Please help me guys. I have been feeling bad the last 10 days or so. Dizziness, stiffness in legs chest pain, swaeating, hot flashes, Waking in the night with hands fully charged with pins and needles and bad palpitations enough that i could even feel heart beat  in my fingers. Anyway have tried to ride through it and ignore it best I can, but Im now really struggling and dont know what to do. Yesterday afternoon I took my bp it was 88/46!!! Couldnt believe it was this low, so obviously me being me googled and now very concerned something is very wrong.

I am scared that this could be having an effect on my heart. Took another reading late last night and that came back as 105/54. Can panic anxiety etc do this to blood pressure? Scaring myself silly with all these symptoms. I read you can go into shock and damage organs etc if bp too low. Please give me advise someone I am extremely frightened right now.

xx

Hi there and welcome to the site.  Yes anxiety can cause all of those symptoms, either seperately or together and they can be very intense.  I am also not a doctor, but a fellow sufferer of anxiety myself.  As for your blood pressure the last one you took with a diastolic of 54 i have had too.  It did concern me at the time and i took it again and it had gone up a little bit as i got scared about it.  But my bp is sometimes low too and from what i have read, so are many others.  You should go to your gp and get checked out just to make sure all is well.  Are you on any medication at all?  And if you don't mind me asking you, how old are you?xx

Thank you so much for the replies. I have been to the doctor today, and described how id been feeling. He listened to my chest, took my temperature and felt around my chest area. Didnt check BP. He said i had a swelling around the left breast and it was tender when he touched it, but did not produce the same pain I have been experiencing. His conclusion was he thought I may have a virus, but he wasnt sure. Gave me perscription for zantak and request foe fbc and crp whatever that is.

Feel like I could busrt into tears, he started rolling his eyes as soon as i mentioned chest pain. I dont feel he was that bothered at all to be honest. I told him I felt Id held off going as not to waste anyones time, but as my symptoms have peristed I wanted to get them checked. I didnt even mention half what I have symptom wise as the situation made me very uncomfortable.

The questions he asked were, have i been eating well, temperature, does chest hurt on movement, type of pain, did my legs hurt, does anything bring on chest pain. Cant think of anything else....... Apart from have I checked my breasts for lumps???

Sorry my post may be all over the place. Had hardly any sleep last night and feel terrible, and being made to feel like a complete idiot didnt really help.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

xxx
Angiebaby - Im not on meds and Im 27 xx

Well, some physicians try to diminish fear and worry by demonstrating a rather dramatic lack of concern over patient symptoms. In other words, if the doctor doesn't appear concerned, then neither should the patient. I've observed it before and find that it comes off as unprofessional. Patients need to understand why they're experiencing symptoms and an explanation for why the symptoms are harmless in nature. Although not widely known, I'll share a little secret that many physicians constitute the most horrible patients because they whine endlessly, profess low pain thresholds and tell you how to treat them as if they know best. If it weren't for professional courtesy, I'd refer them elsewhere.

Your labs will likely come back fine. He's looking for inflammation through full blood counts and reactive proteins and although it might be present, it's probably not responsible for the majority of your symptoms. Your breast can be tender for a number of reasons, the majority of which have absolutely nothing to do with space-occupying masses (the C word).

The chest pain you are experiencing is most likely due to something known as DaCosta's Syndrome and is very common among persons under considerable stress. It is not associated with heart disease of any type.

If you were prescribed Zantac, it would have been provided as a result of gastrointestinal complaint or symptoms of some type, although I don't see it reflected in your posting. Zantac is an H2 inhibitor and reduces gastric acid by reducing histamine type 2. It should be remembered that this drug is also available in an over-the-counter version that may prove to be less expensive depending upon your insurance provisions. Also note that this is not a drug to be taken after meals, but rather prior to consuming food. It works best when you reduce the proportions of food as well, and if hungry between meals, eat light snacks with an emphasis on "light." Intestinal gas that becomes trapped in the lumen of the intestines can trigger the Vagus nerve, which in turn can result in the phenomenon that you experience as palpitations. It does not mean that anything is wrong with your heart and merely represents in inappropriate electrical signal. The syndrome is enhanced when stress or anxiety is present because of changes to the parasympathetic nervous system.

I might ask whether there's been any particularly stressful event taking place recently or anticipation of something on the horizon that you're not looking forward to. Your symptoms appear to fit rather nicely into the classification of anxiety disorder with somatic features. It's important to realize that you can experience physical symptoms in the absence of physical disease. Although the symptoms themselves are harmless, they can go a long way to make you feel as though you are extremely ill.

My thoughts here are that you are experiencing some GI distress and other symptoms of anxiety that have recently arisen. We'll talk more.

Best regards and Good Health

Many Thanks for your explanation RLR. I posted my previous post before reading your reply. I will collect the zantak and see how I get on. Thank you so much it means a lot to a very worried neurotic girl!!  I will see how I get on. xx

Hey Jayney
yes, in the end it doesn't matter if your GP has bad bedside manner, as they call it, because he will have seen it all before.
Trust him and RLR for advice.
I know I find it hard to trust docs because of past experience but it really is the best thing.

Interestingly my doctors off-hand response shook me for a while but then stuck in my head as something to remind myself

Hope you feel a bit better.
bead