Left chest pain for months; anxiety or something else PLEASE HELP

There's a place on the net called

justanswer.com

that I just came across when looking on the net.

They say they will try to answer your medical problems.

I don't know how much it will cost. It could be out of sight. But you could probably type in your symptoms, and then they will probably tell you how much the fee is.

If it's worth it to you, you might try that.

I mean, it sounds so complex, you might could spend you life trying to figure this out, and thousands of dollars. You've already been to the ER 5 times, and to a cardiologist.

I don't know how much that costs. And even with all of that, they still haven't found out what it is.

So, even if this costs $50 or a little more, it could be worth it.

You could also type into the search engine, "Free Medical Advice" and see what comes up.

There may be free sites that deal with "chest pain," and have a set 5 or 10 answers of what it could be, and you don't ever talk to a real person.

Could look up on the search engine for, "Best free medical advice sites" and pick you out a couple of the top ones.

And "best pay medical advice sites" and see what their approximate cost might be. Pick out the top two or three and consider calling one of them.

Also, doctors may only have 5 or 10 minutes to spend with you. You have hours, days, months to look into this on the net.

Gather what info you can on the net, and perhaps hand that data to a doctor, see what he or she thinks.

I had chest pain for years, and no doctor told me what it was. When I was no longer in a bad marriage, the chest pain went away and has basically never returned.

You could be under stress, like I was, and don't realize it. It could be caused by stress.

If you already have anxiety, and take Xanax I think, that could be the cause right there.

Stress causes the blood vessels, including those around the heart, to constrict, meaning less blood flow, and less oxygen to that area.

With complete blockage, that could cause stoppage of blood flow, and the organ will die from lack of oxygen. In less severe cases, the person won't die, he'll just be in a lot of pain.

I would take tests also, and I would be told you're heart's OK. But they never did say what's causing the pain.

So, I will ask you: are you under any stress? Are you anxious? (which is stress).

Does your job cause you stress? Aer you stressed because you don't have a job? Does living with someone cause you stress? Does living by yourself cause you stress?

Is your schedule too busy? Do you have too little to do and too much time to worry about everything?

So stress can come from any direction, too much, too little, inside your mind and body, outside events, and come out in chest pain.

My stress had been going for so long, many years, I never considered that as causing my chest pain. I'm looking for something that happened 5 minutes ago, or yesterday, or last week. That might not be it.

Also, my stress with my bad marriage did not begin the moment the marriage went bad. It may have been months or a year or more before I started feeling chest pain from that. So I did not relate my chest pain to my bad marriage, but that's what it was.

It was a slow constricting of the blood vessels around the heart, until the flow of blood was reduced to the point that it started causing pain. It could take weeks, months, a year or more.

For again, the moment my bad marriage ended, I've had no more chest pain in all those 8 years.

I rem. thinking the other day, about how much stress I was under during that bad marriage, and I thought, "I didn't realized I was under heavy stress?" I kinda blocked it out to get through those years.

These are all my opinions and experiences. You'll have to get data and decide for yourself.

Hi KM and welcome!

I am sorry to hear about your ongoing anxiety/symptoms. I understand how difficult this is to deal with...so know you are not alone.

There are so many different manifestations of anxiety, that it can be confusing to determine them from a medical issue...

...however, considering your age, the tests you've had come back as favorable...and the fact that you do have an underlying anxiety issue existing...I am pretty confident that you can consider this a new symptom coming forward at this time for whatever reason.

I also never consciously feel anxious or worried...but I think that is part of the problem. We become very good at compartmentalizing or pushing our stressors aside...until something finally gives, and our bodies make it apparent to us that something is up!

Your chest pain sounds like it could be fatigue in the thoratic muscles. When we regularly anxious breathe (shallow rapid breathing) the chest muscles become tired and sore. Learning breathing techniques and practicing them regularly could help.

In our Resources at the top of the main forum page here, you'll find links to exercises that will help get you started.

If you find you need more help, you may want to consider talking to your doctor about a therapy referral, and getting back to this as part of your overall anxiety management plan.

Keep posting here with us as well if you find it helpful. We understand, care and support is key!

Scaredy Cat

KM1992:

The anxiety that you describe in your reply to Scaredy Cat really shows a lot of stress on your chest muscles, which could play a very big part in your chest pain.

With anxiety, I would think, your blood vessels constrict, and the amount of blood going to the muscles around the heart, get less oxygen, which I would think can cause chest pain.

Especially when this goes on not for just a few minutes, but a few days, weeks, months. You're putting more work on your heart to force the blood through the narrowing vessels, it would seem.

