What do I have?

[kered]

Greetings all,
i am brand new to this forum.

I am 31 and I had my first panic (i think that was what it was) a few years back. What I want to know is...is it a panic attack? or do i have a phobia of something?
I definitely get nervous when I am around alot of people (I.E mall, dinner, etc..) but my Biggest concern is when i get like chest pains? they are strange pains that sometimes are right below my sturnum, and sometimes feels like a kind of numbing pain in my upper chest. when this first happened years ago i went to a cardiologist and was told i was fine, they did all kinds of tests. it has been a long while since i got these pains then last week i kinda did something that i shouldn't have and i got them like the next hour. I have a MAJOR fear of having a heart attack. I have always feared that, so is it my head making these pains? do any of you suffer from the same thing? For example....last night i was at a mall, i got a strange numbing sensation in my chest and felt kind of dizzy. but when i got home i was perfect. no pains, no prob...and i NEVER wake up with them in the morning....

what do you all think? am i doing this to myself? i woudl LOVE to hear from some of you if you suffer from the same thing....

Glad to be here

Derek

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds very much like agoraphobia. Maybe you should see a shrink to make sure, man.

 

[Anonymous]

have you ever got chest pains from it? it iis so wierd..i have been in ther BEST mood today...(my wife comes home tommorrwo from vacation) and i have felt great today...

 

[Horatio]

Heya

I dont know if this is the same thing but earlier this year I got real bad chest pains and suddenly collapsed clutching my heart. I was taken to hospital and even though I was only 21 I was convinced it was my heart (Im overweight) But after a night in hospital and a number of tests, suprise suprise they told me that my heart was fine but that it was an anxiety attack which they said can in fact sometimes almost mimic a heart attack or something like that.

Since then I have been taking life more slowly and although I still sometimes get pains I havent collapsed again.

Horatio

 

[Jordan]

Hi Derek!

(Or should I etirw kereD?).

That was a panic attack. What about chest pain I can quote:

"Almost 40% of physically healthy people with panic attacks experience pain in their chest. The thought that this pain might be a serious heart problem sends many sufferers to the Emergency Room for help."

(Taken from <http://www.anxieties.com/index.php?nic=panic-step1c>).

The fear of a heart attack was significant for me while I was having some heartbeat irregularities. The cardiologist found them irrelevant and due to anxiety, with no physical cause. About a couple of years later I got my first panic attack, so maybe it was related. But there were definitely nothing wrong with my heart.

Hope that this helps.
Cheers,
Jordan

 

[Anonymous]

you wanna know how i got over these attacks...I went through the same things you did....then one day i had the attack...but instead of running to the emergency room, i just said to myself "why the fuck wont you just drop dead and do everybody a favour"...i was so pissed with myself that i really wished to die at that moment...........abd you know what, it passed and whenever i had the same feeling i had the same attiude in my head and im now over 6 years panic attackes free (i do still have a depression and SP till now).

 

[Anonymous]

WOW...that is so strange you said that. I have said the SAME thing to myself....it is so nice ot see poeple with the SAME problems...makes em feel so much better

 

[steve111]

For example....last night i was at a mall, i got a strange numbing sensation in my chest and felt kind of dizzy. but when i got home i was perfect. no pains, no prob...and i NEVER wake up with them in the morning....

what do you all think? am i doing this to myself? i woudl LOVE to hear from some of you if you suffer from the same thing....

Derek

Observe your breathing when this happens. Usually, chest pains and dizziness is caused by hyperventalation. You have fearing something and it is making you probably breathe very shallow.

If this is the case, take long deep breaths and the symptoms will probably go away.

As to why you are like this, that i cannot say. Only you know what you are fearing. Sometimes though, the fear is so vague that you will not be able to identify it rapidly. So introspection and a review of events that happened to you may provide clues on why you are like this.