As I mentioned before, stress is certainly a possibility. If you've been to an ER, they have likely covered the cardiac end of things (although there will be some things they can't definitively assess).

It would appear that stress management (regardless of the cause of your CP) is something you need to persue. If needed, seek councilling. Here are a few things that have helped me with stress in the past.

Look at what'* going on in your life. Try to leave the emotional side out of it. Look at circumstances from a logical point. You need to determine what'* causing the most grief. Also, not that you can ignore it completely, but determine what things you don't currently have control over. If you can't immediately change something, there is little point worrying. This is easier to say than do, but you need to develop this mind-set. As I've said many time throughout my life... "Logic is a great thing, then emotion gets in there and screws everything up!"

Of those things that are causing you stress, prioritize them. Decide what you can do and develop a means to deal with them. Sometimes just having a action plan can reduce your stress. You'll know in your mind there is something you can work towards that will hopefully result in a solution. This doesn't need to be an overnight item. Gradual, steady progress can also ease the nerves.

You may be able to ask your physician about a sleep aid (for the short term). These aren't a good idea for long periods, but if you deal with your stress should not be required. A recommendation of course would be based on current or chronic medical conditions along with allergies and concurrent medications. A pharmacist (if a physician isn't immediately available) should be very helpful here.

Don't forget to rely on your support network... family, friends (and of course BC)

Didn't mean to jump on you I've dealt with so very many people having serious problems over the years because they ignored them hoping it would go away or just didn't want to be a bother. It'* just frustrating to me that so many problems aren't addressed because much of the population don't understand either what'* really going on or what the consequences are.

No it'* cool, I'm glad you caught it lol. I just kind of figured that since he HAS had proper medical attention (not that it couldn't be somewhat of a dormant thing) that there is no real reason to add tons of stress to what was already there.

Every time I've mentioned anything to my doctor about any kind of 'different' feeling in that area, they just say oh ok and write it down. THAT kind of pisses me off... but it hasn't done it since I've been active so I figured that was the cause.

It'* great that your problem is resolving. We tend to look at physicians and often don't question their experience, advice or qualifications. Over the years, I've found that physicians are just like the rest of society - Human! They too are subject to error and misdiagnosis. I'm not blaming them because again, they're human just like we all are. We have a tendency to view them as an unquestionable, absolute authority. The longer I work in healthcare, the more I realize how much we just don't know about the body. In some cases, an individuals body just "hasn't read the book". What I mean by this is atypical presentations - symptoms that are different from the "norm".

As with every other profession, there is a range with physicians. Those who are really scary and proabably shouldn't be in practice to those that are absolutely outstanding and everything in between. We need to always seek other opinions when something just "doesn't seem or feel right". Don't ever feel bad about doing this

iv had pain and such in the same area and i could of swore i was having a heart attack but it always ends up being gas. even went to the doctor about it before cuz i would get it every so often.

i over stress on everything to where i loose sleep and such and i believe i have high blood pressure because of it. but iv never had a pain like that caused from it.

and the pain never lasted for days so prolly not what you are dealing with but its another idea. oh and im 22 so yea. dont let the stress get to you man. itll knock you down.

hope it all works out for you

Yeah oddly enough gas can cause lots of strange pains in lots of random places. More likely though, it'* stress.

Stress can cause lots of stuff. Try to relax, start exercising (particularly jogging or biking, something that really gets your cardio going) at least a half hour a day. Try to clean up your diet and lay off the sodium as much as you can within reason. It'* nearly impossible to cut sodium completely out these days.

I'm a college student.. I know what it'* like to have no time to cook but knowing this fast food is slowly killing me :?. I'm 6'3 186, so I'm perfectly within my weight limits, but I still feel awful after eating nothing but fast food or pizzas for a couple days (finals week).

Relax man, if you begin to get tingling pains anywhere, particularly in your toes or fingertips, then I'd say you should get tested and re-tested for BP problems, I have a friend who tests normal a lot of the time but just walking uphill, sometimes he'll get nosebleeds or his veins will pop out on his arms. Random BP jumps.

EDIT: If you drink a lot of pops/sodas, particularly dark pops, try to cut them out. Energy drinks included. Seriously, I've quit soda for a number of throughout my life and I always feel fantastic after not having any, and if it'* any kind of weight issue, you can lose ilke 15-20lbs in weeks after cutting soda. Only reason I ever start again is finals week. gets me every freakin time. I need to start drinking coffee instead.

I remember living off the wendy'* value menu for a whole semester. I never cooked a thing. By finals week I was in really bad shape. I wasnt overweight but I always felt like a had someone sitting on my chest and just felt awful all the time. I ended up quitting school because of the stress (and my program was garbage) and geting an active job. Within a month I felt sooo much better. Im not reccomending quitting school as I now wish I had just transferred to another one but the loss of stress really helped out. You may find its good to just go for a drive to nowhere in the desert or go sit on top of a mountain for a couple hours.

This would be a very unusual sign of hypertention. Generally, HTN has no symptoms and this is the reason it'* often referred to as the "silent killer". An individual experiencing a "hypertensive crisis" will have symptoms, many of which may be present as stroke like. Strokes of course can induce high blood pressure so either way it'* nothing to dismiss lightly. Tingling in the fingers and toes can be many things, one somewhat common cause is hyperventilation.

I can tell if I've forgotten to take my meds (50mg atenolol) by about noonish. I can feel my pulse become more rapid and my head kind of throbs, and I can kind of feel it in my chest too. But after I take atenolol, BP is perfect (around 120/75 or 80

I agree it'* not really something to dismiss easily, but chances are these are related to stress. I don't know how much time you have free, but maybe you should visit your school'* health center and see about getting a stress test done, just to ensure that your circulatory system is working just like it should be. I know he said he felt as if his heart was palpitating, but there can be an underlying cause for that. The tingling in the fingers and toes can also be attributed to a lacking circulatory rate. This is unusual, but it can sometimes be caused by stress. The weaker rate also provides less flow through the brain which can cause something similar to a panic attack; your body may go into its "fight or flight" mode, releasing all kinds of endorphins into your blood stream (possibly causing the palpitations, and could also cause hyperventilation).

This is just tossing a little neuroscience into the mix. But I agree, you should get checked out again by a doc rather than the ER, they look for immediate causes in most cases, where a practitioner will investigate things more clearly. You need to try to sleep right now though, as any lack of sleep builds up anxiety as well.