Muscle spasms in chest at 25 months off new sxs

[[Le...]]

Hello everyone, need a lil help here. These muscle spasms in my chest are becoming a little scary. I've done blood work, ekg, chest x ray blah blah. But when these spasms come on i get a nervous feeling and almost feel like I could pass out. Heart starts racing etc. Im 25 months off and been having these more and more the last month. Never had it before anyone else have this at this far out?

[[Fo...]]

How long do they last and does a meal or a surprise ( eg phone or car horn) trigger them? 

Palpitations can feel like pressure and pounding.  Some of us use propranolol for it, but only if you get sufficient warning is it really effective.

Best w

Dick

[[Le...]]

Its like a split sec almost feels like an electric shock feeling, followed by flutters and feeling faint almost followed by heart pounding. But sometimes the spasms happen and nothing follows it. I went to er couple of weeks ago and they couldnt find nothing. Its the weirdest thing. But its not palpitations at 1st ifs followed by them after my anxiety kicks in smh.

[[Fo...]]

Horrid

Sounds like extrasystoles.  Usually harmless and a bummer to get rid of. There are tricks like squeezing your eye sockets, glass of cold water or valsalva manoeuvre— might help

Best wishes

Dick

[[Le...]]

Thanks 😔

[[St...]]

Got this too.

Heart pounds out of my chest...

[Guest [di...]]

I had this prior to ever taking a benzo. Tachycardia, my sister and father have it too, one takes a beta blocker. Caffeine triggers it for me. It's been kind of coming back after not having it a long time, I think it is anxiety related, triggered by stress, but kind of out of the blue. I do this thing where I plug my nose and blow hard, holding my breath in, like if you were trying to unplug your ears. Not sure if that makes sense. It stops it and I'll still have some chest gripping but then it fades. Not fun.

[[Le...]]

Im so sorry you had this prior I never had any of this prior to benzo wd. Im so over it i swear. Its putting a damper on my marriage, my finances etc. I hope this is coming to a end soon i really dont know how much longer I can take this.

[[NH...]]

This was the reason I ended up on xanax in the first place, and it is something I now deal with daily at my low dosage.

I have found a way to cope.

I can share my experience but I cannot promise it is the same as what you are experiencing.

 

For me there are 2 parts to it. The pounding heart that is so strong you can check your pulse by just counting. Your whole body is feeling the pulse and it feels like your heart is trying to break out of your chest. This is the symptom that go me on xanax decades ago.

I get rid of it now by doing meditative breathing. 5 full seconds to fill my lungs. Hold my breath for 5 full seconds. 5 full seconds to exhale.

This prevents me from hyperventilating when the heart is racing. I do believe that hyperventilation is part of what causes this to happen. I don't pay attention to my breathing and so if it picks up in pace it leads to this problem.

 

The second part is sensations in the chest area triggering the anxiety. Often it feels like a small animal moving around in my chest.

My throat is tight and it's hard to burp, but if I have air down there, or acid reflux issues, and it is bouncing around near my heart, my mind begins to freak out, which in turn causes me to hyperventilate without realizing it. Controlled breathing as I mentioned above will not fix this as the sensation triggering the anxiety is still there. A good burp will always fix it if the need to burp is the problem, and I would say that about 90% of the time that is the problem.

10% of the time it's my diaphragm having a twitch. I get muscle twitches in my shoulders, back and other places as a side effect of the withdrawal. If that twitch is in my diaphragm, it causes my mind to assume it's a heart issue. Trying to burp fixes this as well as it tenses up my diaphragm and works as a reset.

 

The REAL problem is of course the anxiety. When you don't know if it's your heart, and your subconscious mind convinces you that it is or even could be, you feel fear. Who wouldn't be afraid if they thought they were about to die? That fear is the real issue. It makes everything so much worse. The electric feeling and the feeling like you can't focus and are about to pass out comes from the fear. Your mind shuts down. I have had it while watching a movie, and I had to shut the movie off because I was completely unable to watch it, I was too busy getting caught up in the panic of the situation. Once you panic you feel like crap for a long time. You freak out to the point of an adrenaline rush and it never feels good when that ends. The solution is to avoid the fear.

 

To avoid the fear you have to recognize it for what it is. I don't go into a panic like that when I have the most severe stomach ache ever because my mind knows it's not my heart. My mind knows it sucks but it will pass and i'm not in any immediate danger.

Once you KNOW it's not the heart and it's gas, or the diaphragm getting twitchy, you recognize it as something you are used to and that isn't dangerous. When you hit that state you don't get scared, you just have a good burp and fix the problem.

Other things to watch out for is tensing up the muscles when you get this feeling. Instinctively you will tense up, especially in the chest and shoulders in my case. The last thing you need is any other sort of discomfort in the chest area, so relax every muscle, let the shoulders droop and control your breathing until you feel relaxed.

I used to use a hot shower to get myself back to a state of being relaxed, but I no longer need to do that.

 

Again I will state these are my experiences, I would feel terrible if I gave this advice to someone who actually had a heart condition etc. I always advise people go get their heart checked, even if for no reason other than peace of mind. You said you have done so already, so I would bet that what you are going through is the same thing I do.

It's a terrible fear. I hope this post helps you overcome it as I have.