Long story short, I’ve had 2 EKGs done, a cardiac ultrasound, and a haltor monitor done in the last 6 months and everything came back good. (21 y/o male)Yet that doesn’t help me from freaking out over the chest pains caused by anxiety/hyperventilating from anxiety. Anyone else go through this? I’m afraid to exercise, even after I read that exercise helps anxiety and hyperventilating as a whole
I used to have the same thing! There was a period of about 3 months where I had bad anxiety and with that came bad chest pains. They would last all day everyday and they hurt so much it was painful to even laugh some days. During this time I would usually go running w/ my sister a lot but I became afraid of going and I didn't like doing anything that made my heart beat rise bc I was afraid I'd have a heart attack or something. I finally got an EKG done and it came back totally normal, they told me it was just stress. Once I heard that I kinda calmed down and eventually the chest pains went away and I haven't had them since. It's amazing what anxiety can do to your body lol.
Oh also, when u are having chest pains/tightness try this breathing technique. I used it a lot back then and it worked really fast and really well. But you have to keep doing it when the tightness comes back.
1. Sit with your back straight and your hands in your lap or on your thighs. While doing this keep the tip of your tongue touching the top of your mouth.
When you inhale – do it through your nose. Exhale through your mouth. Ready?
2. Start inhaling slowly for 4 seconds (count them in your head not out loud). Push out your stomach and fill your lower lungs first like that. Then the rest of the lungs are filled.
Hold your breath for until you count to 7.
Exhale comfortably for 8 seconds.
Try to imagine that all the anxiety is leaving your body while you are exhaling. You are letting it go.
Pause for 2 seconds without inhaling (very important) and do this one more time.
Repeat until you feel your chest pain gone. And it will be!
Update: went to the gym for the first time in almost 2 years today. Did some cardio (bike for 15 mins, stairs for 10) and I made it out, there were some racing thoughts in my head but I powered through. I did notice that my heart rate while exercising is a little out of the target range for my age (21) but that’s because I am overweight. I treated my body like crap for 21 years and don’t plan on doing that anymore. Thanks to everyone who replied, it really means a lot!