Can Anxiety Cause Chest Pain?

can anxiety cause chest pain

Excitement is great, but anxiety? Not so much. What’s interesting though is how quickly and easily excitement or anticipation can turn into anxiety. Like when you order something you’ve wanted for years but then many weeks later it still hasn’t arrived. Or when you feel you aced the interview and are a shoe in for the job, but days later still no call or email confirming that. That sort of anxiety is milder, but anxiety has an entire spectrum of severity and if you’re on the wrong end of it then anxiety can be debilitating. Symptoms are often bad too, and one question is can anxiety cause chest pain?

Anxiety can certainly create feelings of tightness in the chest, and many people will also have a feeling of constriction in their throat if they are experiencing intense anxiety. But it is not a contributor to chest pain. But tightness doesn’t make anxiety a foregone conclusion either even though people wonder can anxiety cause chest pain. It will be more of a cause for greater concern if it’s angina. If so it is a lack of sufficient blood supply to the heart that’s causing the tightness, and if it’s unstable angina then you may well be at risk of heart failure down the line.

People having an anxiety attack or experiencing symptoms regularly because of generalized anxiety disorder will likely have other symptoms being more pronounced. Fatigue, nervousness, irritability, and sleeping difficulties are more common with anxiety, but fortunately when it’s situational in nature these symptoms usually subsided once the cause of your anxiety is gone. People with generalized anxiety disorder aren’t so fortunate, and they may be the ones continuing to ask around can anxiety cause chest pain.

Control Cortisol

Cortisol is a hormone in the human body that is produced when there is a source of stress. In limited amounts it is very beneficial and the way it helped people be on point and make smart decisions was very beneficial in the earliest ages of human existence. Continuing to look at can anxiety cause chest pain, there is definitely a connection between high cortisol levels and anxiety. That isn’t necessarily going to mean chest pain though, and as mentioned what is more likely is a feeling of having tightness in your chest.

That is in part a reaction by your body due to all that cortisol hormone coursing through your blood, and it is definitely not something you want to be happening regularly. There’s been research into whether or not anxiety disorder could be genetic, but one of the ways that people can reduce stress naturally is to do what’s called vagus nerve breathing. It calms you’re sympathetic nervous system, and one of the things that does is make it so that you produce less cortisol. Find what works for you to reduce anxiety and / or stress and you’ll be less inclined to ask can anxiety cause chest pain.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The above information is intended to increase awareness of health information and does not suggest treatment or diagnosis. This information is not a substitute for individual medical attention and should not be construed to indicate that use of the drug is safe, appropriate, or effective for you. See your health care professional for medical advice and treatment.

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