cee, my family has a problem with this and eliminating caffeine is essential. That is, if your case is truly the same. Still, I'd start there and see if it helps.

Cyran0

You sound like me when the anxiety started! I still experience the heart palpitations and pounding when I try and go to sleep (ive had every test in the book done). I am finally off my beta-blocker (toprol). I worry that my heart will go out of control without it (but thats just the anxiety thinking). I dont get the chest pains anymore but when the anxiety would get to me I would get bad chest pains.

Thanks...sometimes that's all I need is understanding and that I am not alone! You are right about the caffeine, I do drink it almost everyday about 3 cups in the a.m and that's it...my body tells me no more.

But I love my coffee, I love the taste and it picks me up but I guess if this is what is causing my anxiety and palps I have to try.

thanks for listening........it's worth a try

ceepei, I too drank too much caffeine. It was hard to let go of, but I learned to like decaff coffee and to only have the occasional chocolate bar instead of having it every single day. I also now drink caffeine free soda. Like balishbun I too was on a beta blocker for awhile and have been off of it for years now. I no longer have the racing palpitating heart problems when I go to bed. It's been a wonderful thing not to have them anymore!

It may take a week or so to get used to drinking decaff stuff, but in the long run..it's really a godsend. Sometimes just the taste of the coffee is all your body is really wanting....believe me, if it worked for me, it can work for anyone...I was a diehard caffeine addict LOL.

Wishing you well and sending you lots of support!


sabby

Approximately two years ago, I had endured the same experiences involving heart palpitations and high blood pressure. However, I also endured muscle spasms from anxiety. The experience with these muscle spasms made the right side of my body feel like I was having a stroke.

Anxiety can just take over your body and mind unlawfully. It attacks your thinking; for example, I would go to the emergency room every other week, and I would do the same thing you done, questioning the doctors expertise. One doctor at the emergency room told me to leave because it was nothing wrong with me. Cee I truly understand the confussion you are enduring. However, the good thing is that you recognize the symptoms and your not alone enduring this disorder. I'll pray for all of us to conguor this constant worry that seems uncontrollable.

I love that this thread was started because a lot of people are describing things I go through. Thank you all for that.

I'm one of those stupid people who knows the right thing to do and still doesn't do it. I know my heart problems and muscle spasms/jolts are made worse by caffeine but I love it too much. I love espresso and mochas and lattes and just a good old black cup of dark roast. Hell, I sip a cup o' coffee during every single therapy session...Oh, I've got it bad.

Cyran0

I too back some years had that happen. They did all the tests I was ok
the heart palpitations were due to strss
i find if i can breath and relax and think of something specail ..like center it.....they go away
but yes they can be vert scarey
take care of yourself
your not alone

Awwww cyran0....there are all kinds of decaffs available now. The business has finally realized that many people just can't drink all that caffeine and they are responding. YAY!!

One of the ways that I was able to change things was to do them one at a time. I used to drink 3 large caffeine coffees each day along with 2 or 3 Mountain Dew sodas (tons of caffeine) not to mention all the chocolate I would eat. So I started by changing one thing a day and I did that for 2 weeks, then went on to the next one thing to change and before I knew it, I was off the caffeine and had no headaches or side affects. And to be honest, I didn't miss the caffeine and I got used to the decaff stuff.

One step at a time


sabby

I wasn't having much trouble (occasionally difficulty getting to sleep "early") with caffeine until I started hanging out with a new friend that likes Starbucks so I was adding one of those on to my normal amount of coffee and that wasn't good! Now I just back off one of mine if I'm going to be going out with her in the morning LOL.

I always assume I'm doing something wrong to make my body react a certain way rather than that my body is having problems that it's giving to me. So, I look and adjust "me" instead of going to a doctor or anything to have my body looked at.

I don't drink coffee because there is something in the coffee bean that upsets my stomache. I do drink caffene pop and non-caf pop. I was doing pretty good for awhile, I have maybe 3 caf. beverages a week; so I guess that is not too bad. Every so often I feel like my heart jumps into my throat and "wiggles" around (usually lasting .02 seconds), enough to start messing with my anxiety. I'm sure it is because of stress, but since I got that feeling while I had atrial-fib, everytime it happens I think about that scary point of my life then it bugs my anxiety a lot. I am getting better, I have not had a full blown anxiety attack for quite awhile, but sometimes I still get my moments where I cant figure out if I am moving foreward with the anxiety or backward. Then after a little while I realised I was just thinking "in the moment" and after its over I realise I never took a step backward, I was just the anxiety toying with my.

