Question for long time anxiety sufferers (?)

[Savvy_Darling]

I feel like I'm new with bad anxiety. It started getting bad August 2015. Don't get me wrong I've always been a worrier and worried about things but not like how I am now. It's definitely spun outta control and is consuming my life more and mentally and physically exhausting me.
Anyways.. My question is what are the chest pains you feel? What exactly do they feel like and where? I've read the symptoms page on the home page of NMP but I still don't know if what I'm experiencing is truly anxiety related.
What I'm feeling is this: left shoulder tension and possibly from neck. Also shoulder blade pain left side. (I lay on my left side with my arm half under me holding my phone and my head resting on my left shoulder till my hand goes numb most times. This is why it's probably mostly left side pains. I do get right shoulder pains if I lay on the opposite side as well. But anyways.. I scrunch my shoulders in and I'll sit against my wall on my bed and be on my phone too. Also lay with my neck against the wall to watch tv. I know these aren't the best positions. But when my anxiety is bad and I'm on my phone to distract me or help me I get into bad positions for long periods of time. The chest pain I'm feeling is either above my breast few inches under my collar bone or under my breasts in the middle just by or on the breast bone. They are always localized and I can push the pain with my fingers to pinpoint where it's at. Today I'm feeling it above the breast towards the center. Comes and goes and is achy pain not reallY sharp but pain that makes me anxious of why it's happening. I almost feel like it's in the same spot as my back pain? When I stretch my arms out to open my rib age up and cheat it does seem to help but doesn't make it go away. And like I said comes and goes . I workout daily for 30 mins on the treadmill and today it was 45mins and I felt no pain. That's the only time I feel free from my worries as a matter of fact but anyways .. Does this sound similar to any of you anxiety sufferers? I hope it isn't cardiac and I'm only 21 and had an EKG done December 4th and it was fine and so were my bloods. When I told the doctor I was scared of dying she said "with a young healthy heart? Don't worry about that" . Anyways, please I would love to hear from anyone. :unsure: I'm trying to rationalize and stay calm and not get worries about my heart again so I'd love some help. Oh and these palpitations, I'm noticing them more frequently. What gives :(

[Lifelonganxiety!]

Hey there,

I get the pains in the chest, back, shoulder blades etc... as well. I'm in my 30's and am 99.9% sure it's all down to posture and tension. I think that's going to be the case with you.

You mentioned a few bad habits, we all have them, and that can contribute to muscle pain for sure. Thinking about it just amplifies the sensation as well, so to anyone else, your pains are probably background noise but you think they're much worse than that.

I guess all I can say is try to relax your muscles and work on your posture a little. Get a massage maybe.

As for palpitations - very common with anxiety. Do you drink a lot of caffeine? I have periods where I get regular palpitations, then they go away for months or years. Try eating bananas for the potassium, and reduce caffeine / alcohol. It definitely helps.

You're 21 and according to your doc have nothing to worry about. I completely agree with that!

[Sparkling_Fairy]

If you had an ECG in December which came back fine, then you most likely are.
It's very much related to muscle tension. During my anxiety, I thought I wasn't physically that tense, until I paid attention to it and noticed I was clenching literally everything!
I also lie on my left side to sleep, and whenever I do have pain it's mostly there.
I recently had a shooting pain down my right arm. Had that been my left arm, I would have panicked. But because it was my right I just let it pass.
We all associate left arm pain with our heart. When in reality, if it was our heart, the pain would be excruciating! And wouldn't come and go.
You'll be fine!

