Trauma, Panic Attacks and Prolonged Chest Pain

Let me preface this by stating that TMS is all new to me; I discovered TMS through searching online, a problem that I have. That being said, I am glad I came across TMS information and I related to a lot of what I read.

I have dealt with health anxiety as well as OCD my entire life. I never really had a deep history of panic attacks, but my first ever one was in 2009 and it didn’t happen again until 2016. I used to be an extremely active person and I was a semi professional athlete up until 2010. I suffered a career ending injury, and I feel into a deep depression that lasted nearly a decade. During this time, I would convince myself that I had all these different conditions aliments. I convinced myself I had a brain tumor and I suffered from headaches for years until I had a scan. I convinced myself I had testicular cancer and started having pain in my testicle until I had it checked.

in 2018, I started feeling much better. I started dating my now wife and we started building a life together. We both have successful careers, a house and wonderful children. It pains me that I feel this way because I should be happy in my life, but I digress. In 2019, my wife had to have her tonsils removed. All seemed well, but she started to hemorrhage and we needed to rush her to hospital. Fortunately, the doctor was able to operate on her and stop the bleeding. That night, I thought I was losing my wife. We welcome our beautiful baby girl in early 2020, right before the pandemic, and 12 hours after delivery my wife had a hemorrhage and fortunately the doctors were able to help her again. In a short amount of time I thought I was going to lose my wife. A year passed, and I started to feel weird at work and began hyperventilating and light headed. I went to the urgent care and they had me do an ekg, chest X-ray and bloodwork all came back perfect no issue with my heart. I didn’t really think about my heart at all and I wasn’t really worried. I was able to recover from this and get my life back on track. I was depressed, but I was functioning. During the pandemic my OCD increased and I started to see a therapist. I felt like I was making tremendous progress after a few years.

Fast forward to May, 2024. My wife was pregnant with our second child, and she started leaking. We tried not to freak out, but we went to the hospital. They stated she had premature rupture of her membranes at 26 weeks and she needed to be admitted right away. We were fortunate the doctors were able to keep her pregnant for an additional 7 and a half weeks and our son was born healthy and remained in the NICU, still being premature, for roughly two weeks. We were able to take our boy home at the start of August and exactly a month later my grandfather, who I consider a second father to me, passed away in his sleep. A month after that, I had a massive panic attack that landed me in urgent care where again they ruled out any heart and I was sent home fine. A few weeks later I had another massive panic attack and I went to the emergency room where again they ruled out any heart attack and sent me on my way. Since October, I have had varying degree of pain in the center of my chest which triggers additional panic attacks and I convince myself I have a heart problem.

it doesn’t end there, in middle November, my grandmother was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma and in the same week of that diagnosis my other grand father passed away. I’ve seen my doctor repeatedly, and she states that I am a healthy young man and it’s not my heart and if she thought it was she would send me for all these tests. I have been going to the gym for about two months now, too and I feel great at the gym. I can push myself pretty hard like I used to when I was an athlete. I’m never tired or drained from a workout and my blood pressure is always great while working out. Still, the chest pain persists and I got back to the doctor who states that I was sick over a month ago, i just started going to the gym and I have all this stress so she diagnosed me with Costochondritis. I started taking an nsaid and felt good for a couple of days, but I started researching and ruminating on things and the pain started again. I went to the gym and just sprinted as hard as I could to show myself I didn’t have a heart condition and I got my heart rate up high. I felt great, but I looked up my heart rate and online it stated it was dangerous and I ruminated on that even more and I’m just stuck in this vicious cycle.

I know this post is extremely long and I appreciate all those that read it. Here’s the TLDR;

I’ve been dealing with anxiety since I was young, so over 30 years. I have had a tremendous amount of trauma for 4 years with the last year being the most traumatic. I started developing chest pain coinciding with increased panic attacks that I’ve had checked at hospital and doctors all of which have stated no heart attack and it’s all anxiety. I workout at the gym without issue and have all this evidence to show I don’t have a heart condition but still the chest pain persists sometimes comes and goes increases/decreases based on triggers, increased anxiety and other factors.

thank you all in advance

 

@JanAtheCPA I watched a video by Dan Buglio describing TMS and the assessment. I took his assessment and scored high i don’t remember exactly the exact sentiments but everything resonated with me. Thank you for your reply… I am unfortunately currently at hospital waiting to be seen I had a massive panic attack and nearly passed out.

 

Hi @TenaciousFTB
So sorry for everything you’re going through! I truly understand. Your prolonged exposure to traumatic events has caused your nerves to be hyper sensitive. You have extreme anxiety. But it can’t kill you. However, it can certainly scare you! There’s a short little book that explains everything about what you’re going through and it’s called. Hope and Help for your nerves by Dr. Claire Weekes. She explains everything about what’s happening to you. TMS is a form of anxiety. It requires a two pronged approach to fix: 1)calming your nerves and 2) addressing your inner rage. Dr Sarno helps with addressing the rage. It takes some work to heal, but the good news is it’s possible. hang in there!

