Anxiety and Chest Pain

[scorpmrat]

Hello everyone. I am a 20 year old Male currently attending college and living alone.

About 2 months ago, I had woke up in the middle of the night to a panic attack. I thought then that I was going to die right then and there. Never before have I had something like that happen. I also never had anxiety issues before this episode.

I quickly developed a fear of going to sleep and had real trouble getting to sleep at all. I basically had severe anxiety every time I had to goto sleep. It was to the point that I would stay up to avoid going to sleep. Around this time, I also started having minor chest pains that were quick, on and off. These stressed me even further because I feel like there is something wrong with me.

I recently went to my doctor and got a small prescription of xanax, and a 2 week supply of low dosage sleeping pills (arabian) I have started to fall asleep much better which is great. The chest pain problems and general anxiety have not been going away. Over the last day or so, I was having some pain in my left shoulder and arm, as well as my chest(also left side, generally near my heart). Today, my shoulder is rather sore. I also took my first xanax pill as well because I was starting to feel very uneasy and scared.

I wanted to know if anyone else has had anything similar happen to them. Has anyone else's anxiety caused them pain such as chest pain. A lot of sites I have visited suggested that heart palpitations and general chest pain are a symptom of anxiety disorder. This makes sense to me because I did not have these issues before my first panic attack, however I am scared that it could be something else.

Any other comments are welcome, I could use all the information I can get. I'm not sure what to do and I feel that it is starting to spin my life out of control.

Thank you





Edit: I assume my stress has been caused because of my lack of a social life.. I move away last fall and lived alone for the first time in an area several hours away from my parents. I have been unable to make any real good frienRAB and I am almost certain that this is the main cause of the anxiety I have been having. I am taking steps to resolve my social issues, but it is also hard to just wake up one day and say " I am going to make a bunch of amazing frienRAB today ". These things take time, and sadly I regret that I ever got into this position. Sadly, the anxiety wont go away even though I seem to know the cause and have come to accept it.

 

[Sun Sun]

I P-41 years old I am 5 years ago started to have a state of fear and anxiety of things unknown, and began to increase day after day, accompanied with anxiety at the beginning of sweating and the collapse of myself and increased things AFS of chest pain and a kind of flickering and the advancement of sleep half the night and configurations sudden death and other sensations
I started using in the beginning of grain Zoloft did not do the job
It is then used pills Abrzolam have benefited from it and become my health is only as good therapy, which I believe it, which saved me from my suffering is faith in God and my approach to read the Bible we have for being Muslims, the Koran is that helped me a lot when the incentive out of sleep at night I get to read them allay ascribed to sleep

 

[EagleRiverDee]

What do you think triggered the anxiety attack while you were sleeping? Any idea?

I think you are likely right that the chest pain is from anxiety. It sounRAB like you've got classic anxiety symptoms.

Xanax is a fast acting anti-anxiety med. What you might consider is going on a long term anxiety med like Buspar that you take once a day. You would still be able to take xanax during acute episodes, but a long acting med would probably help you a lot.

Are you depressed as well as anxious, or just anxious?

 

[dreambig1234]

You have created a circle for your self stemming from your first panic attack. I use to have the same problem...I would get serious heart palpatations and I couldnt sleep because my anxiety would be so high and it would even get higher when I realize im not going to be able to sleep so the next day was going to suck. I didnt revert to meRAB for the anxiety...I felt like I created the problem so I could fix it and I did. I started finding things to trick my mind. I started watching movies while laying in bed...the key is that you have to pick a movie that you really want to watch because if you dont then you will just lay there and think about your anxiety so it has to distract you. However you cant pick a movie that is too good otherwise you will stay up the whole night to finish it. The key is finding one that keeps your attention but doesnt keep you up all night because you just HAVE to finish the end.
Its just an idea but it really worked for me. Its been about 2 years since I started that and I no longer have to do it anymore but if I am feeling anxious I do it because I need the distraction and to stop my mind from spinning.
You need to find a trick that helps you. It also helps to do other things that tire you out like working out.