Anxiety Induced Chest Pain
Picture it, a nice sunny day and you’re sitting on a lawn chair under a big tree sipping lemonade when all of sudden you get a sharp jabbing pain in the center of your chest.
You go from totally relaxed to “oh no!” in about 3 seconds. This is a very typical reaction to anxiety induced chest pain. Chest pain can create a swift and focused sensation of fear all over your body in what feels like an instant.
Your first assumption is that you’re having a heart attack and that you’re going to die suddenly. After several minutes of experiencing chest pain, even though you haven’t died just yet, you figure that it has to be something serious. Symptoms like chest pain may have even prompted you to visit the ER or set up an appointment with your primary doctor.
If you did go to see a doctor he/she probably put you through the paces of blood tests, EKG, stress test and maybe even a portable heart recorder for good measure. The tests all came back normal and you were sent on your merry way. But, you still get chest pain from time to time. So what is happening, can it be anxiety causing you to have these pains?
First let me just say that if you are experiencing regular chest pain and haven’t seen your doctor you should go see him/her asap. Chest pain really can be a sign of heart attack or other serious heart condition. Really I’m not trying to be an alarmist but this is just a fact.
However, once you have been through the hamster wheel and have been told that your problem is nerves than you might be experiencing anxiety induced chest pains. Anxiety does have the ability to make your chest hurt and it does this in generally six ways.
1. Gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD causes your stomach to create excess acid which is “backed” up into your esophagus which in turn creates heart burn and chest pain.
2. Esophageal spasm : This causes your lower esophagus to contract and also disturbs the muscles in your chest wall. This is a random and involuntary contraction of a series of muscles.
3. Stress : High levels of stress over a prolonged period of time can cause muscle tightness and tension. This can lead to all kinds of aches and pains all over, including the chest area.
5. Panic attacks :It is also very common to feel chest pain and shortness of breath when experiencing a panic attack.
6. Precordial Catch Syndrome: PCS is usually seen in children and teens but has been known to affect adults. This is a seemingly mysterious condition that causes sharp pains for short durations, normally under the left breast or even the arm pit. And although the pain is sometimes piercing it is not dangerous nor does it require treatment.
I have read many articles that try to explain the difference between chest pain and a heart attack. As far as I can tell there is very little difference between the two. This is exactly why it is so important to see your doctor if you are experiencing new or different types of chest pain.
Once you have been checked out however you should relax and accept that not all chest pain is heart related. This is not to say that it isn’t frightening because it absolutely is. I’m just saying that you should try to put your mind at ease so you can reduce your stress level which would decrease the anxiety symptoms that create chest pain.
I have had this particular problem myself for about 2 years. And although you never get used to it, you can relax your attitude toward it. It’s important to get cleared not just for safety reasons, but also to reduce the amount of fear you have when chest pain does hit you.
Chest pain is varied so it can make you grab at your chest and pulse for days. Your heart can feel “warm”, you can have short jabbing pains, the pain may radiate to your arms and back, your chest muscles may vibrate, the muscles under your arm pits may be affected, etc. Chest pain can be an endless abyss of worry. So cut the worry off as it were and do what you must to be reassured.
For tips on how to relax effectively click here . And for a good explanation about the difference between heart attack and benign chest pain click here.
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so im a 23 years old male and thursday my dad had a heart attack and needs a quadruple bypass january 2nd. My dads just 47. Well when i got the news i got real tense in chest,heart rate went up, as well as blood pressure. the pressure is better and pulse is back to normal however i have shortness of breath, tight in chest and a ‘beating’ mild to moderate pain in upper left chest, just on and above left peck. the pain comes and goes but the tightness and preasure in chest stay. also occasionally happens on right peck. sometimes feels like heart beats in throat and this is 3 days later. i feel calm and suprisingly not too stressed. dr said my dads expected to do well, my question is what is happening to my chest? Should i be concerned about heart or could it be anxiety and a lack of sleep etc? Any info helps. thank you!
Additional info is my head and nose area are tight and eyes sore. i very week
ok so i went to the emergency room and they did an ekg and xray and they said i was completely fine but i still have chest pains how will i know if it is related to stress?
hi,
i’m 19 years old and i have a story to tell. one night i was off to bed and all of a sudden i couldn’t catch my breath, then my heart started beating really fast and i started shaking. i woke my mom and aunt up and told them to take me to the emergency room. i was really scared and had alot of things going on in my mind. well i had a ekg, and a x-ray and they came back good so in the back of my mind i was thinking well what happened? my mom told me that i must have had an anxiety attack..and i felt relieved..but i am still having some chest pain and i do have acid reflux…and it’s like when i eat certain food i start to have chest pain..so what could it be??
