Can anxiety make a real pain 100x worse than what it is?.

[Lozboss]

Hi all back again...

As the title says i know we all know it can but i mean REAL pain like effecting everyday things. My upper back and breast pulsate and burn with extreme pain that radiates into my shoulder and down my arm. There is pain there but can it be made ALOT worse?? Ive spoke to a nirse over the phone today who says its now time to start investigating the pain properly incase it is something serious (yea cheers for that comment).

[maianixon]

i would imagine so? i mean if you focus on something more because it makes you anxious it will heighten the sensation

but then if the nurse says so u can always get it checked just in case so at least you can know for sure. but psychosomatic pain is a thing as well (i get that a lot)

[Lozboss]

Im sure its something serious im in agony. Im all worked up tonight the pain is all i have thought about all day... its all the upper right side of my body :( this is awful .

[axolotl]

There are a lot of very common things - pinched nerves, pulled muscles and the like - that are benign but very painful and are the mostly likely options before you even entertain anything nasty.

[Shawnr55]

It will be ok. Could be a million simple things. I swore i was dying of throat cancer this morning until a ct scan showed nothing. While i still feel something my throat, i know now its this BS anxiety crippiling me.

[Catherine S]

Real pain can feel worse if you are an anxious person yes, because your muscles will be in a constant state of tension. Also you will be focused on the pain much more than someone without health anxiety so it will feel more intense. There are a number of threads about this actually...people who have been so convinced there was something serious going on.

The fact is that although the pains are not imaginary, worrying about them causes stress which creates alot of tension and can make aches and pains much worse.

ISB ☺