Stress and Chest Pain

[tonytiger55]

I noticed I was getting a mild chest discomfort right after thanksgiving. I booked a appointment with my doctor.
Last week it got pretty intense, before I could see my doctor I called 811 and they advised me to get my ass to Emergency (& no I did not eat any Chicken tika or Vindaloo prior to this).

It was a bit overhwhelming being taken in right away. AHS is awesome. Good news was that my heart is ok. There is no family history of this either.
I saw my doctor on Monday, after being checked over she said its pretty much down to stress (ive been laid off since March). I am stressed, I never thought my body would react in this way. Its down to stress hormones, more acid production and tightening of chest muscles.
I got a month of meds and I grabbed a packet of Gaviscon.

The pain can be pretty intense, ive never had anything like this before. Its off centre and to the side. Nomally I would hit the gym, play soccer etc. I cant do anything physical down to a long term sickness. So gym or any physical activity is a no no.

Have any of you had this and how did you guys deal with getting the pain down?

[firebane]

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I noticed I was getting a mild chest discomfort right after thanksgiving. I booked a appointment with my doctor.
Last week it got pretty intense, before I could see my doctor I called 811 and they advised me to get my ass to Emergency (& no I did not eat any Chicken tika or Vindaloo prior to this).

It was a bit overhwhelming being taken in right away. AHS is awesome. Good news was that my heart is ok. There is no family history of this either.
I saw my doctor on Monday, after being checked over she said its pretty much down to stress (ive been laid off since March). I am stressed, I never thought my body would react in this way. Its down to stress hormones, more acid production and tightening of chest muscles.
I got a month of meds and I grabbed a packet of Gaviscon.

The pain can be pretty intense, ive never had anything like this before. Its off centre and to the side. Nomally I would hit the gym, play soccer etc. I cant do anything physical down to a long term sickness. So gym or any physical activity is a no no.

Have any of you had this and how did you guys deal with getting the pain down?

Last year I was having chest pain and crazy dizzy spells that basically I could do nothing but lay down. Turns out it was stress from the job I was working so I had to end that.

You need to find a way to get rid of stress simply put. Could be working a part time job or something to keep your mind off things.

The body does strange things but it will tell you most of the time it is not happy.

[msommers]

Meditation. I am 100% serious.

[ExtraSlow]

I have no tips, but am watching for tips.

[G-ZUS]

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I have no tips, but am watching for tips.

+1

[Mitsu3000gt]

Possibly not related but one of my massage therapists told me that if people stretched their chests properly and more often, she would be out of a job - for sure she was partially joking but I've been doing it a lot more and I notice a difference, not so much in stress but I don't get a randomly sore chest/pec area anymore. I also think it's worse for people working at a computer all day.

As for the stress, I have had that before too and the solution is simply to reduce your stress which you probably already know. Work out A LOT, eat healthy, find a hobby, do more nice things for other people, do yoga, go for floats in sensory deprivation tanks, etc. Working out and eating healthy are priority #1 - if you're stressed it's easy to fall on bad habits.

And yes, if you mention the words "chest pain" to medical staff or a first responder, you're going straight to the hospital even though it rarely is heart related - better safe than sorry. A lot of the druggies/homeless know this and they abuse that term to get food & shelter for a little while in emergency rooms.

[msommers]

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And yes, if you mention the words "chest pain" to medical staff or a first responder, you're going straight to the hospital even though it rarely is heart related

You work in Emerg?

[Mitsu3000gt]

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You work in Emerg?

GF has been an emerge nurse for ~6 years, I get all the stories haha. 90% of the chest pain she triages is nothing or heartburn/indigestion, but they typically get them in ASAP because of what it could be.

When they try to make druggies/homeless leave, they just start going on about their 'chest pain' and back in they go.

Never go observe the Emergency area of a hospital unless you want to be depressed about your tax dollars haha. That is the #1 thing I have learned.

[JRSC00LUDE]

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Meditation. I am 100% serious.

That's it that's all.

[Disoblige]

On a completely serious note, what about weed? For actual pain.
If you don't smoke, what about oils?

Surprised no one even mentioned this considering what day today is.