The chest pain is probably also your body's way of telling you that something is wrong.

Do you own a heating pad? As I've gotten older, I think we had a heating pad anyway, but I would use one for my bad lower back which my chiropractor said I could apply it to for, what, 15 or 20 minutes.

Then after a wait of maybe 10 or 15 minutes, put a frozen ice pack, wrapped in a towel, on my back for 10 or 15 minutes.

The chio said the heat pad expanded the blood vessels and sent more oxygen and nutrients to the injured area, in this case my back.

He said the ice pack reduced the inflammation in my injured lower back. So by altering that, I was getting both benefits.

So, if a heating pad will work on the back, why won't it help chest pain by opening the blood vessels to the muscles around the heart? It will.

It will thus pour more oxygen to the trouble area, in this case it might be the muscles around your heart, and help relax that and reduce or eliminate the pain temporarily.

The heating pad might also help your heart by, again, expanding the blood vessels, and making your heart have to work less to get blood there.

You want to give that area as much help as you can. Plus, laying down can put more stress on the heart, I think. Hospital beds are built leaning up. They don't want you to lay down, for some reason.

So when you lay down, probably makes it rougher on your heart, anyway.

I also use a heating pad on my chest during the day if I lay down to take a nap.

If you don't have a heating pad, I would probably go ahead and get one, and you might two, so when the first one goes out, you'll have another one right there.

Most if not all heating pads come with an insert, which you can moisten, and that might help your chest even more. You can try it both ways and you can decide.

I sleep with a heating pad. It's plugged into the wall beside my bed. I put it on low, and put it on my chest. It's also like a child's teddy bear, warm and comforting to sleep with.

I found a heating pad also helps me with sleep.

You said in your post to Scaredy Cat:

"I feel ok at home. I do worry and think about my chest a good amount of the day. However the worst is the car. I haven't been able to drive the highway in a year. I actually re-learned how to drive and then moved to another city and stopped doing it. I always get so anxious at any intersection I literally break to make sure no one runs a light. Also if anyone pulls up while I'm passing the intersection or a street I get so jumpy- I'm literally afraid one day I'm gonna swerve so hard out of the way I'll lose control. I'm also terrified of getting hit on. I use to love country roads before anxiety took over now the thought of them scares me. I'm convinced the person is texting or inchorent and will hit me head on. I've never been in a car accident."

You asked, "Can one be super stressed and not know it?"

I'm bipolar, and wasn't put on Lithium for that until I was about 35. When I took the first Lithium pill, within a short time, it so relaxed me, I felt like the air had been let out of an over-tight balloon.

Like you, I didn't know I was so uptight. I had been like that all of my life, and just assumed that's the way you were supposed to be.

I think if you could get on the right medicine, it could do wonders for you, also.

I would think that you might want to find a good psychiatrist.

Have you ever been to a psychiatrist? You might want to go just to see what they think, what condition you might have, what medicines they might have for that.

They've come out with a lot of good medicines in the last 10 or 15 years, some which help with anxiety. You might want to take advantage of that.

You said, "I actually left my job and moved home and now live with my mom due to a stressful job. I am currently trying to get disability which has it stresses. Living with my mom and young nephew can be stressful."

That could be stressful. One thing that added to my stress, I wasn't just living with somebody, I was living with somebody who was trying to destroy me. Murder carries the death penalty, or a long time in jail.

But trying to destroy someone mentally and psychically is not against the law, or at least hard to prove.

So that for 19 or more years was what was causing me chest pains. So, you've got it better than I had. But you could still be having it rough.

You say, "I have things I'm worried about like the future and things I'm anxious about but I never feel like OMG I'm so stressed. I feel more anxious and worried."

And then, "I'm not an expert and haven't been to therapy in years I'm not sure if this possible. Just wondering if you or anyone knows..."

Knows what?

I think therapy and medicine would help you a lot.

I think it's good that you reached out for help.

I'm on disability, it took awhile.

The feeling of exhaustion could be fatigue from tension...

...check out the Stress Relieving Exercises link (as well as the breathing exercises) in our Resources. The instructions for Progressive Muscle Relaxation can be found there, and this will help I think.

I am glad to hear that you are starting therapy! This is surely going to help you in your progress and recovery!

Keep us posted with how it's going, so we can cheer you on!


S.C.

Km
Thank you SC and TT youve said it all..I just want to say to u regarding the driving that you must go back to driving more so u can get used to it again ..you 're now like someone who's just started driving ..the fear will eventually go away.. I'm sure you will feel better soon and the level of stress will go down..this all sounds like enxiety to me..I'm happy because you said the tests all came back negative.🙏