Chest Pain and Anxiety

Disclosure / Warning: always get checked out if you have chest pain.

Hello everyone. As some of you may know I have Major Depression. I also have Anxiety. Although mine is very mild and no longer requires any medication. Most of the time I can just breathe through my anxiety. Occassionally, I'll scream through it.

Lately, (past 6 months or more) I've been having high blood pressure readings, even though I'm on bp medication. I've been getting really worried about it, as I had a stroke one and a half years ago. And do not want a repeat of that experience. So my gp suggested that I go to my pharmacy daily and have my bp tested and to record it in a little book and to report back to her in 2 weeks.

So last Friday I had my bp tested at the pharmacy and it was 172/113. Not a great number at all. Then I started getting chest pains. Strong and persistent. I've had these before. For the past 12 months I tend to get chest pain when anxious. Nothing extraudinary about that. Because the lower reading was so high, I was worried about a possible stroke and Nurse On Call, rang a Doctors service who called me back and said to phone an ambulance and go to the Emergency Department.

So I spent Friday night and Saturday morning in the ED. All clear. No heart attack, which is what they were worried about. Today I had a stress Echocardiogram. All clear.

I went to the doctors and this time I saw another gp. As I wasn't happy that the old gp was not changing my blood pressure medicine. After chatting to the new gp for about 10 minutes she slips the bp cuff on my arm and continues chatting with me while she takes my bp. Perfect bp. 123/83. Very good for me. Wow. I couldn't believe my bp was that low. It's normally in the high 150's to 180's. Then she explained to me that I have what is called, 'White Coat Syndrome'. Apparently my bp goes up as soon as I'm aware my bp is being taken. So she took it again. And it had risen by 20 points. Took it a third time and I was in the 150's again.

I can't understand why this happens. As I feel really calm and relaxed when I'm geting my bp checked. I don't feel anxious at all. That's when this wonderful gp explained to me, what no one has bothered to tell me in the past 4 years since diagnosis.

Beause I have anxiety (as a diagnosis), I am extremely sensitive to stress, to worries and every day life events. She explained when I walked in and she said 'How are you'. I responded with 'good'. But in my mind my head is full of worries, often times I'm not even aware of them.

So just like I am chemically sensitive to perfumes and chemicals, my mind and body is very sensitive to worries. I never really realized this. As it's now very rare for me to have panic attacks or anxiety attacks.

So while I am smiling and saying everything is 'good'. My mind is silently screaming in the background. And I didn't even know. I really thought anxiety was when I was having an attack or when I can't make my brain shut up from obsessing over things.

No! It can be far more subtle than that. And that's why I've never understood why the hospital and the doctors have told me that my chest pain is due to my anxiety and not to any heart conditions.

Did other people know this?

Is it because I have gotten really good at not thinking about my worries? Because I do anything I can to avoid thinking about them? I tend to try distraction, rather than 'sitting with the feeling'