[max_boost]

Oils > Meditation

I meditate when I sleep. Good bye world.

Also, any bitches in your life driving you crazy?

[max_boost]

Was it chest day?

[revelations]

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Meditation. I am 100% serious.

This - I am going to get serious about it soon (once my office is done getting built).

[tonytiger55]

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On a completely serious note, what about weed? For actual pain.
If you don't smoke, what about oils?

Surprised no one even mentioned this considering what day today is.

I tried that last year for the first time. It makes me super paranoid, sleepy and super dizzy.

Also, any bitches in your life driving you crazy?

Suprisingly at this moment in time ..no.

[max_boost]

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I tried that last year for the first time. It makes me super paranoid, sleepy and super dizzy.



Suprisingly at this moment in time ..no.

Good. That might give you a heart attack!

Jokes aside, hope you figure it out bro. Stay strong. Stay healthy.

[Jlude]

Everyone deals with stress differently. I can relate to the OP, recently I was sitting in my conference room having a meeting when a sharp pain went through my chest, it felt like a lightning bolt (not literally of course) and I seriously thought I was having a heart attack. I calmly carried on and continued the meeting. My wife checked me out and said it was likely just stress. It's alarming to say the least.

As for my methods, one mentioned here is THC, I eat 2-5 grams every day around 6pm, sometimes earlier, sometimes later and sometimes not at all, but I have been doing this for weeks now and it's been helpful. It's a small enough dose that I can still work.

The other not mentioned, and I realize this might not be a fit for everyone, because it can be expensive, but I've been speaking to a psychologist for 5-6 years now. I talk to her about life, relationships, everything, but 95% of the time it's talking about work and the stresses I am under, both from a business and personal responsibility perspective. I don't even want to think about how I would have managed our growth over the last 5 years if didn't have that outlet.

I would also recommend having several avenues to release stress.

[msommers]

Great suggestions! Some psychologists have a sliding scale dependant on income.

Mediation and mindfulness has science behind it, not only for stress relief, but focus strengthening.

https://ideas.ted.com/4-simple-exerc...stractibility/

[Swank]

We're getting old. I too started having odd stuff going on with my heart probably a couple of years ago, strange minor aches out of nowhere, one hard PVC that freaked me out. Got checked out and nothing found, of course the day I did the treadmill test nothing happened. Dehydration can play a part, drinking a lot of water seems to make my symptoms clear up effectively and consistently. Medium cardio makes it feel better, I only go hard when I haven't had any symptoms for days. I don't think stress played a role, I didn't feel stressed at all. Over the past year it's almost all gone, but when it started that was definitely scary stuff, you only have one heart which is BS, should definitely have a back up in there haha.

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GF has been an emerge nurse for ~6 years, I get all the stories haha. 90% of the chest pain she triages is nothing or heartburn/indigestion, but they typically get them in ASAP because of what it could be.

When they try to make druggies/homeless leave, they just start going on about their 'chest pain' and back in they go.

Never go observe the Emergency area of a hospital unless you want to be depressed about your tax dollars haha. That is the #1 thing I have learned.

What hospital is she at? Curious if she works with my wife. And yes, everything you said is spot on.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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What hospital is she at? Curious if she works with my wife. And yes, everything you said is spot on.

Mostly Rocky but sometimes Foothills. Witnessing the drain on the system (i.e. most things being non-emergencies or the same drug/alcohol patients every other day) day after day is starting to wear on her I think, she's starting to look at other areas. It takes a special kind of person to work there their entire career I think.

Someone took an ambulance there for a dry mouth the other day....

[Swank]

Ah the Rockpile as they call it, I can see that one being a lot of wasteful non-emergencies and boring walking dead 99 year olds, but I would think Foothill trauma would be a wild ride. Mine's at PLC and did a couple of years at South Health (been a full time emerg RN for 10 years now), each site sounds to be very different, good old demographics.

Fortunately despite all the drains on the system they still manage to get the people who need emergency care looked after promptly and properly as it sounds like tonytigre55 experienced. After my wife gets the complaining done I always make sure she tells me about at least one good patient experience to ward off career hate for a little longer heh.