Heart Disease and Heart Attack Forum - I'm Afraid I Have a Heart Problem!

This is gonna be long, sorry. Ok, i'm a 28-year old male. I am overweight, I would be considered obese. I am 5'10" and 265 pounds. I have had anxiety and panic attacks over the last few years. I also am pretty much a lifelong hypochondriac, always thinking I had something wrong with me. I also have a fear of going to the doctor, so I try to avoid that at all costs. So, now I think something is really wrong with me.

I have had palpitations where my heart feels like it skips a beat over the last couple years. I always passed these off as normal or from anxiety. Then I noticed about 2 years ago that sometimes after drinking heavily (7 or 8 drinks) I would notice when I woke up the next morning I had a very fast heartbeat, and my heart was pounding. This usually went away by the next day or that night. I looked it up on the internet and found that it could be something called "holiday heart" where people have increased heart rates after drinking.

So, in the last few months I keep paying attention to my heart rate more & more, I find myself checking my pulse all the time during the day. I could even feel the uneven heart beats in my pulse, like it could be an arrhythmia. I was very nervous about this, but having never had a heart problem and not having a family history of them, I tried to pass it off. But, I was def. Still worried in the back of my mind about it.

So now, a couple weeks ago after drinking 7 or 8 drinks one night, I actually woke up in the middle of the night with pounding heart and fast heartrate. This was unusual because usually I would be very tired and would just sleep through this, but this made me nervous so I woke up and stayed awake for a couple hours. Eventually, my heart rate calmed down after I was able to relax and I went back to sleep.

Well, since that night i've had trouble sleeping. I come close to getting to sleep and then wake right back up, feeling like a can't breathe and that my heart was pounding. It also feels like when I take my pulse at these times, I am having palpitions. Like i'll get 2 fast beats, then it goes to normal for a couple beats, then a couple more fast beats. I eventually get to sleep but it sometimes takes me a couple hours, then again some nights, I have no problem at all getting to sleep, there doesn't seem to be a pattern. Of course, I have cut out all caffeine in the last couple days now.

So, now in the last couple weeks I have also noticed that my heart rate (pulse) goes up at doing the simplest of things, like just getting out of a chair and going to the kitchen. Or, just going up the one flight of stairs in my house. I'm not out of breath really, just higher heart rate. Then in the last few days i've started feeling a slight pain in the left side of my chest. It doesn't last long, and it comes when i'm at rest usually or just standing around. It feels like a muscle cramp in my chest almost. I have been sitting akwardly on my bed on my left arm for an hour or more at a time and I was thinking this could be causing the pain in my left chest, because it feels like it hurts some in my back too.

So anyway, i'm worried sick that something is wrong with my heart now. I also got laid off from my job about 1 1/2 months ago and don't have healthcare, so if I wanted to go to the doctor it would cost a lot of money. I go back and forth worried that I have heart disease, heart failure, pulmonary embolism, and even a heart attack. What do you guys thing about all this? Could it be anxiety, could it produce all these symptoms? Sorry this is so long, but I had a lot to get off my chest.

Thanks!