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Suggest Remedy For Pain In Chest And Palpitations
Question: Hi Dr. Siqeca, I saw your email. Yes, I went to the hospital a few weeks ago to get it checked out - and they did lots of tests on my heart: EKG, blood work, sonogram, X-ray. And after every test, they said the same thing: "my heart looks great" Then, they gave me some medicine for Acid Reflux, and I was finally able to relax enough and get some sleep that night. I thought I was starting to feel better, but about a week later I went to the movie theater, and I had to leave the theater early - the pains & palpitations really started to become very frequent during the movie. It was a very scary episode. Since, I have been feeling fine most of the day - except when I try to go to bed at night. I often can't fall asleep and I wake up in the middle of the night with either sharp pains in my chest and weird sensations and palpitations. In the mornings I wake up with soreness in my chest: but it always seems to be different: sometimes in the middle, sometimes on the left or right.
Brief Answer:
Panic attack
Detailed Answer:
Welcome back, Mr. XXXXXXX Thank you for your question. I will try to address your concern.
It is the tests that I recommended that excluded the heart as the origin of your symptoms. So, my opinion is that there is nothing to worry about. There are some normal, physiological phenomena that happen in the human organism, which can be perceived as abnormal by some people. Fear - situational anxiety, in medical terms - is a type of anxiety, after all, and all forms of anxiety have the flush of adrenalin in the system as a common mechanism. Adrenalin produces all the symptoms you experience - shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, pounding heartbeat, high blood pressure and many others. These are symptoms that many people perceive as normal, as they understand these come from fear. There are other people, like yourself, that perceive these physiological phenomena as something abnormal and ask themselves "Am I going to die?" "What if something terrible happens and there's noone to help me?" "What if the tests and the doctors were wrong?" If this is very concerning to you and these symptoms and attack affect your quality of life, I wouls recommend you to see a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist, to further assess the need for sedative treatment. I would like to repeat, even without tests, my index of suspicion was very low, that there is something wrong with you. My opinion is that you have nothing to worry about.
Wish you a good health. I hope I was helpful. If you have further questions, I would be happy to answer them.
Kind regards,
Dr. Meriton
Panic attack
Detailed Answer:
Welcome back, Mr. XXXXXXX Thank you for your question. I will try to address your concern.
It is the tests that I recommended that excluded the heart as the origin of your symptoms. So, my opinion is that there is nothing to worry about. There are some normal, physiological phenomena that happen in the human organism, which can be perceived as abnormal by some people. Fear - situational anxiety, in medical terms - is a type of anxiety, after all, and all forms of anxiety have the flush of adrenalin in the system as a common mechanism. Adrenalin produces all the symptoms you experience - shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, pounding heartbeat, high blood pressure and many others. These are symptoms that many people perceive as normal, as they understand these come from fear. There are other people, like yourself, that perceive these physiological phenomena as something abnormal and ask themselves "Am I going to die?" "What if something terrible happens and there's noone to help me?" "What if the tests and the doctors were wrong?" If this is very concerning to you and these symptoms and attack affect your quality of life, I wouls recommend you to see a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist, to further assess the need for sedative treatment. I would like to repeat, even without tests, my index of suspicion was very low, that there is something wrong with you. My opinion is that you have nothing to worry about.
Wish you a good health. I hope I was helpful. If you have further questions, I would be happy to answer them.
Kind regards,
Dr. Meriton
Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj
Answered by
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