i went to the ER yesterday coz i am having stabbing pains on the left side of my chest and my left arm in feeling weak...i thought i am having a heart attack and feeling very anxious...the doctor then examined me and ask for my family history so in the end he said im having hypertension and unstable angina and prescribed meds for the blood pressure and the chest pains...he said that i would be in that meds for a lifetime now that i have to accept in even at the young age coz i inherited my father's sickness...honestly i am not convinced of the diagnosis coz i failed to mention that my bp isn't really that high on normal days and the chest pains come and go though he also said that if the chest pains come and go it is why it is called unstable angina and it will never go back to normal since i have it already. on normal days my bp range from 120-130/80-100 so that isn't that bad i think...what i think i really need is the reassurance that this is just anxiety...the truth is im afraid to die that's why every weird feeling i get i automatically think that there's something wrong with me, or that i am sick and the "what if's" thoughts came rushing in and my mind is racing...that when my heartbeat started to race, then i fell dizzy and more thoughts will came till i cant contain it and feel like fainting. i can't stop the "what if" thoughts and everytime it stumble my mind it caused me to what i believe are panic attacks...my body is in constant pain: back, neck, head and lims...usually accompanied by numbness and tingling sensations...sometimes there are cold spots in my chest too...i always feel bloated, belching, gagging, stomach pains and sometimes choking feeling...my stomach aches as sson as i finished eating and is usually followed by diarrhea. there are times that i feel so alone even though i am surrounded by family and friends that i know trully cared for me... and i have trouble sleeping since i got this weird feelings...i am afraid to sleep whenever i feel these symptoms coz i'm afraid i will never be able to wake up again... i tried laying down and deep breathing whenever i feel my hertbeat in starting to race and it helps a bit...reading also helps as it takes my mind out of what i am currently thinking...i tried taking melatonin 3mg last night and i don't think it is good for me as all i can feel if my head is spinning and i wake up every hour...we are trying to get an appointment to a psychiatrist on april 4 hoping they can tell me what's going on coz i feel like i can't deal with thgis no more and feel like losing my mind...and i hate it! i just want it to stop now coz i can't be myself...i want to try doing exercise but i am afraid it will make my heartbeat faster or even cause a heart attack...also whenever i go out..i feel dizzy that's why i stay in most of the time...i have difficulty concentrating and seems like my mind is at random thinking of all kinds of thing..most of it makes me anxious too! can anyone please give me a good advice on how to deal or lessen this until i get checked by someone or therapy coz i feel like i am loosing it...
Honestly, anxiety can cause your blood pressure to rise, and it can cause your heart to beat rapidly. Anxiety makes you feel like everyone around you is looking at you and judging (for a lot of people. I know I have that problem). I get all of those symptoms that you listed, by the way. And I'm just wondering if you ever get this feeling like you're in a dream, and not in "reality"?
im sure that thought will come to me anytime soon...
how are you feeling now?
Oh...
but i havent yet why do you ask?
im feeling down and helpless and confused and scared 
I'm just trying to see if anyone else struggles with that.
spend time with family for now until your appointment.
do you think that will help?
i am with my family now.. but still anxious about my health..
for sure, i get that.
do you doctors say you're fine?
i've read previous discussion about that in this forum...is it same with derealisation?
he said i got hypertension and unstable angina...my bloodtest and ECG's are normal though
Hi Cuki20
What you just wrote is almost a clinical description of anxiety/panic attack, I know because I could of written that myself. What did he prescribe for the BP if it was amoldipine you might get a nasty cough with it. There are other drugs with less side effects. Reading helped me too I would read anything (shampoo bottles,dvd case anything with words) when i felt attack coming on. I had the tingling arms and strag
nge "cold" spots in my chest also. I was convinced I was having a heart attack, I moved back in with my mum, as i did'nt wanna be alone also. That was 10 years ago and with CBT?NLP therpy and medications I'm fine. Anti depressants are usually the first course of action is an SSRI on a SNRI prescription. Most likely he'll start you on amitryptiline as it has sedative qualities to help you sleep. I found a combination of 2 different anti 'ds worked for me Sertraline (SSRI) and mitazipine (a tetracylic anti d) though i was on Venlafaxine (SNRI) for 6 years but it lost it's efficacy, hence the change in meds. YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY FINE, but i understand once that "what if" cog starts turning it gets faster and just goes haywire this is because your brain if firing off in all directions at once, and to top it off you tell yourself your fine, which focuses your attention on it even more, round and round it goes. Tell your family and friends NOT to (this is important) i repeat NOT to keep asking you if you are ok. It's called external validation, and you will instantly think that if someone can see something is wrong then it MUST be really happening. Instead tell them to just act normal ignore it as if nothing is going on at all. Trust me this will go along way to start slowing those "what if's" cogs down. I was where you are now 10 years ago it gets better it really does. CBT (cognitive behaviour therpy) is brillant as is NLP ( Neuro Linguistic Programming) I would suggest printing out this convo and see what your Dr thinks, it will answer most of his/her triage questions, and will remind you of any questions you might have. Until you get your appointment please feel free to send me a message. I was really surprised as your story and symptoms were IDENTICAL to mine. I'm not a Dr I learned this the hard way. I hope this helps a bit. Let me know how you get on, and remember if you feel and attack coming read something as you said it activates different area of your brain, and believe it or not if you do some running/exercise it gives your mind a reason for your increased heart rate and you'll soon feel better.
Craig
Hi hope you are doing okay what age are you? I have the same symptoms as you on and off doctor put it down to anxiety and acid reflux. What tests did doctor do to determine it was unstable angina?
thank you very much...this is a big help for me..knowing that someone have been in my situation and that he overcome those symptoms...hope it het better coz i am starting to feel like im losing control over my body and anxiety is taking over me..ill update you after my appointment...and the doctor prescribed amlodipine 10mg last night but i don't think it's working since my bp still reach 140-160/100-111 when the attack starts and my whole body is shaking, heartrate reaches 100+
i just turned 31 last march 20, whenever i go to the hospital they focus on the symptoms that most bothered me, maybe that's why i was never diagnosed with anxiety yet...even though i told them every symptom i am experincing..they seem to ignore it...i was prescribed pantoprazole for my stomach ache before...i believed it was acid reflux...he just assessed me using a stethoscope, ask me what kind of pain i was experiencing and to what part of my chest...then asked me if the pain goes on and off and i said yes...after that he said it was a good thing since i am not having a heart attack at that moment but the fact that i have chest pain on anf off in that particular spot suggest that i have unstable angina
I an also 31 and went to hospital 3 tines back in January with chest pains and numb left arm each time I had 2 ecgs and blood tests all came back fine and said it was either anxiety or sone sort of stomach problem. I visited my own gp who said was nothing to do with my heart but was anxiety and acid reflux so I am in medication for this. I think maybe you should get a second opinion do you get short of breath a lot when exercising or anything? I read that angina pain is more in centre of chest and is like pain pressure or tightness
ill try to get a second opinion next time, maybe after my appointment to the psychiatrist...im not convinced with the hypertension thing coz my bp is high only when im in the hospital coz im already having those attacks...i got two chest pains the lower and center par of the chest i belived is caused by acid reflux coz it was relieved when i was taking proton pump inhibitors....but the other one is more on the upper left side of the chest thats why i think i was having a heart attack and the numbness of the left arm convinced me more...the pain is more like pins ans needles rather than tightness in the chest
Apparently acid reflux can cause all sorts of pains due to the nerves in the stomach people feel it in there arms shoulders neck all over top of body. I read a lot of posts on the reflux forum and it helped me calm down a lot.