Hi, folks! Nice to be on this lovely forum and it's always good to see that places like this exist amongst the scaremongering health sites. I reckon that self-diagnosis via the net has caused my little bit of health anxiety single-handedly since I was always fine as a kid.

Anyway, if any of you kind folks could give me some kind of input into this if anybody knows about it, that'd be great. I love a good bit of reassurance when that awkward part of me won't believe that I have what I was diagnosed with.

Right, here's the story. Are you sitting comfortably? A good 3 years ago now I was having abdominal cramps and twinges (and a year or so before that but very very mildly) which had suddenly gotten quite sharp, as well as, well, crapping like a Mexican. Silly old me went on the internet and ended up terrified of appendicitis, went back and forward to the doctor for a long time and it took me forever to convince myself I didn't have "grumbling appendix" which would lead to the real thing - something which is so unusual that a lot of doctors don't even believe it exists anymore.

Eventually settling into a life with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and conquering it to the point where I can live happily day to day without it getting me down, my constant acid reflux/heartburn which I had ignored for the past, what, 6 years, had been getting a little worse, perhaps from the Peppermint Oil or the improving diet to combat the IBS - who knows, but I had a night of quite upsetting chest pain under the breastbone (after having taken Gaviscon for very strong heartburn). Terrified of a heart issue, I got my mother (a healthcare assistant) to take my blood pressure in the middle of the night, which came out absolutely perfect. Sucked on a mouthful of rennies, listening to calming hypnotism CDs until I fell asleep, and didn't feel it again for a month.

So one day, when my IBS had been bad, I made the idiotic mistake of eating absolutely nothing but peppermint flavoured mints all day to get rid of the hunger pangs, and I started suffering the pains again - went to see the doc who told me that indigestion and acid reflux also causes that kind of pain, not just the burning sensation, and put me on a course of 20mg omeprazole tablets, which I now have on repeat perscription and take every day. It seemed to calm down, whether to do with the tabs or not I don't know, and I managed to stop fearing a heart episode (hell, I'm only 22, I don't smoke, I'm just the right weight, while not as active as I could be, I do my fair share of walking, my blood pressure is perfect and there's no family history!) until I started noticing aches and pains in my arms, most commonly the left. Very few websites mention arm pain under indigestion/GERD (though one or two have said that the pain can spread to the arms) and when getting the pain also in the shoulders, neck and shoulderblades with the left arm still prominant, it just led me into total fear again. Blood pressure checked at the doctor - perfect again - chances of a heart condition in me were so low that the computer couldn't display them on the chart because it was below the bottom and stays there until I am 35 years old.

So I finally learned to not use the net to diagnose myself unless I'm ready to look harder to find the common, more benign conditions, and then some bloody thing comes on GMTV about Heart Disease and "what to look for", and I haven't really felt settled ever since. Asked "can young people get heart disease with no family history?" to 118118 - really shouldn't have because those guys have to say yes to stuff like that else in the rare condition that somebody does get it they'd be sued...

So here I am, with my left elbow and pinky knuckle (Can you say that? Pinky knuckle? Sounds like some obscure videogame creature or something) aching and throbbing as I type and a tightness in my breastbone, trying to ignore it and remember that I'm not dying, looking for a bit of company and reassurance from anybody who had the time to read this behemoth of a post. I feel like I'm not dying, but there's that part of me who goes "but what if I am!" and is able to link up the symptoms and feel like the chest pain is spreading to the arm etc and magnify everything. Hell I slept on my left arm 2 nights ago and it caused it to cramp up, of course it should ache, so why can't I convince that other part of me that it's benign arm pains and my oesophagus hurting in my chest not my heart?

So, something somebody may be able to tell me here - is blood pressure something checked when trying to rule out heart disease in hospitals and things? The doctor told me my chances were so low that it wasn't even worth going to a specialist and I thought - is blood pressure something they do first and then go "hm, it's not high, it's probably not heart disease" or does it really say nothing about me? From what I've read I figure you'd have to have high blood pressure in order for heart disease to even form, but meh...

Perhaps my mind is magnifying everyday muscular/skeletal aches and pains because I'm afraid from the chest pain - I mean often get the pains when my chest isn't even playing up at all...

So please, help reassure me, before I type any more!

Thanks.



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