[ThePainNeverDies]

Today I was just happily walking along with my boyfriend, Connor and was about to laugh at something he said when... "ARRRRRGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" I keeled over in pain. Connor panicked. "Kirst - wha-what's wrong? What the hell is wrong???!!!!" I couldn't even breathe, let alone speak, but once I found my voice, I yelped; "My chest!!! It f-cking KILLS!!!!!"
That's when he marched me straight to the drs and got me an emergency appointment. I was taken in straight away and seen. I told the dr about the pains and the nightmares and lack of sleep etc that I'd been having.

She said the nightmares and lack of sleep were probably due to anxiety and stress. We don't know what the chest pain is yet, she's put me in for an emergency ECG scan tomorrow because she listened to my breathing and could hear it was short and sharp, then my heart and I think she heard something was wrong. I don't know. I'm scared.

What if my last OD has caused this? Connor will find out and he'll go absolutely nuts...

I don't know what to do, I'm panicking, I can't breathe because of the paina dn it's hurting so much

[bebop]

hon it very well could be anxiety issues causing it. try not to think about the test tomorrow. did you mean ekg? your dr doesnt have the machine in her office? rest...rest...rest. oh and take an aspirin.

[3velniai]

I hope you will be ok

I have chest pains out of the blue, it hurt really badly to breathe in and it last up to an hour. Dr says it's just anxiety, nothing is wrong with the heart. It could be something similar in your case, that's why i wanted to share it (and I also have a few OD in my history) The dr looked really worried when i went to see him the first time and i had to have some tests, but it looks like it's all in my head. I know it's easier said than done, but try not to panic, do something that calms you, because the panic might be just making it worse.

[lynn P.]

Hi,
I'm sorry you're not feeling well. It's always best when you have chest pains to have your heart checked out. It could be anxiety, but it could also be gas/or heartburn. I get acid reflux occasionally and I've had crushing (feels like heart) pains in my chest, so bad that I can barely breathe for a good 5 min. The gas can cause an air bubble in the diaphram muscle and it hurts like hell. I hope it's nothing serious like your heart. Take care.

[Catherine2]

TPND, hi...
Truly, do your best to relax because anxiety will only make it worse.
Acid reflux can cause esophageal spasms that mimic heart problems. It can be referred pain for anywhere in your body...and I don't say that to scare you.
Your physician seems to be on top of things, please try and trust her--although if things get worse or don't settle down, call her asap or go to the ER.
If she advised you to take any meds, including aspirin, please make sure you do...and if she didn't then please don't take anything as they can effect test results.

The scan sounds like the one I just had...they inject a small radioactive substance then time at different intervals to take "pictures" of your heart in action.
You lay on a table, have a pillow if you want one...they do their best to make you comfortable. The machine itself revolves around the top part of your body. It looks rather like a round disk.
You are not enclosed like you would be with an MRI.

It's very good for picking up even small nuances in the heart function.
I wish you well with it...that you get answers and any treatment necessary.

It's hard, I know, not to freak out about it. Do whatever you can to remain calm/relaxed...
Please again. If anything worsens, either call your physician or go to the ER. Better safe than sorry.
One thing they did for me at the ER was to give me a cocktail of drugs to see if it was related to acid indigestion by relieving my symptoms...it didn't so they proceeded with other testing.

Let us know how it goes, ok? you will be in my thoughts
Catherine

[ThePainNeverDies]

The pains got worse last night, so I was crying in pain. I never cry from pain but it was so bad that I just couldn't stop myself from crying

I will be going to the drs today, I have had an ECG before. Basically where I have tabs stuck on me and wires attached and my heart is monitored that way. I know that for two years I've had Atrial Ectopic Beats, basically where my heart skips beats and when it eventually starts beating again, it rushes to catch up, leaving me breathless and dizzy sometimes. But I know that this isn't what the pain is or they'd have said it is.

I have been feeling very sick this morning, although I took painkillers last night. I'm thinking it could be due to an OD I took about 2-3 weeks ago and didn't get checked out, so.. :-/ Just don't know what to do with myself now. I feel so sick and weak and blergh. I guess we'll see what happens at the drs.

Yet again, I didn't sleep last night and I just kept feeling the searing pain in my chest and stomach. It's been horrible

[Catherine2]

((TPND))
I so hope that you get relief soon!

I hope your EKG shows there hasn't been any changes, at the least giving you and your physician some answers.

You are in my thoughts,
Catherine

[ThePainNeverDies]

There haven't been any changes and after causing me considerably more pain by pressing down on my chest, he discovered the pains are due to my panic attacks. Where I hyperventilate during panic attacks, I have damaged the muscles surrounding my lungs and ribcage, causing me to get chest pains.

Which also means that I'm not allowed to do any strenuous work, not allowed to worry, have to rest up in bed or on the sofa as much as possible and have to try and quit worrying and relax a bit more. This is gonna be tough.

So there's nothing wrong with my heart, just the muscles in my chest and ribcage. Hate not being allowed to do anything though. I feel so useless when I'm not running around like a headless chicken, helping people and worrying about people etc. Hmmmm.

