Chest Pain

[Cavegirl]

I've been very heart broken lately due to unrequited love with a fwb. I cried a LOT yesterday and actually felt my heart breaking.

Today I'm feeling ok emotionally but my chest still aches.

Have any of you had lingering soreness from anxiety chest pain? I feel like I'm sore from a work out if that makes sense.

 

[Friday]

***Caveat*** unfamiliar chest pain always always always rates a trip to the doc to rule out cardiovascular issues. About once a year I have my doc 2nd opinion my own "no big deal" assessment, and every few years I see a cardiologist for an expert opinion. Never been worried. Just prefer caution over coffins. I've had a few heart attacks, brought on my too much electricity or the wrong drugs. So I like to do what I can to avoid being stupid, whenever it occurs to me. That said...

Yeah.

Anxiety often makes my heart feel like it's held in razor edged claws, a vice; sharp, hot, & excruciating. I feel shredded. Other times it's burning, aching, throbbing, crushed, black, broken, cold, or gone.

&

A broken heart? Isn't just a turn of phrase. It physically hurts.

 

[Stickler]

I have had a lot of literal physical heartache...the EKG I had said my heart is fine, though I probably could use another check...

...considering the pain isn't accompanied by shortness of breath, turning funky colors or other cardiac symptoms? Probably emotional.

 

[Fadeaway]

Yes, I get what I call post anxiety pain. Once I am calm, that is when the pain kicks in. The pain wraps around from the front of my chest to the left side of my body headed towards my back. It is pretty painful too. At best it feels like post workout soreness, but it often feels like a pulled muscle.

Anxiety hurts in a different way, and this always comes post anxiety, so I know it isn't my heart.

 

[Gadgie]

Sometimes panic attack pains get confused with heart attacks, as they are very similar, even down to the sweating and shortness of breath.

It can be difficult to tell them apart at first, as even the duration can be similar.

 

[Cavegirl]

It's still really sore. So is my back sort of opposite of it below my right shoulder blade. I was in a car accident in October and my upper back was bugging me a lot in the last few days. Maybe from that. I've been to the ER twice in the past when I thought I was having a heart attack. I was fine both times. I'm relatively young and have ok stats (except my weight) so I'm not worried I'll keep over. Just whining about it.

 

[barefoot]

I'm reading Deb Shapiro's Your Body Knows Your Mind at the moment - it's about the body/mind connection and how our emotions/thoughts/psychological states affect us physically. I'm not very far into it yet but she would definitely make the connection that the pain in your body is a manifestation/expression of the emotions you're experiencing around your heart break.

I'm not sure how much I buy into those ideas myself but I'm going to keep reading. If you find you experience these kinds of somatic symptoms when you experience strong feelings quite a lot, it might be a book that would interest you?

 

[barefoot]

I'm sorry to hear about your unrequited love, by the way...that's a raw and painful place to be :-(