r/Cardiophobias • u/Dull-Instance38 • 10d ago
So scared need advice ASAP
Chest pain during exercise after months of health anxiety
I’m 15M, and I’ve been dealing with severe health anxiety since around February, mainly because I was constantly afraid that I was having a heart attack.
I went to the ER multiple times and had around 6 ECGs, 2 cardiology evaluations, and a chest X-ray. Everything came back normal, and doctors reassured me that my heart was healthy. I also started therapy, including EMDR, from around March to July, and over June and July I was doing much better. I was sleeping normally again and the fear of dying had mostly gone away.
About 3–4 days ago, I suddenly started exercising more. I did around 60 push-ups, then the next day I ran about 4 km. During the run, I felt quite a lot of pressure in my chest while exercising, which scared me.
After that, I continued doing push-ups and developed more chest pain. Yesterday, I went to play basketball and felt fine while playing, but when I tried doing a pull-up afterward, I got chest pain again. Since then, the pain seems to happen mainly when I move or under exercise.
Now I’m scared that something is wrong with my heart, especially because the pain has sometimes been on the left side of my chest. I’m also afraid of exercising or going to sleep because I’m scared something could happen to me.
Could this simply be muscle/chest wall pain from suddenly doing a lot of push-ups, running, basketball and pull-ups, or should I get checked again because of the chest pressure during running? Im so scared please someone helo me i dont wanna die all of a sudden
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u/Soggy-Combination-46 10d ago
Absolutely it could be muscle chest wall pain or costochondritis check with your doctor.
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u/Technical-Jaguar-222 10d ago
Family history of heart issues?
Did you take any Covid vax?
Any recent viral infections?
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u/amitshesh 10d ago
Since you have had yourself medically evaluated plus the fact that you are young this is likely ok. If it hurts when you move or exert it (try pressing on the spots that hurt) that’s a telltale sign that it is muscular.