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[Justjules]

Limpy, if I say yes, you'll say angina won't you??    I don't know to be honest because I don't exercise!  I walked to the coffee shop fine yesterday and I can walk up and down flights of stairs no problem, so it doesn't make sense, but today was so anxious but think I am getting anxious about taking the tablets....

[limpy]

Limpy, if I say yes, you'll say angina won't you??   

Err No 
It was just a question.
Do you think it's angina? When you've had tests done when the pain was happening it wasn't picked up then.
You say you don't exercise, it might be an idea to do a little more! You may feel a little better in yourself then.

[Justjules]

Sorry Limpy, just my mind is catastrophising today.  Yes, when I had the ecg the niggles were there but then people tell me that an ecg doesn't pick up angina and you have to have a treadmill for that so that's why I can't get my head to not worry.  They just didn't suggest further tests.

I do need to do something - I made myself go for a walk in the Park with OH and dog but I panic I think and that makes me tense up.

[CLKD]

I felt really ill this morning.  Nauseated.  Sick.  Dizzy.  Shaking. 

You look at others going about their day but how do you know that they aren't covering up?  Stop projecting! 

Tension can cause aches and pains in muscles not usually used.  When I came out of a deep depression years ago my whole body would ache, inside and out; even my shadow ached  .

Heart problems don't usually niggle, there is a pattern and the pain is usually in one place.  Are you aware that as oestrogen levels drop it triggers various aches and pains as muscles become lax!

[Justjules]

No, didn't know that CLKD. I am annoyed that when I went to the Drs the other day I didn't ask to get my hormones checked...she will have just done bloods...too busy concentrating on the bloomin anxiety and depression.  Sorry to hear you have had a bad day too.

Yes, Sparkle, I am sure the anxiety isn't helping but do you think anxiety can be 'different' from one time to another? This time it's not affecting eating or anything. Just concentrating on heart but then I am always fixed on some body part!!! This feels worse because it could be terminal straight away!!! Oh I hate this pathetic person I have turned into.

[CLKD]

Nothing is immediately terminal other than a stroke, heart attack or haemorrhage ………….

Your GP is probably working through the various methodology to get various tests out of the way. It's the waiting between tests and suggestions that can be so tiring  ………

Hormone blood tests can be reliably un-reliable! because the hormone levels alter on and off all though 24 hours.  GPs need to dismiss other conditions that cause similar symptoms.  At least all those tests will be out of the way!

Anxiety for me affects my gut first.  Part of the 'fight/flight' response. 

[losttheplot]

How unwell does anxiety make me feel? The answer is- very! It wears me out and leaves me with very little energy... physical or mental energy left....to deal with normal life, or to deal with the issue that caused the anxiety in the first place (for me that is usually health related).
There is no easy or guaranteed  way to become 'less anxious '....but i keep trying.

[CLKD]

I've tried the deep breathing.  Helped for a while.  Some people find that walking eases anxiety, or swimming/cycling/jogging 

[coldethyl]

JJ, I really do understand how you feel as I'm in a similar place. I only have to realise that I have to walk somewhere and my chest starts hurting. All I can say is that the constant focus on my chest pain has begun to alleviate but only because I am now fixated on my dizzy head, twitchy leg and bunged ear. That says to me that it is anxiety - yes the pain is real and you can get spasms of the coronary artery through anxiety induced hyperventilation causing heart pain as well as worn out chest wall muscles but it is still an anxiety response and not an imminent heart attack.
I am telling myself that if things worsen then I will demand more tests etc but at end of day, constant reassurance is a very short lived thing and you are back to square one.
None of this is easy and I'll admit I sometimes have to skim bits of posts if there's something triggering in it, but I do believe that things can improve if we take time to breathe better, do some relaxation and just accept that we can't be certain. If you think about it, you didn't know before 100% of the time that you were 100% ok but you just got on with living. Living the way that we are/have been isn't living and I am determined that if I drop dead tomorrow that I will have lived today.

[CLKD]

Breath …………. 

My shoulders are up round my ears 

[coldethyl]

Good points well made Coldethyl.  When I think how much time I've wasted worrying that I'm about to drop dead and yet I'm still here.  I think I worry that if I stop analysing each symptom that will be the one time I should have worried!  In the meantime I'm wasting my life.  I really need to get on with it but I can really understand how much easier said than done this can be at times.

S x

I'm coming to the conclusion that it is both the easiest and the hardest thing to do- to live as if you are immortal whilst knowing that at any turn you could just cease to be. It isn't quantity of life that matters but quality and it has to be better to just get on with living than letting so much time pass by in what ifs. If the worst does happen, it won't be any less bad or any easier to cope with because we have fretted about it so much in advance.

[coldethyl]

Just have to practice what I preach now ;-)

[Justjules]

My shoulders are actually permanently located round my ears and typing all day doesn't help.

I have got some sort of weird breathing going on too as I wake myself up doing it and OH noticed it and I hold my breath when I am typing so wondered if I am hyperventilating at times.

Coldethyl, I feel loads better when you explain it like that.  You and I sound very similar with the same symptoms. I think the walking thing has become mostly psychological as I panic if I know I have to walk.  I know when I have pains elsewhere I tend not to concentrate too much on my chest.  I am trying to deep breathe as much as I can. I am booking a massage this week too...long overdue for one.

Thanks all.

[Justjules]

I know...thank goodness somebody can talk sense!!! Now I need to tell my brain to listen....

[coldethyl]

It is important to remember that hyperventilation isn't just breathing quickly but is also breathing in other ways that wash the CO2 out of our bodies. So taking too deep breaths can trigger it if we are already teetering on that edge. I find jp hold my breath a lot when I type, then take a deep breath and this seems to trigger all the weird symptoms of anxiety like pins and needles and numbness that I also get.
The trick is to breathe, slowly and regularly without sighs or gulps and use the diaphragm rather than the upper chest muscles ( they are not designed to be used constantly ) for breathing.
DInah Bradley a NZ physio has written some good books on breathing techniques to help anxiety which are pretty cheap on Amazon.