[cerridwen]

Hi Savvy
I am not sure whether this will reassure you, but I have had every single one of the aches and pains that you describe at various apparently random times over the last year. For the past 12 months I have had the shoulder pain, rib pain (including the front middle, radiating into the breast, collar bone and neck) which disappeared to be replaced by jaw pain, tinnitus, numbness and tingling in the side of my face. There is no rhyme nor reason to these pains; they just appear with no apparent trigger and go, to be replaced with others. I have seen my doctor about them but haven't had scans or tests. He told me it is neurological (trapped nerve) and muscular. There is a part of me that knows, deep down, that I am not desperately ill, but the pains distress me so much and make me think that I am. My shoulder is very painful, I lie on it too and have had to resort to lying on my back in bed. I still have the shoulder pain, neck pain and jaw. It's utterly miserable. I know I am stressed; I have had these pains since my mum died in 2014 of breast cancer. A few months ago a dear friend was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer too and she is terminally ill. I am now plunged into health anxiety and convinced I have it too, even with no symptoms. This turns he volume up on the pain. It's awful. I have no solution or solace for you, other than we are all in this together. :shrug:
Cerridwen

---------- Post added at 20:06 ---------- Previous post was at 20:03 ----------

Oh, and just to say that I have suffered from health anxiety for over twenty years and I have always been a worrier, since the time I was on rusks.:)

[Savvy_Darling]

Thank you all so much. At least what I'm feeling is something you've all felt before and you're all alive. It's like I was just at the grocery store and I got a random pain in between my breasts and it scared me it's not like a pain that makes me wanna fall to the ground or yell but it freaks me out and sends me into "what was that" mode. Sometimes it's a burning. Sometimes it's stabbing/sharp & sometimes it's more achy crampy. It definitely scares me half to death another thing is that under rib in the back pain and under breast pain which I'm also gassy so i don't know what's up. Chest pain related to cardiac I hear is crippling and severe. Not so sure mine is but to me it's enough to worry me out my mind that I'm gonna drop dead. :(

[Sparkling_Fairy]

It could also just be gas build up, as you said you're gassy.
One of the first things to get affected by stress or anxiety is your digestion.
Before I had muscle twitches which sent me into anxiety, I had insaaaaaaane burping for months! And the gas build up can also cause discomfort/light pain in your chest area. I would sometimes feel like my heart would flutter, but it was always followed by a burp. So I figured out it was just gas bubbles. But we associate them with our heart when we feel stuff like that in our chest.
Especially since you said sometimes it's a burning. Could simply be acid reflux.

[Savvy_Darling]

SparklingFairy, oh yea I'm soo gassy like and it's not smelly it's just like air that needs let out or something. Because I'll feel better for a bit afterwards Especially after visiting the bathroom I'll feel good as well. Another thing is that I ate a banana (for potassium) and I feel like that's even helped a bit. I wonder what you can do to balance the digestive system I'm sure mine is out of wack. I bought some probiotic yogurt to see if that helps as well. It also seems like after Tuesday night when I ate a lot of baked beans and green beans I've had all sorts of more problems :shrug: who would think the digestive system could cause such distress!

[Sparkling_Fairy]

Yeah, sounds to me like your chest "pains" could be a buildup of gas. I would usually feel instant relief and then 10 minutes later the burping would start again. Ugh!
Honestly, I don't know what you can do to aid your digestive system in times of anxiety. Mine only balanced itself out when I kicked anxiety in the butt.
But just know that it's anxiety related. And not to worry about it :)

[John_Daryl]

I am quite similar in what I experience. For me its like a dumbness, as though my arm is not completely in my control. Then I start concentrating on my breating and owndeep my breaths are. I'm even aware of the weight of a T shirt on my chest. As people say, we are so finely tuned into what our body is experiencing that we jump to conclusions. People without anxiety would never pick up on such sensations.

[Savvy_Darling]

My question is, I get this under left breast pain like rib area but like right under the breast area and I'll be so gassy but it will go away and isn't constant today I actuAlly felt the pain rise up between my breasts (acid reflux?) seriously not trying to think it's my heart but in the process of trying not to think of my heart I'm worries about it being pancreatic pains or even cancer. Or a stomach ulcer ! Which I read you could die from so of course I'm lol worried :( I was happy thinking it was just reflux or anxiety or even gas pAins.. but now I've got myself scared. I think I'm gonna go to doctors but I'm totally freaked about that. I hate tests and waiting to see my fate. (Random side note but I ate garlic powder is soup today.. Maybe it could have triggered reflux ?) I feel like I'm gassy everyday though and now especially that I've been anxious for a week I feel like I'm falling apart. What do you guys think ?

