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first time my Mom called the doctor to come see me because we thought I was having a heart attack.
I still get this sharp pain (right around where you said you have yours) every once in a while and it does hurt, but I'm not scared of it being heart trouble after all of these years and all of the doctors saying that it isn't.
Indigestion can feel awful similar to what people might imagine heart pain to feel like, and as long as you get it ruled out, you can start working on your Fears of health problems, sickness, and death.
Just as with panic attacks, we often misinterpret bodily sensations and feelings, and turn sometimes perfectly safe processes into big dangers. This is where a good therapist can help out IMO. As with these sharp gas pains (in my case, I believe), and with years of panic disorder where I went into a full-blown panic attack everytime I felt the sensations of adrenalin rushing through my body and shallow breathing (suffocation!!!)....these can be understood and defused by understanding them and learning some relaxation techniques. Simply by naming the very uncomfortable sensations an adrenalin rush instead of Rising Panic has been most effective for me.
Now whenever I am feeling anxiety creeping up in me I stop what I am doing, close my eyes and focus a few minutes on relaxing my body and my breathing - especially focussing on my breathing. This has been a great anxiety buster technique for me which I learned from a simple relaxation technique for breathing on a cassette tape years ago.
So, yes, there are others who very well understand what you seem to be going through, purr, good going that you made that appointment, and hope the relationship clicks with that person!
All the best,
DemEx
P.S. For generalised anxiety I personally would try other approaches than meds at this point, but that is just me, as I was terribly addicted to anxiety meds in the 70s until I got pregnant with my first child and went through withdrawal. Never again.
Since then I carry a tranquilizer on me when I travel or do something that brings up anxiety, but have not taken one in 24 years. So I still use it by having it on hand for "just in case I can't handle it".....:-)
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