Achy arms, shoulders and upper body

[sarahsarah]

Hoping someone can help here.

I have been experiencing aching shoulders and arm ache (one, the other or both at the same time), neck ache, sometimes headaches at the back (above the neck) for a couple of months. The whole area feels tender to the touch. It's not all the time but comes and goes, say for 24 hours then I don't have it again for a few days or even over a week. It usually comes on at night when I go to bed or in the evening when am relaxing on the sofa after dinner, and sometimes it hangs around for the day after. I don't seem to develop it during the day or when I am out (if I do, I don't really notice it)

I didn't really take much notice of it at first, I just assumed it was laying in a bad position in bed or on the sofa or it was a virus or something I couldn't shake off. It feels very much like flu-type aches, but only in the top half of my body. Over-the-counter pain killers do help, but I don't want to take to many of those. After stupidly googling (I know, I know) I have now got myself into a state thinking it is a heart attack on its way. I feel fine in myself, no tiredness, not feeling clammy or having trouble breathing, even after exercise (admittedly not strenuous exercise) or any of the other usual symptoms associated with heart attacks but I have read about heart attacks happening with no symptoms at all. I do get a bit of indigestion from time to time, though (could be heart?) and last week my stomach felt a bit tender for a day or so.

I thought I was getting better but last night in bed it came back with a vengeance and I have spent today thinking it's serious. :weep:

Has anyone experienced anything similar? I would be grateful to hear from you if you have. Thanks in advance xx

[Tufty]

It's probably that old gem called anxiety :blush:
I have achy arms, legs, shoulders, neck etc etc etc, sometimes it feels like flu I ache so much but I know it's the adrenaline I'm producing surging to those areas ready for flight that leaves them achy and tired for days.
If you are concerned about your heart please go to your doctor to have it checked out, some simple tests would rule out any cardiac problems and this may relieve those fears that your anxiety reduces too.
Take care
Sam

[sarahsarah]

Thanks for your reply, Tufty. Hope you're feeling ok today. Wish I could muster up the courage to go to the docs about this. I know how ridiculous that sounds, by the way xx

[Lilharry]

Try getting a professional massage - that did wonders for me. It's probably a build up of lactic acid - I find it affects me worse at night. I was getting terrible headaches from all the lactic acid build up in my neck, but I haven't had a head ache since I had a massage a month ago. I still get a sore back, but you can use things like wheat bags and hot baths to help. Also tiger balm is great I find.

[sarahsarah]

Cheers Lilharry, that sounds like a great idea.

Actually I feel loads better since I wrote it all down and posted it. Xx

[CharlieM]

Sarah,

You have just described my symptoms perfectly. I have had my heart checked out and all the tests came back normal. But when the pain/discomfort is at it's worst, I just think they have missed something.

My doctor tried to explain what was probably causing the pain, but I forget the medical term he used. Basically, it is muscular/nerve related, caused by months of tensing my shoulder an neck in anticipation of something bad happening.

My difficulty is trying to explain the pain. It isn't like any sort of pain I have felt before. It feels deep inside. Like it is in my bones almost. That's the best way I can describe it.

Like you, it comes and goes. I don't really notice it when I am busy, but if I focus on it, say when I am sitting, then it is straight back with a vengeance.

Hope it is better for you today, as I am sure it is related to anxiety in some way. But, please get it checked out if it is bothering you so much.

Charlie :hugs:

[lashes]

I get this too achy shoulders and neck and my arms felt weak but since I managed to believe it wasn't serious it hasn't bothered me as much ! X

[sarahsarah]

I had a great night's sleep, I don't think I even moved let alone woke up, and I feel much better today, though my shoulders were still aching a tiny bit this morning, like I had done some weights a day or so before.

Thanks everyone for responding to this thread, it really has helped. As I said above, I felt tons better just writing it all out on here. I could almost feel the tension draining out of my shoulders as I wrote it all out. Whilst I do think there is some physical problem, the worry I bring on myself just makes it ten times worse.

Charley, thanks for sharing your symptoms too. I hope this isn't taken the wrong way but it helps enormously to hear from someone who is going through the same thing. Whilst I wouldn't wish pain or suffering on anyone, I am sort of glad to hear from you, if you know what I mean.

Hope everyone feels well today. One day at a time works for me xx

[Mr m anxious]

I've read that all your mucles get tense with anxiety particularly the neck and shoulders, also the tense neck muscles can make you feel dizzy. I've had tight neck, shoulder and cest musces constant for three months.

[robin321]

Last year I was undergoing a lot of life changes.
Suddenly one day my arms (more left than right) were really sore. Mostly around the other side of the elbows... but also all the muscles and my neck.

This stressed me a lot. I thought at the very least it was tennis elbow and I would have it for life.

However eventually, after almost two months, it went away. It actually went away when my anxiety latched onto something else... so I think it was real but the anxiety put fuel on it and made it feel worse. This is prob same for you.

[sarahsarah]

I experienced something very similar about 5 or 6 years ago, with a bit more chest pain that time, eventually dragged myself to ER where they did an EKG on me and told me my heart was fine. As soon as I heard that, it started to go away. It was a very stressful time in my life and I thought I was coping really well with it. Well, my mind may have been but my body wasn't! I didn't have HA then so I never really thought anything of it one the doc said I was fine.

My HA has come out of being happy, since me and my (now husband) got engaged 3 years or so ago. I never really had anything that mattered to lose before he came along so I didn't overly worry about ill health or dying. Now we have a lovely life together and I just think somewhere along the line I will have to pay for being happy, in some form or another. So my anxiety over this has somehow manifested itself in worrying about my health. It is definitely a defence mechanism. My HA does come and go, it isn't constant, but the slightest thing triggers it off. Gone are the days when I would see a smile cold or ear infection or even a bruise on my leg as anything other than worse-case scenario. Of course all this worry makes any slight symptoms 10x worse.

Thank you all for your replies. I really do appreciate them xx

[sarahsarah]

Just an update- I followed advice on here and went for a neck and shoulder massage. It was a proper no-holds barred sports massage which was excruciatingly painful at times but boy, did I feel fantastic afterwards! I could honestly feel my shoulder muscles "deflating" and relaxing as it was going on. Anyway, that was last week and I have experienced very little aching since, just a bit which went away when my husband did me a little on-the-spot shoulder massage. So my HA has been much improved this week. Of course I have focused on other things (ectopic heart beats, for one) but I do feel things are a lot better at the moment.

Just wanted to say thanks to this forum, really xx