I'm a 33 year old male, considered overweight, normal blood pressure, and the only bad result from any of my blood tests was a vitamin D deficency, so I take a supplememt for that. I smoke an ecig on occasion and go to the gym 4 to 5 times a week (mostly weight training, some cardio, but mostly supersets, which keep the heart going anyway).
I was in the ER several months ago with heart attack symptoms (chest pain, racing heart, bad heart burn) and they found nothing wrong, but set me up with a cardiologist.
I saw the cardiologist, he did an ECG, electrocardiogram, a stress test and a 48 hour holter monitor. He also reviewed the blood tests from my PCP and everything was fine. The official diagnosis: I'm healthy, but he wants more cardio when I'm at the gym.
A few weeks later, I was back in the ER with worse symptoms. This time, in addition to the prior symptoms, I also had arm tingling, hot flashes with the cold sweats (and I'm a male!) and nausea. Once again everything was fine.
So I went to my PCP and she diagnosed me with anxiety. I started on an SSRI, lexipro, and it had some bad side effects, so we switched to Viibryd amd my insurance sent us a letter, "pick again! We're not thrilled about paying for that..." So I'm on zoloft now and have been for about a month and a half. I also have a "emergency pill," and I cant remember what it is, but it's only for severe attacks and I've had to use it three times.
I was in the ER one more time. This time, the symptoms weren't as bad as the last two (very mild chest tightness, left arm tingling, but nothing else and nowhere near as bad), but my right leg was visibly swollen above the knee. I went to a CareNow but they wouldn't see me because of the arm tingling and leg, they wanted to call an ambulance, but the ER is right across the street and I insisted on driving. So back to the ER. Once again, nothing wrong.
Perhaps my biggest concern is, when I have an attack and take the emergency pill, my symptoms don't actually go away. The pill seems to just calm me down and my mind goes from, "you're going to die! Good thing you have beneficiaries on your accounts! Your family will LOVE the life insurance you have from work!" to, "eh... It happens. Whaddya gonna do?"
But my life is good! My mental health is good. My stress is low enough, nothing everyone with a pulse doesn't experience occasionally. My mom HAD cancer a while back, but she's in remission. I love my job, my coworkers and my boss. I just don't have any answers on what's triggering this "anxiety."
So I don't think it's anxiety... I really don't. I've had anxiety in the past, and that's when I would get my best workouts in at the gym. The gym doesn't fix this. The symptoms are very real, and even the "bad medicine, take only when necessary," pill doesn't actually stop the symptoms, it just calms my mind.
So am I a full on hypochondriac? Am I crazy? Or is this something I should still pursue? What do you think of the tests that have been run? Should I request something else? I have no answers...
I'm going to see a therapist, because maybe they have some sort of jedi mind trick they can use and tell me what the trigger is (one attack came while I was watching a comedy and laughing). My friend suggested my issue is just being an a-hole from New Jersey. He said I'm probably completely normal by NJ standards, but kinda a jerk where we live. Hahahaha. It's good to have friends...? I'm not ruling out mental, I'm pursuing all angles, but still... This seems VERY physical.
Sorry that got long... Whaddya think? What do you suggest?