I am not sure where to put these symptoms at this point! Is it depression? Is it anxiety? Is it COVID? Am I just not going to make it?
These are the questions I have been asking myself as I am very alarmed.
For years I have struggled with stress in my life. I stress out about everything. It has completely ruined my life. I stress about work. I stress about finding someone and being in a relationship. When I then have one of these things or both, I still stress about others things that might be negative in my life.
This past year, I got an offer for a new job. I lost it from the COVID pandemic. A good friend and mentor (that I worked with) had passed away from COVID. The media work that I did for a company was also on his computer. It may be lost it may not be. I don’t even know. I felt that 2020 was going to be a good year at first, but for all of us it has shown to be something different.
With everything going on, I find myself to be somewhat fine considering all of the negative stuff I mentioned above. Yet, I find myself in a difficult situation. I am freaking out because I having been having “multiple health problems” and I am not sure what it could be.
Since COVID, I have ran to the ER once and Urgent care four times. I thought I was having a heart attack.
(My father had a sudden heart attack and passed away at 52 when I was a baby. )
I had left arm pain, my heart was racing and I felt weak and tired. I went to the ER, they did an EKG and it was abnormal. The doctor told me to go the ER (despite the pandemic going on) and they did blood work on me (kidney function, liver function, electrolytes and searched for blood clots). I also had a chest xray and all was good. They said I was really dehydrated. I followed up with a cardiologist and my cholesterol was fine. I also had an electrocardiogram done and wore a heart monitor for six days and the results came out fine for this.
I moved on and just ignored the symptoms. I am now struggling and finding myself at a tough time months later. The heart is still racing. When I got to bed an hit the pillow, I fall right asleep and then after a few minutes of falling asleep, I wake up with my heart racing to the point that I’m crying and I feel this weird adrenaline feeling in my stomach and chest. This cycle keeps happening two-four times and then eventually I am out. I then notice that it can skip days, or if I am lucky a week and then it happens all over again while I’m a sleep.
When I am up I am feeling this weird adrenaline sensation 24/7 and it doesn’t stop. I can eat dinner, go for a walk, work at home and yet it still happens. I am going on dates and hanging out with friend and I feel like death. As if I am an old man stuck in a young body. As if I am just going to pass out. This feeling comes from my diaphragm. It’s right below the ribs. It’s like I take a deep breathe and can’t get air in or out of my diaphragm. I feel like I’m always on a roller coaster. I can be minding my own business, having fun and not worrying about it and it still hits me. I am at the point where I can’t live like this anymore.
I am 29 years old - male. I don’t smoke. I don’t do drugs. I don’t care for drinking. I have also been tested for STD’s and that has also come back negative. I live alone, so I know that doesn’t help my sanity.
What I can tell you is that my symptoms mostly make me feel like I can’t breathe from stomach. I also feel nauseous and as I said the heart sometimes either races or doesn’t - and yet feels like it is. I am not coughing, I have a great appetite, there is no blood and I haven’t ever fainted. I also find that my body is very warm and yet my temp is always 97 or 98.