Sometimes I have the chest pain with my attacks, and other times I don't.
My last one started with this tight feeling on my chest. Almost like an elephant was sitting on me! The more I thought about the chest pain, the more panicked I became and before long I was hyperventilating and totally wiggin out in front of a room full of family on Christmas eve.
I walked myself outside and forced myself to sing the 12 days of Christmas about 20 times until my mind had gotten so preoccupied the feelings were gone.
I agree... keeping your mind busy on other things is the key but sometimes that's tough to do.
My husband always says, " think of something else real quick." So one time I told him, " Yeah... well imagine you have an elephant sitting on your chest and somebody tells you to think about the lovely ocean. You see how easy it is." ROFL