Not liking this! I've been put on Ibuprofen, but teh dr knows about my history of OD'ing so was worried about giving me the Ibuprofen, but I said that Connor's looking after me this weekend at least, to make sure I'm safe and am actually resting up because he knows what I'm like and he'll be keeping an eye on me after the weekend too, phoning me up and stuff. So he seemed a little bit happier about giving them to me.

I just hope I start to feel better soon! I can't even sleep it's so bad

[Catherine2]

TPND,
Thanks for the update...

I'm glad you know what is causing the pain, and hope you found some relief in finding out.
It's going to be tough following those "take it easy" recommendations, perhaps it will get easier though when you see that it, and the Ibuprofen, are helping you.
Getting the anxiety under control will also help so much...easy to say and hard to do!

Best wishes,
Catherine

[ThePainNeverDies]

They told me to go back to the MHT to get help with the anxiety, but even my key support worker, when I told her, said that I've actually been much better since I stopped seeing them.

I've got my ED counsellor anyway, so she can help me with all this sort of stuff and hopefully I'll be able to calm down a little, just so long as people don't continue to bully me and try to push me around. I never thought I'd become ill from being so stressed. I've never seen myself as the type to get so stressed. I always knew I was different to people, and would get bullied, but I'm just shocked at how much it happens, especially since I care about so many people and help so many people.

I'm only making myself worse if I let myself get stressed, so somehow have to stop that.

[lynn P.]

Hi,
I'm glad they found out what was causing the pain. This may be a stupid question, but have you tried learning meditation and deep breathing? I read once that most people don't know how to breathe properly - meaning exhaling slowly and completely and inhaling (using the stomach muscles), filling the lungs completely and holding it for a few seconds. If you get out of the habit of doing those SHALLOW breaths, this may help your panic attacks.
Also try not to let the panic feeling scare you, because this ony makes them worse. Just recognize it, then implement the deep breathing and reassure yourself that you're gonna be okay. You can also try a magnesium supplement which is good for the muscles and a hot bath with epsum salts. I hope your pain goes away soon.

[ThePainNeverDies]

I normally have panic attacks in my sleep, so when I wake up I'm already completely panicking and hyperventilating, but I will try those ideas for the ones I have when I'm awake.

For now, I'm super stressed and the pain's unbearable... Must take painkillers and have a bath...

I have learned breathing techniques - as a professional singer, I need to know how to breathe properly! My boyfriend knows hwo to meditate and is teaching me, but I do hypnotherapy also and will be starting to do yoga again, especially since it helps me so much and even more especially since this episode of pain and such.

I hope I acn de-stress myself now, I'm going crazy!

I'll let you knwo how things go

[January]

I have multiple sternum injuries. I use a heating pad on my chest. It is the kind that turns itself off before it can burn you. I bought mine at Walmart and it's one of the cheaper ones. It really helps to lay back and put the heat on your chest. That way your arms can be relaxed by your sides. Try not to lift anything like the trash and especially don't run the vacuum if it's a heavy one.

I hope you feel better very soon.

Jan

[ThePainNeverDies]

My dr said a heat pad or hot water bottle is good to have on my chest to help the pain. I'll have to look into getting one. For this weekend, though, Connor will be giving me his hot water bottle to use for the pain.

I live on my own so not lifting the rubbish to be taken out is a difficult one, but I guess we'll see!

Thank you for your great ideas

[ECHOES]

I just wanted to add about the deep breathing/relaxation exercises. When done regularly, they can have a preventive affect.
I listen to a relaxation CD from www.wholeperson.com called "Warm and Heavy" (they are 2 exercises: Warm is one and Heavy is the other) every night when I get into bed as part of a routine. I also listen to them any time I want to because doing this makes me feel good.

[nightbird]

Hi ((((TPND))))

I am so glad that this is something you can learn to handle.

I listen to tapes also, and the rest and relaxation ones are the best, and then there are specific ones just for panic disorders.

Echoes is right,and it can be a treatment as well as preventative.

We can teach our bodies how to respond to stress, since many of us haven't really known 'how-to' before.

I have been doing tapes since last summer, and I'm really doing well in the panic/nervousness/PTSD /anxiety department... did you know there is a dept. and someone checks your status when you check in? lol. (;

Glad you will be feeling better, as meditation, relaxation, self-soothing behavior, and re-training our bodies to respond in productive ways to stress ~ like exercise will to, is all so good for us!

Gentle movements are the best way to start, and yoga has a starter program, as well as qi gong too.

I am so relieved that this is doable, and you will be doing so much better.

Peace and Love,
Night
xoxo

[ThePainNeverDies]

I am going to be starting yoga hopefully next week. I know that it really helped last time and my hypnotherapist has got into contact with me again after a few monthgs of not hearing from me. She's said that if I need to, I can go back for a few sessions to bring my anxiety levels back down a bit.

I've had more threats tonight, as I wrote in my post in the SI section, so that's stressed me out even more and I now feel sick with worry. Not to mention my best friend having a major op and having been under anesthetic for 4 hours already...