And then anxiety took over

I came home after lessons one night, and started feeling pain in my chest and in my left arm. These symptoms sounded familiar: a heart attack? It couldn't be... I was only 25 and although I wasn't in the best shape of my life, I wasn't terribly unhealthy either.

In either case, I decided to alert my roommates to these symptoms, and they promptly drove me to the hospital. I was extremely nervous. My heart started palpitating and I couldn't breathe. Fortunately, by the time we got to the hospital, I started to calm down a little.

When we got there and checked in, they ran a few tests on me and asked me a few questions. They checked up on me a couple of times, but emergency was busy and there weren't any doctors to see me. At 4 or 5 AM, we finally decided to head home. I had figured that it couldn't be anything serious if I wasn't priority.

When we got home, I got a little nervous about that decision. I couldn't get to sleep. I went and knocked on my roommate's door and expressed my growing concern. He said to try to get some sleep. I remember writing a final note to God and my family that night. I wasn't sure if I would live to tell of what happened.

Fortunately I was able to get some sleep, and woke up alive the next morning. I had my roommate take me to the doctor, where it was deduced that I had an anxiety attack. The news put my mind at ease, even though the doctor said that it was serious. At least it wasn't a heart problem.

I had a blood test done to make sure nothing was wrong. The results came in and they did not point to anything unusual. I felt relaxed, at least for awhile.

However, many of the symptoms persisted. If anything, they felt more intense than before. I made several trips to the doctor, but they couldn't find anything wrong with me.

Some days I felt a bit better, and some days I felt a bit worse. Ultimately, I couldn't really seem to escape it. I was living in a cloud of anxiety. I sought out help, but I hadn't made a decisive course of action yet.