Hey everybody,
First time posting, long time lurker (that sounds creepier than intended).
Short background: I'm 27 y/o, and suffered debilitating panic attacks about
5.5 years ago. I recovered through therapy, exercise, meditation, working out, and a couple of years of meds to go with all that. The past 5 years have been good, but I recently fell back into a state of fear (constant impending doom!), and panic, upon moving to a new city, finding a new job, and being exposed to a variety of stressors at once.
I'm working my way out of it using a variety of resources, but there's one sensation that keeps throwing me off, that I've experienced twice. Each time it sends me back into panic, and sets me back a bit overall, so I thought I'd come here to see if anybody can relate to such a feeling.
Further context: I had a variety of tests done on my heart 5.5 years ago during my first bout with panic, live a healthy lifestyle, and am still in my 20's. So I do have severe doubts that there's anything wrong with my heart, or the chest structure in general. Still, it's an unnerving sensation!
So, I ask ... can anybody relate to an ice cold sensation in the chest? In my case, around the heart/rib cage area. It's as if somebody were holding an ice cube just below the pectoral, around the heart ... or maybe as if ice water were running through veins in that area. And yet, the area, of course, isn't cold to the touch. I'm sure, thinking rationally, that it's my mind playing tricks on me, and yet it keeps getting to me, and when it happens -- usually during or after working out -- I struggle to stop that darn wave of fear.
EDIT: Issues relating to GERD are a possibility. It's just those have traditionally presented as burning, not freezing.
Post Edited (JKamen2) : 2/19/2018 2:28:38 PM (GMT-7)