Anxiety or something serious?

[Rosiejj5]

Hello. I’m 8 weeks post partum and struggling to understand if my symptoms are anxiety (I don’t actually feel anxious)

I went to a&e a few days ago with chest pains, they did ecg - normal and bloods for blood clotting and something to do with heart? - normal. Iron- normal.

I feel like my heart is beating in my throat and my breathing seems really shallow. Struggling to understand what it could be and if or warrants another hospital trip or not :(

could there be strain on my heart after birth??

If you are worried I’d go back at an and e for reassurance. Or call 111. What did they say about your heart is it racing?

Have they checked your thyroid bloods?

I don’t believe so? What does that do?

ive been a few times and they don’t seem concerned. Had ecgs and pulse is about 70-80. The thing is I do feel silly going to a&e over it as the pain really isn’t a ‘pain’ as such but more of a niggle that I can just feel but it’s the fact it’s around the left side that’s worrying me and the shallow breathing

I’m not saying don’t go to A&E, because women’s heart problems are sometimes written off as anxiety, but your test results sound reassuring on that score. (I’m not medical, though, so I’m not telling you what to do.)

I had the symptoms you describe (post-partum and again more recently, MANY years on) and tests came back fine, which baffled me as I felt horrific and thought I was seriously ill. I didn’t ‘feel’ anxious even though I was under a lot of strain. But my symptoms are due to chronic stress and anxiety. These have a hugely negative impact on health in the long term, so don’t feel daft or self-indulgent about taking them seriously, if this is what’s causing your symptoms.

There are loads of great resources about managing stress around, but I found some of the strategies in Elissa Epel’s Seven Day Stress Prescription SO helpful (and didn’t try to do all of them at once). She’s on a few podcasts talking about it, too. There wasn’t a quick fix. I still have symptoms sometimes and need to work on managing my stress regularly, even if I don’t actually ‘feel’ stressed or anxious.

Your body has been through a lot even if you had the easiest of births, so it wouldn’t hurt to try some of Epel’s strategies anyway, as they’re only going to do you good.

An overactive thyroid can lead to symptoms like rapid heart rate, weight loss, and increased appetite, which can mimic or trigger anxiety.

Consider asking for your thyroid bloods to be checked.

And your thyroid can go into override after giving birth. Mine did and my immune system attacked it! All fine now but I deffo had similar symptoms to you. Irritatingly it wasn’t bad enough to medicate (in this country-had I been in France or USA it would have been). Sigh.

Are you eating properly? Getting enough sleep? It’s likely to be those or anxiety.