Amanda930

Hello all, well I was recently diagonsed with anxiety. After one night have feeling like I was dying. Let me explain I have this feeling in my chest. It feels as tho its tight. The doctor told me that it was full of stress and tension. Taking medcine( Lexapro) and seeing a therapist will help. I'm on my 3rd week of lexapro and I'm not sure if I feel any change. I haven't had another attack only because I have come around and told myself over and over that I am breathing. The feeling I get it I cannot get over the hump? That is my way of saying I cannot finish a whole breathe. Ever had this feeling. You go to take a deep breathe and you cant get over that hump? Thats where I usually freak out because I cant get over this hump, but I must say recently I hav come to the conclusion that just because I cant get over it doesnt mean Im dying and I am breathing and I am alive. Only problem I have is this feeling in my chest that feelings tight. I'm almost 21 years old and I've been smoking for close to 3 years. I know I need to quit but its hard for me and I know I need to quit not because it's better to quit after only 3 years of smoking rather it be 40 years. I also shoud mention I'm a hyprocondrica. That too is what I'm hoping for help with my therapist. I have not gone to an appointment yet since my first appointment isnt until May. Busy people these therapists. Well hope someone can help. Thanks.

Lollipop

Hi Amanda-
I by far am NOT able to give you any type of medical advice, the best thing for you to do is see your doctor.

I can tell you that from PERSONAL experience, you just described a panick attack to me. I get them often, even with meds and it is the same. shortness of breath, tight chest.....but like I said, a doctor needs to check you out and give you a professional opinion. Meanwhile try to take slow easy breaths, make yourself calm down when it hits. If it is a panick attack, it should help. But again I strongly urge you to see your doctor and if it gets too bad go to the ER.

Spacecat

Dear Amanda930,

I agree with Lollipop's wise advice, Amanda, as I too am a heavy tobacco smoker & because I am also an Asthmatic, I had tightness in my chest recently & went & saw a doctor....
He told me that my lungs were fine, but I suspect that I was having a mild panic attack at the time.....
Not long afterwards I began to have severe panic attacks & anxiety, which I knew wasn't Asthma....
But as Lollipop said in her reply to your post, none of us here are medical professionals, & can't give out medical advice....
Definitely get checked out by a Doctor as soon as you can, rather than trying to diagnose yourself...
Make sure you tell the medical professional your exact symptoms, so he can properly diagnose you, as Doctors can only diagnose an illness based on the information provided by the patient...
Don't let yourself get overly worried about these attacks, as they may only be something minor, but I must stipulate once again, I am not a healthcare professional...

God Bless you Amanda930....

Amanda930

Thank you both for the great advice but I've already toldmy doctor. He was the one who told me I have "Stress and Tension" inside my chest and thats what I'm feeling. He says with the help of a therapist and me meds I should be fine. Now before I went to see this doctor I was taken to the ER because I had my first panic attack/ anxiety attack. The did blood tests/ xrays of my chest to make sure it wasnt anything else. The test came back with everything beinning okay. But the hospital I went everyone has heard bad things about it. Now I know they can get in big trouble with not telling me so I have agreed that its nothing real bad. I just wished the doctor of mine could have told me that it was just a chest cold or something rather than its "stess and tension", because I dont really feel that I ahve any stress and tension. Besides the fact that I'm scared of everything. I'm a hyprocondrica. Not yet dignosed but its pretty bad. I'll be seeing my therapist on May 1 st and it will my first appointment. I sure do hope it helps me because I do need help.

thanks Lollipop and Spacecat for the advice.

LeftBehind

I went through all of that a long time ago Amanda and had a complete recovery. Despite working high pressure IT jobs and dealing with all sorts of stress since then; haven't had any further problems.

More women suffer from anxiety/panic then men do. It's going to take time to really work through it properly but you certainly can fully recover. I did and so have other people I have met that went through it. In fact, I believe that you will as we did. That's the good news.

The bad news is it just doesn't magically go away. It's not about getting back to "normal". What was "normal" is what got you there in the first place.

No, you have to learn how to and begin to live healthy each and every day working a solid program tailored for anxiety/panic.

I was on low doses of an SSRI for a couple of years and occassional ativan use (no I didn't get addicted because I cut the .05 ativan pills in half and took them only when I really needed them). One place to learn and talk about what the doctor is perscriping is at Dr. Bob's website.

Some people I know were on no medication whatsoever. One thing we all did; however, was learn how to live a healthy relaxed clean life. We ate right, took short walks, were nice to people, developed a good support group from our friends and family to talk to, logged on to the web and talked about it with others like you are doing now, avoided stress, didn't watch content that was stimulating (news, action movies, rock concerts, etc...) and began doing progressive relaxation and got a mellow hobby.

In time, it worked itself out. Peace.