 

I also definitely recommend Hope and Help for Your Nerves. I really think this would help you understand the physiology of anxiety and calm you down quite a bit.

 

Thank you so much for your reply. I am just now getting back from the hospital. They ran blood work, EKG and chest x-ray. All was good and they can’t explain the chest pain. They referred me back to my primary care and insisted I ask them for a referral to cardiology which my primary care stated it was a waste as I’m a healthy young man with no signs or warnings of chest issues and it’s all mental.

I will look into the book, so thank you for the suggestion!

 

Th

Thank you for vote of confidence!

 

My husband has the very occasional panic attack, and with it chest pain. I think it's associated with the panic because of course emotional stress but also his breathing becomes very constricted, and in his history, his grandpa had a heart condition. We think this plays somewhere hidden in his mind.
Now we know, I can pretty much get him to focus on the psychological and not pushing away any emotions or physical sensations when he as such an event (his are episodic and not consistent) and they pass fairly quickly. He thinks that he hasn't had any in a long time because he has stopped fearing any of the sensations.

 

What I find difficult is the similarities between an emergent, medical emergency and a panic attack. Yes, I went to the hospital today where I sat there for 12 hours. What did I learn - I need to stop searching for something that isn’t there and accept this is anxiety and the pain associate with it is all psychological. I am excited to continue learning more about TMS. I am glad your husband feels better and thank you for sharing.

 

You would be shocked at all the powerful sensations that can be caused by anxiety! It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Once you can get to the point it doesn’t scare you anymore, you can begin to heal. Another anxiety book that people like a lot is Dare: The New Way to End Anxiety and Stop Panic Attacks by Barry McDonagh. It also has an app. But I would read Claire Weekes first. She explains exactly why you feel chest pains.

 

Thank you for everything. I’m doing OK today. I unfortunately had to take an Ativan this morning (I believe I had some panic attack hangover) and I’m doing well. I’ll be purchasing this book today.

 

To everyone:

I just purchased “Hope and Help for Your Nerves” by Dr. Weekes. I read the first chapter and feel bullish regarding the approach. I am going to do something for myself today - I am going golfing for a little while. When I return, I will begin regarding the book. Thank you all again.

I will also be purchasing one of Dr. Sarno’s books this weekend.

 

I’m back home from golf, and my muscles are spasming. I’m reminding myself it isn’t my heart and it’s ok to feel these muscle sensations. I’m going to begin reading the book once I get settled.

 

I'm back home from golf, and boy, can I really "FEEL my muscles".
Don't ascribe them any more description, and you are doing great by reminding yourself it's just sensations.
Enjoy your book and the rest of your day! What a great day to really start working on feeling better, 1st of the year.
Cheers!

 

@TenaciousFTB
Yay! Glad you got the book! It’s a life changer. I read it over and over. It keeps my head straight. That’s fantastic you golfed! You’re doing great already.

 

I staved off a panic attack this morning. I paused and I described my constant feelings.

“My chest is tight sometimes it hurts when it flutters. My hands are sweaty and they tremble. My upper back hurts and radiates. My brain feels foggy and I get drowsy.”

I focused so intensely on these feelings, I even tried to make my chest hurt more than it was hurting and I couldn’t. I repeated everything outloud and I almost chuckled at the thought of constantly saying it. I closed my eyes and envisioned my big, deep breath I just took was exhaling all of those feelings one by one. I told myself last night that I was ready to accept these ongoing feelings and categorize them as my 1st fears. I am accepting that these are fears that stress my adrenaline producing nerves and organs. I accept that this will take time to heal and the more I accept it for what it is, the sooner I can be healed. I know I will have these feelings still, and I’m ok with that. I need to remember all of these things. I’m halfway through the book and it’s been very good to me so far.

 

Wow! You are already following her advice, and it’s working. That’s an amazing success already! Good for you!

 

The one thing I think I need help with is floating. I envisioned my thoughts floating out of my mouth with my exhale, but that felt forced to me. Is it OK to just go through the process even if it’s forced or should something more natural come eventually?

 

Did you get to the part where she describes it as floating on water? Kind of like breast stroke.

 

Yes, the woman who was agoraphobic envisioned herself floating around instead of walking almost like in a big, cool body of water. I can see this working for agoraphobia, but I don’t see how that would help me with health anxiety and OCD. In the book, past that part, she mentions thoughts floating out the back of one’s skull or trickling out, etc. I envision a cloud exhaling with that label/thought. I think I may continue to use that for now.