Pressure in the centre of my chest??

[Syras Charles]

Hi, everyone! I'm soooooo happy to find a place like this to be able to talk to people about Vaping!
On a more serious note though I have been having a feeling of pressure in the centre of my chest, it can last up to 2 minutes but is normally only a few seconds. I'm very prone to Anxiety when I smoke and have been to the doctors a fair few times with chest pains that have later turned out to be nothing. The twist is I'm very over weight and have recently given up smoking so I have been eating more as you do lol. When I go online it tells me I'm having the symptoms of a heart attack which in turn makes me anxious so I'm really not sure where I stand. I also get it when Im not vaping and totally sober, but if it is indeed anxiety and my heart isn't about to explode thats normal.

Has anyone else had this? I gave up cigarettes about a month ago and have had this pressure thing for 3 days.

Many thanks for your time.

 

[momofthegoons]

While it may be nothing, erring on the side of safety is always a good thing. Get yourself in to the doctor.

 

[Andrew123]

Hey there,
I just saw your message and thought I should reply. I have hereditary heart disease and have had a heart episode once so I might be able to let you know what it is like, and what to look out for. I was 29 when it happened and had absolutely no idea what was going on. I didn't have a heart attack but I had my LAD (the bad one) 95 percent blocked, so I went to hospital and had it stented. The thing with angina (heart pain caused by your body wanting more blood than your arteries are capable of giving) is that it is usually exertional, so if you don't get it power walking up a big hill then you are probably okay. It is actual pain, it will probably stop you walking and you will have to wait while it goes away. The first time I felt it badly I couldn't take another step. If this happens, then you just stop and call an ambulance. I have accidentally called an ambulance a few times, when I was having panic attacks, which I started to get a bit after the operation, because I was so preoccupied with every niggling feeling I got in my chest. If you have chest pain and want to get it checked out for whatever reason then there are a few tests you can demand from your doctor. The first is an echocardiogram, which is where they strap electrodes to your chest and then listen to your heart, this is useful if there is something seriously wrong. The second test is an stress echo test where they give you a radioactive needle and then get you to use an exercise bike until you are very hot and sweaty and then they take photographs of the dye in your heart. This is a lot more revealing, and how they discovered my blockage. The third thing they can do is where they do a balloon angioplasty, which is where they go through your carotid artery in your left thigh and then have a look around. This is keyhole surgery and usually they can stent any blockages. Once they get into surgery then there are loads of things they can do again, which I won't go into because I don't know so much about them.

If you have high cholesterol (which over a long time causes arteries to narrow which causes heart pain) then you need to take medication, the best statin based one at the moment is called crestor. If that doesn't work then doctors can add another drug called ezetriol to the mix, which raises good cholesterol. There are loads of medicines which lower blood pressure like metropolol, you can take very small doses of this if you don't have a big problem. There is a genome based drug which is up to stage 3 clinical trials called pcsk9 which it is worth contacting major hospitals around you to get on research lists if you have cholesterol problems.

Sorry this has turned into a bit of an essay. I stopped smoking cold turkey about five years ago and it was pretty intense for about two weeks. I just sat on my own at home for the first four days but after that felt well enough to socialise and work etc. The best bit of advice I could give you would be to exercise, as walking for an hour or more a day really clears your head and gets you used to having your heart rate raised etc. Anyway best of luck with everything man, life is there for living and being anxious is just another test we all have to deal with. If you keep feeling anxious and are doing all the right things it might be worth having a chat to a head shrinker.

Andrew

 

[pakalolo]

Hey there,
I just saw your message and thought I should reply. I have hereditary heart disease and have had a heart episode once so I might be able to let you know what it is like, and what to look out for.

[snippage]

Excellent summary! I could have written that without changing much. It's about the same the experience I had except that I was 54 (this was December 2001). I had two blockages, one at 95% and one at 90% and wound up with a double angioplasty. You are absolutely right about angina being brought on by exertion. Basically, if the pain doesn't start when you exert yourself and go away when you stop, it's not angina. Chest pain scares the hell out of me even when I know it's not a return of angina. The angina pain I had was the second most intense pain I ever experienced. (I had osteomyelitis as a kid and was delirious with pain for three days.) My driveway is slightly sloped and I could not walk up the grade.

At the time I was at least 45 pounds overweight. This wake-up call got me eating properly and in the gym. Now I'm actually a little under the recommended weight for my height and body type. My cholesterol counts have been in the excellent range ever since. My greatest fear at the time was that my heart condition would prevent me from diving, but my cardiologist gave me the green light for that six months after the procedure. The point is that with discipline, diet, and exercise, you can recover from artery blockages and in my case, you can even improve your life.

One thing I learned was that the single biggest killer when you get chest pains is denial. So many people, particularly males, rationalize chest pains as something else until it is too late. Since I had my experience I've had two friends who had severe chest pain but attributed it to heartburn. They both had heart attacks, one was mild the other one was serious, with permanent heart damage. My advice: take chest pain seriously!

 

[fake name]

Have you been doing anything out of the usual that may have put strain on your pectoral muscles? I started having nightly chest pains, primarily on my right side to center chest, recently and was worried until I realized it was just the pushups I added to my daily workout.

Also, panic attacks can cause a similar feeling to a heart attack.

Neither of these suggestions are to tell you to take chest pain lightly, though, the heart is kinda important. Best to check up on it.

 

[Nosferatu]

I get these center of chest pains from vaping. It's like a pressure and if you move fast it gets worse. I'm sure it's from vaping, I watched the cause and effect, I think it is from taking too big of hits causing that expansion in your lungs. But take this with a grain of salt, if people are saying see a doctor, see a doctor. I'm just letting you know I'm certain i used to get these chest pains from vaping too much.

 

[momofthegoons]

OP hasn't been back since Jan. 4th. Hopefully those chest pains got checked out.

But since his interest has gone in this thread, I'm moving it to ABV.