Tightness in Chest with Anxiety
After a panic attack, the victim will sometimes suffer the symptom of tightness in chest. Chest tightness mostly strike patients who have mild and severe levels of anxiety. Many people tend to mistake chest tightness with the onset of a heart attack. However, the former is often less severe and less painful than an actual heart attack.
Chest tightness is often described as compression or pressure on the chest cavity area, and it goes together with faster heart beat and shortness of breath. Fear of unknown or impending danger is also experienced together with tightness in the chest due to a panic attack.
Difference between panic tightness and heart attack
Chest tightness arising from panic attacks is always mistaken as heart attacks to the fine distinction between the two. There is however a stark difference in the intensity of the pains. Chest tightness is less threatening to one’s health than a heart attack. Not realising this, the patient may be admitted into a hospital for observation. By the time a doctor sees him his chest tightness and discomfort would have subsided. Knowing the difference between the two will allow one to save time and seek the right kind of treatment.
Heart attacks have a crushing and squeezing pressure in the chest, and the symptoms are different from that of chest tightness arising from anxiety attacks. The physical pain caused by heart attacks will travel quickly to the other areas of the body. One begins to feel giddy and he may even faint. These symptoms are not typical of a panic attack.
How tightness in the chest happens
Beginning at the central nervous system, panic attacks cause the fight or flight response to activate. This response is the body’s natural way of dealing with dangerous situations that are either real or perceived. Once activated, the sufferer will begin to feel chest tightness due to the fact the brain is sending out signals to the rest of the body and warning them of danger. One’s anxiety level then begins to fluctuate. Some people burst into a maniacal episode even at the slightest provoke. If you are one of these people, you should seek medical treatment as soon as possible.
Chest tightness usually does not go away until after the anxiety attack though in some cases it strikes sporadically. The pain that one feels is equivalent to the excruciating pain of being stabbed in the chest. The pain spreads quickly to the oesophagus, and the victim is advised against lying on his back.
Treatment for chest tightness
One effective treatment for chest tightness is for one to implement relaxation techniques. Begin first by sitting down and inhaling through the nostrils and exhaling through the mouth. The victim should keep his mind focused on the breathing and less on the fearful thoughts that have triggered the attack.
Prescription drugs can help fight the symptoms of panic attacks and alleviate the chest pain. Most victims bring along an inhaler that they can use when their chest tightness acts up.
Prevention is always better than cure, so it is imperative that victims living with tightness in the chest caused by anxiety realise that their fears are sometimes imaginary and that they have to control the situation. Through understanding and analysing the different causes of his anxiety he will be able to head down the road of recovery eventually.
Trevor Mosley is an ex-sufferer of anxiety and panic attacks. Visit his website today in order to discover how you can defeat your anxiety and panic attacks once and for all.
