tight chest

[nicecoldcanoftango]

I've been suffering with a tight chest since about the end of February - I initially thought it was an allergy to hay as I have animals but wearing a dustmask and taking antihistamines didn't seem to make any difference.

It feels like something is sat on my chest, high up in the middle and i have to yawn to take in enough air. It can get quite frightening at times as I start to feel a bit woozy/dizzy and almost disconnected from my body and a weird pressure sensation over my forehead!

I was sent to A&E after the first time it happened, when I saw my GP, just to rule out a heart attack or anything sinister but all blood tests came back normal - they checked for anaemia, blood clots to indicate a stroke/heart attack and the ECG was normal.

I have seen a respiratory specialist who sent me for a CT scan which was fine, an Xray which was also fine and I had a lung function test which was again, also fine.

I was given a symbicort inhaler in between all the tests which didn't really seem to make a massive difference to be honest so they ruled out asthma

I was just told to basically get on with my life/try to ignore it as they can't see any "disease" causing it.

I refuse to believe it's in my head and that I can control it. It isn't constant 24 hours a day, some days i'm absolutely fine, other days, like yesterday and today I'm really struggling.

I was very tired yesterday so I don't know if this is related or a separate thing but on my left hand my fingertips were tingly/pins and needles and then when i woke up this morning it had gone.

I wake up feeling fine/better in the morning but as the day progresses it seems to get worse- i'm sat here now and it feels like an elephant is sat on my chest.

Any ideas what it might be? I'm just not convinced anxiety/stress is this powerful, no amount of deep breathing/relaxing is making any difference at all and I have tried my best to ignore it but it's not helping.

[Evalina]

I had very similar symptoms a while back, along with the tingly pins & needles, and although I didn't believe it was stress related at the time, looking back I think it was. Either that or menopause related - could it be that?

I was under a lot of work-related stress at the time, had some time off, did yoga, and the symptoms gradually went, but do occasionally come back. I also think that worrying about the symptoms didn't help.

Hope you feel better soon.

[nicecoldcanoftango]

Thank you :-)

I do have stress in my life but i think everyone does to some degree and I've been way more stressed than this and have not had this problem so that's probably why I refuse to believe it's stress!

I have just had 2 weeks off work and did nothing but chill out and watch films/went shopping/ basically just did what I wanted for the entire 2 weeks and whilst it was very relaxing it didn't help with the symptoms.

[IWouldLikeToKnow]

Have a look at chronic hyperventilation syndrome. Your symptoms certainly match some of symptoms of it. Look at the Nimegen Questionnaire. A score of 23/64 is indicative of a positive diagnosis

[Burlea]

nicecoldcanoftango I think we are suffering from the same symptoms. I went to the doctors today with a heavy weight in my chest, last night my left arm went numb for a few minutes with pins and needles in the tips of my fingers.
I am being sent for an ECG and 24 hr blood pressure monitor as mine is high. I don't think I have any stress that can cause anything.
I will look up the site IWouldLikeToKnow recommended.

[whatisheupto]

@nicecoldcanoftango I could have written your post! I'm going through this for the past 4 months. I would love to hear how you are now or if the symptoms have gone?? Thank you