Chest pain/discomfort sign of anxiety??? Been on Paxil, still having some issues...

[morgansmama]

Well this all started in Oct last yr for me. Had heart palps for over a week and then one day it got really bad and I landed in the ER. (I later realized I had my first full fledged panic attack because I literally felt I was on the verge of death...hot, sweaty, faint, heart palps, feeling like I was detached from my body....does this sound like a panic attack?? They found my thyroid was high, so family dr put me on meRAB for that as well as a beta blocker. Ok for a few wks, then heart palps started and eventually got worse and worse. Went to cardiologist, had echo/stress test, etc, etc and found NOTHING. Then I started having perioRAB of feeling like I couldnt' breathe or take a deep breath. so my family dr discussed anxiety with me. I know my mom has it a little and takes a low dose of Paxil, so my dr decided to have me try it. I noticed my heart palps went away almost immediately and it was such a RELIEF. I have to admit I know I am an anxious person who worries about everything, but I have never had physical symptoms untill now.

I am 35 yrs old, married with a 3 yr old. Our life is pretty good, I have a good job and a wonderful, close family. Sure we have our share of problems like everyone else, but all in all, life is good. I can't really TELL you what causes my anxiety. Which is weird to me because I always thought people with panic attacks/anxiety had serious problems in their life to cause it. I keep telling my dr I dont' know why this is happening to me...I haven't had a death or job loss in my family...what the heck is happening to me??

Well I'm on 10 mg/day of Paxil but some days I think I need to take more. Today I started having upper chest pains shortly after my shower. Like a sharp stabbing pain. It is in my right side, so I didn't think it was heart related. I had had this feeling before the paxil and assumed it was stress/anxiety. I read online that it can be a stress symptom. Now that I'm on the meRAB I wonder if I need to increase the dosage? I took ibuprofen and it pretty much took care of it the rest of the day while I was at work. Then I started having it more tonight and on both sides. I hate to keep bugging my family dr because as wonderful as she is, I fear she is thinking I'm a hypochondriac. I have no other symptoms like shortness of breath and I've made it through a whole day so it must not be anything serious. I worried about something like a blood clot at first. But that is how I am sometimes....like if I get a bad headache I think I have a brain tumor, etc. I feel like I'm going crazy and worry about dying a lot. This is new to me, I've never been like this.

Anyone else experience "chest discomfort" with anxiety???

 

[Foxxii]

First, let me tell you that anxiety and panic disorders are hereditary. So if someone in your family suffers from this, like you said your mother does, then it is very likely that it was genetically passed to you. This is where I assume I got my "problem" from, my grandmother and mother both suffered from anxiety and panic. Anyway, the chest discomfort you are feeling is normal for people who suffer from anxiety. Unfortunately, it is one of the many symptoms that go along with this condition. You say you are on 10 mg of Paxil. That seems to be a pretty low dose for anxiety. I would talk to your doctor and see if she can increase it, tell her that you feel it is working, but you still have some symptoms and you'd like to try a higher dosage to see if it helps. Keep in mind that if you just started the Paxil, it does take several weeks before you will feel the full effects. I took Paxil a few years back before, I switched to Zoloft, and I will say that it did help me alot.