You know I should really take my own advice... Sometimes I can make great suggestions to people or tell good stories but then when the anxiety bothers me I forget all of that. TISK TISK...

Balish, don't feel bad. I'm notoriously bad at taking my own advice.

Cyran0

I think we all have trouble taking our own advice. But, getting it out here where we see it and hash it about some, it becomes more likely that we'll remember it when we have trouble.

Im so glad I found this posting. I am experiencing this exact thing right now with heart palpitations and some other weird symptoms.
Now because of this I have started to experience all types of other weird pains in my chest or what I think is my heart. It has me concentrating on it 24/7 and I am going absolutely crazy. I just had an electrocardiogram in the docs office but just do not feel totally comfortable and feel I need more tests, even if just for peace of mind. Is that what all of you did? Had all the tests to be sure? Did any of you experience any other symptoms dealing with the chest or heart? I am just so scared and terrified of the dr, dont know what to do.
Thanks for listening, feel better just talking about it to people who can understand.

BrnEyedGrl, I had all my heart tests done for a different reason. Oct 2007 my heart started flying (pulse around 180) while I was driving. I had hubby take me to the hospital, then the next day I followed up with my doc and had a 24 hr holter monitor. I am only 22 and they found out I had atrial-fibrillation. So thats what my weird feelings were all about. I had a heart ablation done Dec 17th and it was a success. For the next 2 weeks I still had some palpitations until my heart healed from the procedure. That is when the wonderful world of anxiety hit me. What was the scary part is that anxiety can mimic a lot of the things I felt when I had a-fib. So of course I would freak out everytime I felt funny. I went to the hospital a few times after the procedure because my anxiety kept leading me to beleive that there was a complication with the surgery. They did more extensive testing to see if I had developed any complications, but I checked out healthy, with a perfect heart. So Ive had many tests done just because of the anxiety messing with me.

I get these symptoms and am on a beta blocker too.

If its any consolation to anyone, my cardiologist advised me that pain directly over the heart is almost never heart related, but anxiety related. Pain in the middle, around your solar plexus, is what happens when you are having a heart attack.

Ive been in the ER with tachychardia and PVC's and have argued with four doctors over whether or not I was dying of a heart attack. Noone can convince me otherwise when im having an attack.

see, my issue is I can never be sure where the pain is coming from. Anything in my chest I automatically associate with my heart. Even if the docs try and explain where and what as far as what could be causeing the pain i still just think "huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh"

I started getting the twitches about 3 months and a week ago, and then some numbness which seems to be spreading. The twitches have mostly stopped now.

Whatever happens, happens.

BalishBun...OMG, I too do the same thing. Every little pain is always my heart. lol.
Rainbowzz...thank you for adding the info about the location of the heart pains, it did help. (but im still worried again.)
It is so hard for me cuz I have palpitations constantly, ugghhh!!!

There I go with the palpitations again. It lasted 2 seconds the first time, and 5 seconds the second time. I felt my pulse and it was totally bonkers. fast-slow-abnormal-fast-slow... It scared me, I got the panic feeling where you get tingly, sweaty and super hott from head to toe instantly. I was scared, but i didnt change my breathing. At least two other people were still here with me at work, so I sat down and put my head down for a few mins. What that brief episode of palpitations meant, I don't know; obviously it worries me because I had a history of a-fib (but was corrected with surgery) so I still worry about it. Maybe it was because It was 3pm and I had not ate since 6am? Who knows. The last time I had my heart checked was Jan 16th, and extensive testing Jan 1st, so I am trying to tell myself its okay. Now I am going to worry about it the rest of my shift.

hello everyone ((((((((((((thanks so much!!!!!!)))))))))) and you are right about the caffeine....I feel like such a loser

I know what I have to do....that's the crazy thing...if I followed own advice I would be slim and be the healthiest and not have such bad anxiety....I am my own worse enemy...and I know that, but on the positive side I have learned how to do Yoga and have done it...maybe not every day But I do practice it now and then!
I bought tons of books on "calming my anxiety" wether it's doing mindfulness, Cognitive therapy, or excersising
I just don't do it everyday,and of course coming here for support has helped me big time.

I guess I just have to keep on trucking along, the other thing that's been hard is my husband and mother-in-law can be so very hyper and both have anxiety big time and i know it rubbed off on me I am bad for picking up peoples habits...good or bad...I really need to be my own person and not such a addictive person!

Thanks again and 'PEACE'