[Goosenufc]

Sounds like you have acid reflux/GERD to me!

I sometimes get it if I eat too much dairy, might be worth keeping a food diary and seeing if there is anything that could be triggering the episodes?

Hope you get sorted!

[Sparkling_Fairy]

My question is, I get this under left breast pain like rib area but like right under the breast area and I'll be so gassy but it will go away and isn't constant today I actuAlly felt the pain rise up between my breasts (acid reflux?) seriously not trying to think it's my heart but in the process of trying not to think of my heart I'm worries about it being pancreatic pains or even cancer. Or a stomach ulcer ! Which I read you could die from so of course I'm lol worried :( I was happy thinking it was just reflux or anxiety or even gas pAins.. but now I've got myself scared. I think I'm gonna go to doctors but I'm totally freaked about that. I hate tests and waiting to see my fate. (Random side note but I ate garlic powder is soup today.. Maybe it could have triggered reflux ?) I feel like I'm gassy everyday though and now especially that I've been anxious for a week I feel like I'm falling apart. What do you guys think ?

I worried about this at the start too. I thought surely anxiety can't make me be gassy every single day?
I would wake up burping, without even having eaten anything yet.
But trust me, it can! I haven't had it now for almost a month but I get the odd day where it's still bad. It will go away once your anxiety does.
I thought I had an ulcer, stomach cancer, bowel cancer (as a few months later I also started having 5 bowel movements a day) but anxiety does such a number on your digestive system.
And sometimes it's painful, sometimes it's just plain uncomfortable. Especially when you're around people and you can't stop burping.
But you're just gonna have to sit this one out and try - however difficult - not to worry about it

[Savvy_Darling]

Sparkling fairy, ugh I'm trying to hard not to worry and give it a week and see how painf feels. I don't know what actual gallbladder or pancreas pain feels like so I keep convincing myself what I'm feeling is because of either or both of those. I was stupid and looked up on the Internet and of course I'm frightened about it. What's the likely hood of a 21 year old female having either or those problems or in cancer form? I don't drink heavily only on a occasion. I don't smoke. I don't eat the cleanest but I also don't eat the worst and have been including more healthy foods in my diet. Right shoulder pain kinda mid arm as well and it isn't bad just like a pain and i don't know if it could be muscular. My mom has acid reflux as well. I don't think we have any pancreatic or gallbladder problems in the family either. Trying not to worry but now all the knowledge I gained from the Internet I can't erase it from my mind and I keep waiting for pain or anything to happen. I feel on edge for sure. I appreciate everyone's replies on though. My boyfriends one shoulder feels sore too he told me . We were shooting BB guns yestersay the ones you have to pump like 10x so the bb will go far. I know I should go see a doctor for piece of mind and diagnosis but oh my god will that make me anxious and I'm trying to calm down and relax and see how I feel :weep:

Goosenufc- you say you think it may be acid reflux? Even the pains I described? The only thing is that I don't always or really ever feel like I have regurgitation in my throat or burning in my throat. Do you have reflux? Just wondered what symptoms I said made you think it could be reflux related. I wonder the same but I have a hard time believing anything I tell myself.. If it isn't some horrible cause I don't think of it being the cause. I for some reason like to think worst case senario.. It sucks. That's why I like hearing other people thoughts.. You guys are coming from a different place & stand point.

---------- Post added at 18:53 ---------- Previous post was at 18:19 ----------

Oh and I'll add that I really don't feel any shoulder pain when I'm laying down.. Or when I have the heating pad on them feels good. I will feel it if I'm walking around like an achy. I'll feel the pain under left or right breat when I'm laying down though. I'd i put my hand there to feel where the pain is and put pressure it usually goes away or helps. ?

[nirvanainchains]

Count me in, I am always suffering from chronic chest pains , headache, dizziness, and gassy tummy. My chest pain makes me worried, I was diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse,GERD, Gastritis, and IBS. I really think that I have a heart problem, I can't afford a doctor visit 'cause I have no money yet. All the pain that I have makes me want to commit a suicide.