what the hell happened to me?...(a bit long sorry)

[israel]

On thursday night I was just relaxing, watching a film, at home, when I suddenly got awful chest pains....the pain increased and went into my neck and upper arms....it got so bad I went into my A&E...I was put on oxygen, and given pills to dilate my blood vessels..(everything for a suspected heart attack!)...I was given blood tests and monitored for 24 hrs....thank god the signs show that it wasnt a heart attack.....but now I'm thinking, just what was it?.....I have never experienced pain like that....they did ask me if I had been under a lot of strain recently...and yes I suppose I have...but I thought I was coping well...panic attacks have been mentioned too, but can a body con you so much into thinking you have that much pain?
I will have to go back in a week or so for one of those stress tests...on a tread machine.!!!
It scared me and I am now a bit worried.

[littlerach]

No experience or advice, just hope you are ok.xx

[noddy5]

I have a heart condition but on the occasions where \i have had pain like you describe I was rigged up to every machine going but nothing dangerous was found.I was told they were definitely panic attacks I have had several of these and the feeling is apparently v similar.Also severe indigestion can mimic a heart attack.Do you have any other symptoms?I haven't had an episode of panic for 2 years but had one 2 weeks ago on ds's birthday party and have seen my cardiologist since and it was definetly panic so don't worry it was prob stress

[israel]

yes noddy they rigged me up to every machine going too....all they spotted was my heart rate was high...but said panic can also cause it to race.
The thing is I was quite relaxed when it happened...how were your attacks triggered?...did you have to go on a stress test?
They have also given me a pink spray...to use if it happens again....and I know this is used for angina...I am praying to god I dont have this.

[Lisa78]

oh israel, how horrible for you
I'm sure they wouldn't have let you go home if they were at all concerned

[Chinchilla]

My mum had a panic attack that had the hospital thinking she was having a heart attack...so, yes, it is possible to have a PA that bad

[misdee]

i have had panic attacks a lot over the last few years. they are scarey, and i have been taken to hospital b4 now becuase of them. had one the other week soon after the car accident when i was having a driving lesson.

hope you find out something from the sress test. dh has these every few months. they start him sitting then slowly work up to a slow jog to check how much stress his heart is under.

[nightowl]

i dont have any experience of heart problems but i have have panic attacks. i have never been in any pain when having one of those but at one time i really did think i was dying. it happened over a few weeks...i was in pain everywhere. intense pain. the doctor put it down to stress and that i was doing too much. i couldnt believe it was stress but sure enough, when i slowed down the pain went away. it was awful at the time though...agonising chest pains, back pains, joint pains, abdominal pains...you name it i had it. still find it hard to get my head around.

[robinw]

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[israel]

Thank you to everyone with your advice.
Today I am sore, all over my chest / back which feels to me like its muscular....so yes it could have been a panic attack.
Robin...yes I had eaten...a few nuts with a glass of wine.
I am going to look up panic attacks on the web.
Do they just happen?
Can you control them?
I feel like my body has let me down a bit...reacting like this......and I also feel a bit of a ninny!

[nightowl]

i must admit that i always thought people who had panic attacks were making it up and causing a fuss....until i started having them. first one i had i couldnt understand what was happening and i was really frightened. i never realised that the symptoms were physical until then. they can be controlled but it took me a very long time to learn how to do that. have a look on the nhs direct website, theres info on there that might help.