
Diagnosed With PTSD With Panic Attacks. Took Levothyroxine. Chances Of Having Heart Attack?

I understand that you must be going through a difficult time with your undiagnosed chest pain. Now, you have mentioned clearly that all medical tests have turned out negative, including multiple ECG / EKGs - which rule out any possible cardiac cause for the chest pain. Though an ECG will not be able to diagnose any lung problems like a collapse, a chest X-ray will definitely be able to detect lung problems (which again, you have mentioned is normal). In such cases, where there are medically unexplainable symptoms, a likely possibility to be considered is anxiety-related problems. It is important to understand that anxiety can present with not only psychological symptoms but also with physical or somatic symptoms. So, the chest and head pains and the numbness of the hands could very well be due to anxiety. Such physical symptoms need not have to be occuring along with your panic attacks. Often, anxiety can manifest itself with purely physical symptoms - even without the usual psychological symptoms of feeling anxious or panicky.
Now, this does NOT mean that 'everything is in your head' and that you are simply imagining the symptoms. Not at all. It has been found that anxiety disorders are associated with certain neuro-chemical imbalance in the brain and this can cause the person's pain and sensory threshold to get lowered and he / she can become 'hypersensitive' to sensory stimuli, and therefore have exaggerated pain and discomfort. The underlying anxiety also causes a person to become more worried as to why his / her problems are undiagnosed after multiple tests, and then this worry / anxiety itself then starts worsening the symptoms more. Soon this becomes a viscious cycle, leaving the person with more symptoms and suffering.
My opinion is that, in your case scenario, it is not necessary to pursue more complicated tests. Test and investigations should be done only when there is a clinical suspicion of a particular problem or if the basic tests indicate something wrong. I feel that if your anxiety, especially your health anxiety, is tackeld better, then it would help a great deal with your other symptoms. If you are not inclined to take allopathic medication, then you can try psychological therapies. There are also several psychological therapies like CBT, which can give good and long-lasting results. Other relaxation therapies, like progressive muscle relaxation, applied relaxation, biofeedback, etc. have also been proven effective. Additionally, you can also try simple relaxation techniques like XXXXXXX breathing, yoga, etc. which can be quite helpful. Regular physical exercise also helps in relieving both the physical as well as psychological symptoms of anxiety and helps you stay more functional.
I hope this has been informative and useful to you.
Wish you all the best.
Regards,
Dr. Jonas Sundarakumar
Consultant Psychiatrist

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