What causes chest tightness with breathlessness?
Patient: I am a 46 year old female, 140 lbs. healthy. I have some anxiety lately but am having tightness in chest and hard to breath, waking me at night, heart racing, sometimes coughing...pulse around 52 at times to 60 bp just a little higher than normal for me....tired. Doctor: Thanks for your question on HCM. In my opinion you are having anxiety related chest tightness only.But we need to rule out cardiac and pulmonary cause first.So get done ECG and 2D Echo to rule out cardiac cause. Get done chest x ray and PFT ( PULMONARY FUNCTION TEST ) to rule out pulmonary causes. If both are normal than mostly you are having anxiety related symptoms. So avoid stress and tension. Be relax and calm.  Get done psychiatrist opinion and counselling sessions to find out stressor. Try to cope up with it.