Left chest pain? Very scared

[baokki]

Hi, I'm kind of freaking out today and am very scared about chest pain I'm getting.

I have been getting aches and sores around my chest, back, and arms for the past few months. I had started to finally accept it was just a pinched nerve or pulled muscle, and the pain wasn't very bad.

But up until about a few days ago, the pain in my chest had been getting worse. It seems to be located around the left side of my chest, and it feels like a very deep, dull pain. And I am still getting the aches down my arms and back. Another odd symptom that appeared a few days ago with the worsening pain is a burning sensation in my stomach and chest. It feels like my torso is getting very hot and burning. I'm not sure what it means. I have irritable bowl syndrome, but I'm not sure if that would affect my chest and back as well.

Has anybody else experienced this? I'm really terrified there's something wrong with my heart, but I am only 21, don't smoke or drink, and have had 2 EKG's that came up normal, so it seems highly unlikely, yet I can't stop thinking about it...

[madtothea]

This use to happen to me all the time. I would try to stretch the area to make it feel better but it wouldn't work. I also had EKG's and I was roughly your age and in the military. I'm only 27 years old now and it stopped after my last EKG. Even the doctors didn't know what it was. I also was not diagnosed with panic or anxiety disorder. I think I heard somewhere that anxiety can cause this but don't quote me on that. If the EKG came back fine twice, I'd say you're okay. Good luck!

[NeverToo...Fear]

Here's an interesting thought; How do you sleep? Arms over your head at night? Because during a visit to my Doc when I was dealing with chest pain, he said that just by sleeping that way, it can cause an unnatural anatomical position (such as having your first right rib up when it's not suppose to be) and thus in turn cause chest and arm pain, like that deep and dull pain you are describing...just a thought.

In anyway, your EKG's came up fine--that's great! So just try to keep telling yourself that (hard, I know) and distract yourself....I know it sounds a lot like ignoring the giant elephant in the room, so maybe it's more like soothing and comforting the giant elephant.......good luck to you!! :)

[j brown]

Same situation with me I had two Ekgs also but I still worry bout my heart I been having discomfort in my chest for about 2 days and it scares the crap out of me ... Is there anything you guys task for it? Plus mines skips a beat but it seems to do it only when I worry bout it. I been having the discomfort on the left side it is scary

[baokki]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I ended up going to the doctor last night, and my blood pressure and blood oxygen came out fine. My chest is feeling a bit better today when I woke up. An odd thing though, the only thing that seems to relieve the pain is laying flat on my chest. Really odd, huh? Not too sure what it means...