You've got to be kidding me. Seriously?! Wow. Last Thursday evening I was taken by ambulance to the hospital with similar symptoms, also with the most horrible chest pain that radiated into my back that I've ever had. I thought I was having a heart attack and my time on this earth was up!
(I've had four major lower back surgeries that combined weren't as painful!)
EKG, Cardio Echogram, Stress Test and Gamma Scan of the heart revealed NOTHING. Blood tests also showed lack of any trace of a heart attack.
Cardio doctor came back and said I either had an anxiety attack (never EVER had one of those before...) or had something else that they couldn't find.
At that time, I was also in the beginning stages of an inner ear infection which was causing me major difficulty finding vertical.
So the heart-attack like symptoms and an inner ear infection can be linked?!
Inner Ear is your sensory coordinator. It coordinated balance, hearing, and sight. When you get up from a chair or bed it coordinates that balance and the brain knows from that how much energy to expend.
My first full blown attack was over 20 years ago. I was driving down the interstate in a place I knew. All of the sudden I didn't recognize where I was, why I was there, where I was going too, and loss of time. Yeah I thought I was having a Stroke. About 20 minutes or so later my functions were back to normal although I remained functional including driving during the entire episode. That's speaks for what the brains self preservation is capable of.
It ended up those episodes become more and more frequent and I had to retire at age 36. No one and I mean no one I saw doctor wise had answers. Yest it was plain as day in my medical history had they asked the right questions in my medical history. Sometime very young in my life perhaps even birth I developed Inner Ear Damage which effected eye/muscle coordination when I was about 12. I spent two years in Occupational Therapy to learn to function with it. It allowed me to function and even pass two armed forces entry physicals one for Navy the other for Army NG. It worked till I was about 34 and the damage became more pronounced. I also have a life history of sinus allergies.
How did I find the answer then? Simply by accident. I was in a used book store and saw a book called Phobia Free written by Harold Levinson MD a Neurologist. As far back as the 1970's he was linking Vestibular Disorders to his patients with anxiety disorders and even kids and adults with ADD ADHD type symptoms. His histories and theories matched my medical history 100%.
Up till that point doctors were first using Xanax 2 mg twice a day and it helped about 12 hours a day. Then they tried using antidepressants with Xanax and it wasn't helping and the AD's were making things much worse. When I read the book I asked my doctor at that point a Shrink to take me off antidepressants and leave me on Xanax only. The answer was no. I went to a different one and found one who understood what was happening and he adjusted the Xanax from 2mg twice a day to only .5mg four times a day. Not a cure but it works.
The Inner Ear part I knew some of it from my wife's issues. She was a quadriplegic and when a person goes quad they loose their Inner Ear function and has to be gained back. Symptoms of Inner Ear for her was nearly passing out when I would get her up and her blood pressure tanking.
My disorder or disorders {still no name for it} is severe enough to trigger upper torso spasms or rather seizures called Myloclonic Seizures. Certain Optical and/or Auditory sensory events make me jerk violently in my shoulder blades and neck. I also loose concentration when this happens that is why I had to retire. I can't predict when I will be set off although I know what things usually will trigger it.
Many persons with Anxiety Disorders never get a Vestibular history and workup for Vestibular issues. Thus their treatment is often the wrong meds. Antidepressants in this case only flood an already damaged sensory processing system with more sensory impulses to process.
Not all persons with Vestibular Damage will have anxiety disorders but the risk factor is there. Very, very, few end up like me. At almost age 58 I'm at 50% hearing loss, walk with a cane now for balance issues, have Menieres flare ups and constant Tinnitus. Stress will compound it because it requires the brain to juggle that with the Vestibular issue. I developed PTSD and this at the exact same time. One disorder compounded the other one.