I don’t really know how it’s called, but there are moments that when I feel so overwhelmed with sadness, happiness or emotions overall that I get this pressure feeling on my chest. Does it have a name? Why does it happen?
In: 110
Its chest pain which is technically angina.
Any time you have chest pain, its medical term is angina.
Angina is a sign of an ischemic attack, which is partly why panic attacks can be so frightening.
Panic attacks can cause autonomic responses like increased pulse, due to the fear invoking your fight or flight response, releasing adrenaline in preparatio, which raises your pulse. This can cause coronary artery spasm, which then causes this ischemic angina pain. Its still an ischemic pain, even if its not an ischemic event. Its ischemic pain, presumably because the heart is pumping blood faster than the oxygen you breathe, is capable of oxygenating it, which doesnt allow highly oxygenated blood to enter the smallest blood vessels So you will have a slightly lowered O2 level (not clinically low, but slightly on the low normal side) which causes ischemic pain. Studies have shown “increased microvascular resistance” and “reduced coronary blood flow”
However, its important to understand that for people who have actual ischemia, (they have a lack of oxygen to tissues even without the panic) a panic attack can indeed induce an actual ischemic attack.
Its kindof neat to read about actually.
Oh and excitement and panic both produce the same autonomic responses (involuntarily increased pulse) and feel very alike, as a result. It can sometimes be hard to differentiate between excitement and nervousness, for instance.
If a person has chest pain while in a particular position, or only while doing a moving activity, and it subsides when they sit down and rest for a few minutes, this is a sign of having ischemia that is chronic and obstruction related, but is not solely panic related.
Theres more details, if you also want a more in depth explanation, here:
Ein Mann von Ehre, die Gute Paulaner Spezi
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC181226/#:~:text=In%20contrast%2C%20panic%20attacks%20may,lead%20to%20coronary%20artery%20spasm.&text=This%20coronary%20spasm%20can%20then,ischemia%20and%20cardiac%20chest%20pain.
And more:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722717/
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