Chest pains worsening my anxiety

[AnxiousBird123]

Hi everyone,

Finally decided to have a go at this. I've been suffering with anxiety for almost 6 months now. A sudden close family members death was the tipping point (died from a heart attack).

A month after his death I had my first panic attack, at first I thought I was having a heart attack. After that night my life just felt different.

Since then I was always checking my heart beats and googling every single new symptom i felt.

I've been distracting myself and haven't been getting anxiety attacks for a while but all of a sudden I've been getting chest pains.

The chest pains come randomly for a few seconds then go again, I keep trying to reassure myself that it's anxiety but I'm scared it's worse.

Went to the doctor 3-4 times in a month and they say nothing's wrong with me.

I don't know what else to do. I've been trying breathing techniques, but they don't always help.

Does anyone know of any treatments for these chest pains? 

[Sophie_M]

Hi AnxiousBird123,  

 
Thank you for your post to the forums today and for sharing with us how you are feeling right now. Health anxiety is incredibly challenging to manage, and it sounds like you are doing lots of things to help support yourself on your journey to feeling better.  

 
It’s good to hear you are speaking to your GP about these symptoms, we think it’s always really good to keep your GP updated with health anxiety and physical symptoms. Please know that the Beyond Blue counsellors are here for you as well, and you can call us on 1300 22 4636 anytime if you feel like talking it through.  
  We’re sure we’ll hear from our lovely community here soon, but in the meantime here’s some resources and conversations on managing anxiety you might find interesting: 

• Some strategies for managing anxiety  
• This previous thread where community members shared some of their Beyond Blue’s anxiety management strategies 
   

Thanks again for posting here. It must have taken a lot of strength to share this, but you never know who will read this post and feel less alone in their own experience. 
 

Kind regards,  

Sophie M