Ok, this is my first post and may end up being a lengthy cathartic exercise in the end but I suppose that's no bad thing. Hope you guys don't mind!

I'll preface everything by saying I suffer from anxiety and always have done really. This is the health history which I feel is all linked:

Going back about 6 years, after a heavy night out and too many Red Bulls I woke up with extreme GERD - at the time I did not know but doctors explained it to me. I suffered from it after that for about 6 months and it was horrible. Prilosec didn't really work for me but actually I found some good relief after adjusting diet and trying apple cider vinegar. I regret this night profoundly!

In the years since I have had the odd flare up but generally know what to expect when I see the symptoms coming on. However, in the back of my mind I also remember the doctors words relating to keeping an eye on it and Barretts Esophagus/cancer risk.

Last year after having a terrible 24 hour stomach bug my GERD flared up in a MAJOR way for a few days. Really agonising. It went away but since then this attack and illness seems to have just been compounded by further issues - some related, others perhaps not.

For example, at the end of last year I noticed a difficulty swallowing. The usual symptoms: lump feeling in throat, increasing anxiety as I try to swallow more, feeling uncomfortable swallowing (not pain really). I also felt I needed to clear my throat a lot and my wife mentioned sometimes hoarseness. Of course, Google was not my friend and I started off ticking off esophageal cancer symptoms (again). Perhaps not coincidentally, stress at work has been higher at all times alongside these flare ups...

The blocked throat feeling subsided after a month or two and during a more relaxed period of time so my health worries passed a bit. It seemed to be LPR which I know people with GERD can sometimes have also - I certainly didn't have GERD symptoms at the same time which apparently is again normal. Apple cider vinegar again helped.

Then around 2 months ago I had what I now know was a trapped nerve on the left side of my neck (the list of ailments continues I know). It was agonising and my worst case brain started to worry it was further, more serious symptoms of developing esophageal issues. It went away after a week or so about 90% but then around a month ago came back with a vengeance. I had tingling in my left and arm and had an xray on the neck which showed no spinal issues.

I eventually saw a physio and he has been a tremendous help in relieving the trapped nerve pain. With the trapped nerve at its worst I was suffering from nausea and dizziness too, it was that bad. As the pain has subsided I have had some very good days along with some off days. But overall better.

However, in the last few days I have noticed a pain and soreness in my neck area on both sides (no lumps) along with a return of the LPR symptoms (trouble swallowing etc). I would say that my anxiety is again perhaps raised a bit but not terrible. I will be asking my physio later this week about these symptoms. He has said that my neck, shoulder, chest, arm and back muscles are incredibly tight and can cause all sorts of feelings (headaches, soreness, burning/tingling). I have just noticed that the soreness doesn't feel like normal muscular soreness, more like the skin is a bit sensitive. I have today noticed my armpits are sore too. There are no lumps but the skin or just under is a bit sore.

Through all of this I have thoughts of the worst. In essence you could say that I have been thinking that in 6 years I have gone from having GERD initially to LPR/cancer symptoms with neck pain, trouble swallowing and soreness in areas associated with lymph nodes...you can see where I am thinking this is going for me. This is how my worries brought me to this forum.

If I'm being sensible I imagine this is all 90% anxiety related - stress causing GERD/LPR flare ups with bad posture and tense muscles (from anxiety) causing neck pain and other pains which compound the other issues etc. Certainly seems a reasonable diagnosis.

The positives are that the pain from the neck area has improved with physio. Also the GERD and LPR are flare up illnesses and I have had them for about 6 years (i.e. if anything more serious was going on it would have developed in that time). But the negative is that always in the back of my mind is this constant niggle regarding something more serious.

Unfortunately I live in a country where the public health system is not great and the private health system is geared towards money making over care. I no longer have health insurance either so I know that getting a diagnosis which would probably point to overall anxiety as the cause will cost a small fortune and probably involve a load of unnecessary tests. I therefore wanted to write down my concerns after all this time and see whether other users can relate to my experiences at all.

I've started to feel a burden as there always seems to be something up with me and writing it down here doesn't help that impression I know! I'm probably just a hypochondriac but I'm definitely having issues - I'm maybe making them worse psychologically but it's hard not to. Therefore any comments, thoughts, advice - anything, would be gratefully received!

Thanks for reading too - a long post I know.

Jim