Henry83
15-08-12, 13:11
Hi there, this is my first post on the forum after I googled for some advice and it came up in the search results.
I'll also double this up as an introduction thread. I'm 29 and suffered from depression, anxiety, toilet phobia and stress for many years. I've been on and off work for the past 10 years. It's been 4 years since I was last able to work. I'm not hugely obese, but for my short height I am quite overweight at around 12 stone.
Over the past few weeks I've been having odd sensations in the left side of my chest. Often like a sharp stitch type pain, but also a heaviness which has worried me a lot. The pain can sometimes appear high up on my chest, just below or on my collar bone. And for weeks I've also had this numbness in my left hand. This numbness is pretty much only in my last two fingers on my left hand.
I took these concerns to my doctor and he explained away the feeling in my hand as a trapped nerve or injury. He listened to my heart and told me he could hear no problems. I went away feeling better and was given a repeat prescription for gastro-resistant capsules as he said that the feelings in my chest could be a result of stomach acid, a problem I've had on and off since March.
I guess my question is, can anyone else relate to these symptoms and knowing that I do panic a lot in general day to day life, should I put this down to anxiety? My diet and alcohol intake has hardly changed, its still quite poor with the occasional good points of vegetables, porridge etc, and exercise is still limited. For these symptoms to continue for weeks and not result in a heart attack, is this just anxiety and stress?
Thanks for reading!
I'll also double this up as an introduction thread. I'm 29 and suffered from depression, anxiety, toilet phobia and stress for many years. I've been on and off work for the past 10 years. It's been 4 years since I was last able to work. I'm not hugely obese, but for my short height I am quite overweight at around 12 stone.
Over the past few weeks I've been having odd sensations in the left side of my chest. Often like a sharp stitch type pain, but also a heaviness which has worried me a lot. The pain can sometimes appear high up on my chest, just below or on my collar bone. And for weeks I've also had this numbness in my left hand. This numbness is pretty much only in my last two fingers on my left hand.
I took these concerns to my doctor and he explained away the feeling in my hand as a trapped nerve or injury. He listened to my heart and told me he could hear no problems. I went away feeling better and was given a repeat prescription for gastro-resistant capsules as he said that the feelings in my chest could be a result of stomach acid, a problem I've had on and off since March.
I guess my question is, can anyone else relate to these symptoms and knowing that I do panic a lot in general day to day life, should I put this down to anxiety? My diet and alcohol intake has hardly changed, its still quite poor with the occasional good points of vegetables, porridge etc, and exercise is still limited. For these symptoms to continue for weeks and not result in a heart attack, is this just anxiety and stress?
Thanks for reading!