Anxiety chest pain no panic attack

[Ausernsme]

Hi

So I was wondering if anxiety can cause chest pain without having had a panic attack?

5 years ago I used to have chest pain and always be anxious about my health. I had my heart checked everything was normal and I was diagnosed with anxiety. I took an SSRI for 4 years and then stopped last year. For the last 3 months I've been getting chest pain and my anxiety has been getting worse. Just this week I've started to get facial twitches as well. Can anxiety cause chest pain though even though I'm not hyperventilating or having a panic attack.

The other thing is this chest pain I've been getting lately is located where my heart is while years ago when I would get chest pain during panic attacks it was located on the top left of my chest further away from the heart. I've had several ecg's this year which came normal but can't help but think maybe the problem just isn't happening when I'm having the ecg.

I'm only 26 years old and I have smoked but only for about 6 months 2 years ago.

Doctors always tell me it's unlikely to be anything wrong with my heart at my age. I'm not obese and blood tests and vitamins are good as well. I definitely over worry about my health but this chest pain in particular I just wonder if it can be cause by anxiety even though I'm not having a panic attack.

Also I know the chest pain isn't heart burn since I grew up with heart burn and it is a totally different feeling. This feels like a constant stabbing pain.

[supermumof2]

Hi Ausernsme

I am having the exact same thing and its driving me crazy as I cant figure out whats wrong. Its been 3 months with this chest pain.

I have taken myself to the Emergency 5 times in 1 month. I have done several ECGs, holter monitor, Echo cardiogram and Stress test, its all come back normal. I have also done several blood tests too. This pain is a shooting pain right where the heart is. It radiates from the back too and makes my left arm numb. All the docs have brought it down to anxiety and want me to go onto anti depressants. I am hesitant and think this is a real pain and the diagnosis is wrong.

Can you please help and advise where you are with this pain and how you helped yourself.

Thanks heaps!

[Annie_L]

I’m 14 years old and i struggle with this too. Every day I have constant chest pains, arm pains, jaw pains, and nausea. i’ve had 6 ECG’s in the past 2 months, a 24 hour heart monitor, 2 ultrasounds, a chest x-ray and 4 cardiac blood tests. They said my heart is fine even though every single day I have these pains, they’ve put me on medication for anxiety because that’s what they said it is.

I constantly go back to the hospital thinking that it’s difficult this time but it always has the same result. When i get back from hospital i wonder if i didn’t describe my symptoms enough or whether the machines are wrong. Every week i have new symptoms causing me to think i’m dying, it’s really not a fun experience because no one my age is experiencing this. I have also been diagnosed with depression which also causes the pains but i feel as though they are just shrugging my problems off because of my mental disorders.

Whenever i search things up on google it says i’m having a heart attack or many bad things which freaks me out so much and doesn’t help one bit with my anxiety. If i could get any tips that would be great!

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Annie L,

Welcome to the forums and thank you for joining us 🙂

Looks as though you've replied to a post that's a bit old so I hope that they get back to you, but I'm going to link to our sub for anxiety which has lots of new posts and active members here:

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/anxiety

I totally hear you with the health anxiety. The best advice for this is always to stay away from google but I know that's not always doable! It's not hard to suddenly be diagnosed with 5 different types of cancer in one minute of googling and it's a terrible portal to go down (speaking from experience :(.

Here's a self help resource on health anxiety if you are interested as well. They have lots of info and worksheets too -

https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/Resources/Looking-After-Yourself/Health-Anxiety

I hope this helps!

rt

[Bearypun]

Hi Annie

im 16 this year and I get the same symptoms, I had a ecg and blood test and lungs scanned and everything came back fine, however I still keep getting chest pain, feeling sick and hot cold flushes in my hands and feet and pain where my heart is which makes my anxiety go through the roof but I find they get worse when I’m stressed or worrying about something. I just wanted to reply so you know you aren’t alone and not to worry about the physical anxiety symptoms to much because they are brought on from anxiety, I found looking around my house and seeing what I’m grateful for and everything I do have makes me calm and doings arts might help and knowing others go through the same things too

[puggywug]

Hi everyone

I have been having a similar kind of chest pain. Mine is right where my heart is located and it is a dull ache that occurs during random times in the day lasting for a couple seconds. I have had an ecg and blood work done all coming back perfectly fine. I know it can be really scary but what I did to convince myself that I wasn't going to have a cardiovascular event was that I tried to do something that someone that was at risk of CVD would not be able to do.

For example, I have started going to the gym and doing weight training as well as high intensity cardio exercises (intermittent running). If I really was at risk of having a cardiovascular event, I would have excruciating pain while I performed my cardio exercises. This is something that helped me convince myself that my chest pain while it definitely did exist and was not linked to my anxiety, it was not something serious.

Furthermore, for me personally, I have scoliosis to a point where I get neck pain and back pain and my shoulders and hips are misaligned. I have recently started going to the chiro and physiotherapist who have told me that my left back muscles could be pulling too much on my ribs causing me to feel that chest pain near my heart region. The chest pain could also be linked to your muscles and skeleton remember!!

I think we like to jump to the worst case scenarios and if we go down this endless cycle of going to doctors for answers it will be a lot harder to get better. Because sometimes, physical feelings cannot be explained unfortunately.

Hopefully this will give you some solace 🙂

[magic21]

Just found this thread, sorry to hear what you’re all going through. Over the past few months I have experienced similar feelings in my chest, left arm and foot tingles/pins and woozy head feelings . I’ve had brain and spine mri, ecg’s, bloods and ex rays all coming back fine. I’m 28 and doctors are convinced it’s anxiety, which I suppose is the best outcome. Thankyou for your posts at least I know I’m not a alone.

mike