Anxiety Feeling In Chest, Unable To Sleep, Had Chest Pain, Changed Diet, Obese. Problem?

Posted on Sun, 20 Nov 2011

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 Answered on

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : Hello, I am a morbidly obese male 28 years old. Recently I have been having chest pains and have started changing my diet. Now instead of chest pains I get a nervous anxiety feeling in my chest which makes it impossible to sleep. I am going to see a doctor tommorrow but I am just looking to figure out what my problem is specifically, and what should my next steps be to do.

Answered by Dr. Gyanshankar Mishra (18 minutes later)

Hi.

Thanks for your query.

From your history you seem to be having the complaints of :chest pain /palpitations/ anxiety / insomnia / obesity.
There are quiet a few possibilities:
1. Your cardiac evaluation for chest pain should be done since you are also obese. This includes clinical examination including Blood pressure measurement/Body Mass Index calculation / Serum lipid profile / ECG / Chest xray.
2. Obesity can also lead to breathlessness & thus affect your sleep. There is likelihood of a few sleep disorders you could be suffering from: Obesity hypoventilation syndrome/ Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome/ Snoring. For these disorders a detailed sleep study (polysomnography) is required and after the results can be managed accordingly.
3. Checking your blood sugar levels is imperative.

The above approach will definitely lead us to the etiology of your symptoms which can then be managed properly.

Hope I have answered your query.Please accept my answer in case you do not have further queries.
Take care.
Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T