Pain in chest???

[Jsp]

I've been suffering from anxiety for a while now, getting the usual palpitations, chest pains and all the other stuff associated with it. But, in the last week, I've been getting slightly different chest pains.

The pain is located just left of my sternum, sometimes below it or above it to the left, and is a sharp, stinging kind of pain. Will only occur for no longer than 10 seconds at a time. Sometimes the pain will go down the left side of my chest too.

Usually, with my chest pains induced by anxiety, they are more of an aching pain across my entire chest, but mainly the left side, going onto my back

I'm really not sure what it is. The pain is not excruciating or anything, but it just worries me that I've got something wrong. Today I've probably had the twinge about 20 times, other days I've had it a lot less.

I've had an ECG done and an echocardiogram a few months ago and everything seemed to be fine. I'm only 17 so my doctor says there is no reason for me to have any heart problems. I haven't seen my doctor about this pain though, don't want to seem like a nuisance!

I wasn't sure if it was stomach related (I get really bad stomach acid) so I've been taking 20mg of Omeprazole to help calm it down. Not sure if it will do anything though but it's worth a try.

If anyone has any advice please comment. I'm not really looking for a diagnosis or anything, It's just I get so anxious over things like that and nothing can calm me down, plus I'm not sure if this pain is also linked to anxiety. I start counselling tomorrow so I'm hoping it helps me with situations like this.

[Want_to_break_free]

do you exercise? It could be costochonditis - a simple inflammation of the muscles in your chest radiating from your chest bone. i've had this for 4 months and initially i thought i was having a heart attack ... it's nothing to worry about

[Jsp]

No I don't exercise although I do about 40 minutes of brisk walking about 5 times a week. And I thought about that, as I know it is linked with anxiety but I wasn't sure. Is it true anti-inflammataries can help with this? If so I'll take some and see what happens then :)

[Want_to_break_free]

you can try but generally it settles itself ... can take forever but it's nothing to worry about. I've got a twinge as we speak!

[Jsp]

Ahh I hope it's just that! I will just take some anyway because my back hurts from my sciatica so I'll hopefully be killing two birds with one stone :D

I hope you are well too.

[Want_to_break_free]

I have sciatica too! It just shows you're prone to muscular type injuries!

[sebinkent]

I get random pains in my chest too and it's all down to anxiety and it's evil way of tensing all the muscles around your rib cage.. this is why we get shortness of breath with anxiety too...
If it persists, get it checked out but I'd say it's nothing to worry about.. :)

[Jsp]

Sciatica is such a pain!

And yeah I know it's so annoying how it tenses all your muscles as well as everything else -.- if it doesn't go within another week or two then I'll have to go back to the doctor.

---------- Post added at 21:56 ---------- Previous post was at 19:42 ----------

Oh no I just got an awful pain :( was the normal one but a lot more painful and radiated a bit down into the left side of my body into like my bowel area, only lasted like a second. I hope it's nothing serious :(

[Ric77767]

Hi mate like you I have now has random chest twinges
For about 2 weeks. The bit what annoys me is my chest on the left side constantly feels tight. Is this the same for you also occasionally get bit breathlessness. Just can't believe this is all Down to anxiety

[Jsp]

Mine does not feel any tighter than usual, although I have asthma so my chest is tight a lot of the time.

I know it's mad, before I experienced it first-hand I just thought it was more psychological without any physiological reactions. I'm pretty sure what we're both experiencing is just down to anxiety as others feel similar to us. If it was anything serious we wouldn't be writing this right now haha.

[Breezay]

I get a similar pain & have acid issues. I mentioned it to my Dr, who told me that a 25 yr old woman isn't likely to have heart problems.. But had no answers. Useful! Lol. I've managed to put my pains down to gas, it eases a bit when I burp & gets worse with certain foods, especially ones high in fat! Try changing your diet a bit & keep a diary about the pain so you can pin point any triggers. If it keeps hurting, it might be worth popping back to the Drs and asking them what it might be & what might help.

[Jsp]

I have acid issues too! I wondered if it was down to that, maybe a stomach ulcer, but my symptoms do not sound similar. Do you still get pains?

And yeah if my pain isn't gone by another week I'll make another appointment to see what she says.

[Ric77767]

Yeah still get pains. Also after eat I burp a lot. Think I also suffer from acid reflux.
So maybe this is linked to the chest pain ?!

[Jsp]

Yeah I have acid reflux. My doctor prescribed me 20mg of omeprazole to help with that though. And maybe it could be! Hope it's just that.