@Kisses1 Maybe it might be caused by just stomach acid which goes back up the oesophagus as you say you have Acid reflux. If your lifestyle is good (E.g you exercise and eat well and don’t smoke) then chances are chest pains are not as serious as Angina and Heart attacks. Could also be from stress. I have exams coming up and lately I’v been experiencing chest pains.
I had an episode of chest pains induced by anxiety yesterday. I am under extreme stress this past week. I was in a meeting at work, laughing and not even thinking about what has been going on. About 15 minutes later, I went to supervisors desk to ask a question and I started getting chest pains, shortness of breath, dizzy, sweats. I ended up being taken by ambulance to ER. My EKG and blood work, looking for specific enzymes were fine. He started poking where my chest pain was and was very sore. Does anyone know what that means??? The doctor then acted a little funny and was pushing me to get a stress test as soon as possible. He put me on Xanax to help with anxiety, but does not seem to relieve my chest pain either. Any thoughts??
Well last night i woke up at bout 3 a clock in the morning when i did my heart or chest started hurting really bad could not go back to sleep now i hope this helps see while this was going on my neck was really bad out of nowhere mabey i slept on it rong but i started worrying a little bit so woke up mom and dad and said my heart is hurting well they thought it might just be a heart burn well fells like its burning but there is something else my heart beat is really odd and im getting even scarder i tood some heart burn pills and felt better for a little while but neck still hurt and heart still beating oddly. Well i cracked my neck really fast it felt better then a few minutes later of just lying there in bed my heart pain came back. I went to the living room and sat up in the couch kinda just rested with my hand on my heart. Well i made it through the night but i woke up at about 7 this morning and right when i wake up i awoken to my heart hurting again its still beating oddly woke mom and dad up again and just took some more heart burn anti whatevers and got some milk well mom and dad are still asllep but i cant go back to sleep ive never felt pain like this before and its going on right mow so note im using my ipod while my heart hurts to right this please tell me what i should do or if im ok mom and dad still sleeping dont really want to wake them. Please it hurts. Im breathing fine. Only 14 and dont smoke i swear.
My stupid friend Luis is scared to go to the doctor and Im scared for him, what if he dosn’t go to the doctor will he die? :c
If the chest pain is related to anxiety alone then he will not die. But he needs to see a doctor to confirm that he doesn’t have a heart issue.
Honestly.. No matter what you try and think of your anxiety will NOT go away until you find inner peace within yourself. thats most of everyones problem. People just need to realize their problems..and if they can fix it than do so… if not, figure out a way to change it. I am 18 years old, 8 months pregnant with my first child, my family doesn’t talk to me to often, and my husband is in the United States Marines and over seas right now… believe me I’ve been suffering from anxiety since I was 16. Horrible anxiety. But its things like just writeing this comment that can help anyone calm down and make their day alittle better:)
Hi
I’m a 45 year old male.
I have had a fear of flying all my life and have recently flown (and loved it).
However prior to this I had been very anxious leading up to this and was experience chest pains.
I’ve had this before and put it down to the stress and fear.
Then I noticed the pain was occurring more when I exercised, even just a brisk walk and eased off within a few minutes of rest.
I went straight to my GP who gave me and ECG (all OK) and some Xanax for the anxiety.
Last week prior to my flight I really started to panic (more about the chest pain) and convinced I had Angina went back to see the GP – she got me to do a brisk walk and then when in pain gave me the ECG and took blood pressure. The ECG was fine but blood pressure was 195/110 which dropped back to 140/90 when back in her rooms and she told me the ECG was fine. I have been taking medication for hypertension for over 10 year but it has always been around 120/80 to 140/90 depending on how stressed I’ve been. I’m a very anxious person.
I’ve been on my flight – loved it!
But I’m still getting the chest pains when I exert myself and my GP said she’d give me a proper cardio-stress test to reassure me but she thought the pain was stress related.
Sorry for the long post – Should I get the stress test? Or should I stop worrying – I cant find any references for my type of pain on the web – brought on by exertion other than Angina?
Any thoughts?
@ Kyle, I’m so sorry about ur father first of all. tht is one of the most horrible things that ive heard someone having to go thru…I’m happy however he is bouncing back n will b recovering soon
i will keep him and u in my prayers!
so, i have anxiety a lot. more recently in the last 8mo. or so. its frustrating as all hell n totally taking over everything in my life. including my children, work, vacations, etc. i honestly feel u are going thru a panic attack frm fear of losing ur dad. of course u are going to be going thru some sort of emotional trama right now. wht u r experiencing is normal. its taking a lot out of u, plus no sleep on top of it. tht in itself is not healthy for u. it body is crying out. there is absolutely nothing wrong w u. I’m pretty sure of it. maybe just to put ur mind at ease check in w ur doc n have him/run some tests.
i wish u the very best, all of u infact. anxiety is no joke!
~Julie