Anxiety is a real thing- its forever “there” but sometimes dormant enough for one to appear perfectly fine. But it’s there…. and it takes the tiniest of syllables to create havoc.

Today I went to a new cardiologist- since my chest has been sore and has felt like an elephant has been sitting on it. Imagine having a muscle cramp in your back- and needing to have it “cracked.” Well, that is how my chest has been feeling- like until it’s cracked… its hard to breathe.

Add to that the, “what if?” possibility of the virus- since it causes breathing problems, and   both my anxiety and chest pain – went up a notch.

Fast forward to the consult after the EKG…

Doctor: Everything looks fine; you’ve got a great pulse- if you look at your last stress test this is your left ventricle, aortic valve and …..

Me: (Can we use “fruit” to explain this???) Mmmm hmmm. …. Ok….

Doctor: Some possible causes could be the Costochondritis, it could be stress, or it could be anxiety.

Me: Well, I have been under a lot of stress… Can you die from stress?

Doctor: It’s possible of course…

Me: (Heart rate up/ chest burning)

Doctor: I think given your family history and since you’re on oral contraceptives, we will just do bloodwork … to make sure there’s no clots forming.

Me: (Sweating, tingling in my chest) Clots?

Doctor: It’s just procedure- I’m sure it’s nothing. Now, if the tests come back showing elevated levels, we’ll just have to do a cat scan with dye.

Me: Clots? Did you say clots?

Doctor: Again, this is to just make sure, but it’s likely this is just anxiety related…

Me: Well this certainly doesn’t help with that, now does it?

Doctor: (Chuckling)