 Hey Guys. Any advice would be appreciated. Since my early 20s I have had some sort of anxiety. It started as mostly panic attacks. I'm 40 now. I have figured out how to suppress the panic attacks over the years and the worst I get now is edginess with a slightly elevated heartbeat. I don't love it but I can live with it. Recently I haven't had the edginess but my body has been having issues.

Generally my body is tense. I get pain in my neck and shoulders, chest, and joints. Recently I have been having a tightness in my chest making it hard to take full breaths. I have also been having on and off lung pain. The lung pain is like when I jog in the cold and the cold air hurts my lungs. Been going to the doc and we thought it was GERD. I have been on meds for that for several months now (PPIs). Heartburn has been better but lung issue and tightness are still there. Doc sent me to gastro doc, gastro doc says this isn't GERD, go to pulmonologist. Likely it's a lung issue. It's going to be several weeks before I see the pulmonologist. Reading around online it appears like this could all be anxiety. Docs don't think I have any huge issues as I am in reasonable health otherwise.

For stress I have been trying to walk, run, and exercise often. And I am eating healthier. This has had the opposite effect. The other day I took the dog for a hike and I could hardly breath, it wasn't asthma, I just couldn't open up my chest to get a breath. I was surprisingly not panicked and just tried to calm down. I had to get home and sit for a half hour before it mostly passed. I have been experimenting with tryptophan to try and relax and I have seen some good results. The first time I took it I told my wife, "I can breathe". But it has started to work less and when I upped the dosage I started getting bad headaches. The lung pain and chest tightness generally happen when I drive, exert my body, and later in the day. Caffeine and alcohol relieve the issue, but I hate using either as a crutch.

I really hate dealing with this and I hate that being healthy makes it worse. Generally exercise really helps my anxiety but in this case it makes my issue worse. I would love to hear any successes any of you have had with a similar issue. I have a very busy life running a business and have young children. Oh, and in my 20s the only med that seemed to help my anxiety was Paxil. It had terrible side effects and I vowed never to take it again. Getting off of it was terrible too.