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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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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!

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.