Can muscle tension cause weird noise?

[DubPeace]

Hello everyone on NMP! nice to finally "meet" you :)

So I'm wondering if excessive muscle tension (due to anxiety) might be the cause to why I have been having this weird tearing/squishy sound coming from the left side, sometimes the middle, of my chest (I'm a male). The sound only comes when I expand and move my chest/shoulders.

I had my first ever panic attack about 2½ months ago and luckily I found this site pretty early on, which helped put my mind to ease (I didn't quite enjoy reading the diagnosis's Dr Google had for me.. :mad:).

And since then I believe that almost all my HA symptoms (there were very few I didn't have) have faded more or less, except for this dreaded noise that has become increasingly more consistent by the time that has passed. The main reason why it bothers me is that I am completely clueless about what it could be unless it is muscle tissue that has too much tension.

I have once visited my GP because of it. He quickly listened to my lungs and back, "poked" me at (seemingly) a specific area of my left chest and asked if it hurts. And I did indeed hurt quite a lot. So he said that it was inflamed, prescribed me some antibiotics, which I took as instructed, and it had no effect at all... :huh:

So yeah, has anyone experienced anything similar (the sound) or just otherwise happen to know if muscle tension could cause this? (because I know for a fact that I tense up my upper body A LOT during anxiety)

Any insight would be greatly appreciated, I've been trying to get my head around this for long enough (and lost way too much sleep)

Btw. Happy new year! Kinda late... but yeah, hopefully anxiety will be easier on you all this year around :D

[NoPoet]

The human body is constantly making all kinds of a racket, but our ears and minds are usually set up to tune these noises out, otherwise it would be unpleasant and distracting all the time. Some people can hear some of their body noises.

The noise is very unlikely to be getting louder or more frequent - you are probably getting better at picking it up now you know what to listen for, and your fear of it is making you think about it obsessively.

You should see a GP because it may indicate something else, but to be honest I have never heard of anything like this indicating a serious problem. If you are suffering from pleurisy, where the the lining of the lungs becomes inflamed. Anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen would seem to be a more logical choice to counter this. A type of virus can also cause pleurisy, but you don't use antibiotics against a virus. I am not sure why you were given antibiotics at all - you should see the doctor again and advise him the problem has not been treated and is causing you significant distress.

Most doctors will write off non-serious issues which have no apparent cause, or which might be difficult to diagnose and treat due to their unusual nature, so if the doctor gives you any crap, make it clear you are trying to get this sorted out so you can go on with your life.

Ah BALLS, that just reminded me, I had a doctor's appointment today.

[DubPeace]

Thanks for replying.

So yeah, since this started to occur while I was having my first ever panic attack, it instantly made me worry that it was something with my heart or lungs that was causing the noise. So I actually asked my mom at some point (who was at an 1m distance from me) if she could hear the noise. And since she apparently Could, I arrived at the conclusion that it probably isn't heart or lung related, because as far as I know (I might be wrong) a sound like that coming from inside the ribcage shouldn't be heard that easily.
Not only that, but the sound is also in no way related to breathing, it only occurs when doing larger movements involving my upper left chest.

This is also the reason why I got the antibiotics, my GP expected that it was the chest muscle that was inflamed.

But yeah, although revisiting the GP is undoubtedly solid advice, I will choose not to. Because I honestly believe it is muscle related and nothing serious. I also don't want to put other patients, who might be in greater need of treatment, to wait.

So at the moment I am trying to see if I can make it go away on my own. I've upped my magnesium intake, lowered my coffee consumption, drink more chamomile or green tea (if I feel a need to relax), started doing more light training and/or stretching. And I did actually also quit smoking during the first day of my panic attack.

I will also begin studying to become a personal trainer this weekend, and I have an MRI (for my knee) on monday, which means that I should have enough occupations to take my mind of this silly symptom.
Because it is fully possible that I've become somewhat of obsessed with checking the condition of the symptom, which is likely to only make it worse. So having something productive to do with my time should be a step in the right direction.