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Pressure in chest and bilateral arm heaviness
Can someone please help me figure out what is going on with my body? My symptoms are:
First of all, I suddenly feel a bilateral sensation in my arms of extreme heaviness (not numbness, not tingling) that starts at about mid forearm level and goes up my arms
At the same time, my chest feels like it is in a barrel and I am being squeezed completely around
These 2 symtoms last about 30-seconds to 1 minute and occur "out-of-the-blue", such as when shopping or sitting on the couch. It has happened at work and at home.
The last time this occured, for the first time, I had a dull aching pain in the center of my back, between my shoulder blades, for about 5-8 minutes. These "spells" concern me and this last one really scared me, thinking it might be a heart attack. I chewed aspirin and tried to relax and eventually the aching pain went away.
I am a 58 year old woman with no history of heart disease except for familial history of my dad dying at 59 of heart disease. I am only 5 pounds overweight and do not have high blood pressure or diabetes or any major illness.
Twice I have gone to the ER, thinking I'm having a heart attack. The results are negative. I have been seen by 2 cardiologists and have had negative EKGs and stress Echos. I do have a high CRP level (about 5). The cardiologists say I should check with my mental health professional since I have a history (controlled on meds) of depression. Mentally, I feel good.
My psychiatrist says these are spontaneous panic attacks. Then he says that I should make sure everything is okay with my heart.
One more part of my history that may be important - I have had herniated discs (C5-6-7) that have not bothered me for years. I was in a carwreck and had MRIs. I did physical therapy and was able to avoid surgery and relieve the pain. That was about 10 years ago. I rarely have any neck pain now.
Does anyone have a similar experience or any ideas? Thank you!
First of all, I suddenly feel a bilateral sensation in my arms of extreme heaviness (not numbness, not tingling) that starts at about mid forearm level and goes up my arms
At the same time, my chest feels like it is in a barrel and I am being squeezed completely around
These 2 symtoms last about 30-seconds to 1 minute and occur "out-of-the-blue", such as when shopping or sitting on the couch. It has happened at work and at home.
The last time this occured, for the first time, I had a dull aching pain in the center of my back, between my shoulder blades, for about 5-8 minutes. These "spells" concern me and this last one really scared me, thinking it might be a heart attack. I chewed aspirin and tried to relax and eventually the aching pain went away.
I am a 58 year old woman with no history of heart disease except for familial history of my dad dying at 59 of heart disease. I am only 5 pounds overweight and do not have high blood pressure or diabetes or any major illness.
Twice I have gone to the ER, thinking I'm having a heart attack. The results are negative. I have been seen by 2 cardiologists and have had negative EKGs and stress Echos. I do have a high CRP level (about 5). The cardiologists say I should check with my mental health professional since I have a history (controlled on meds) of depression. Mentally, I feel good.
My psychiatrist says these are spontaneous panic attacks. Then he says that I should make sure everything is okay with my heart.
One more part of my history that may be important - I have had herniated discs (C5-6-7) that have not bothered me for years. I was in a carwreck and had MRIs. I did physical therapy and was able to avoid surgery and relieve the pain. That was about 10 years ago. I rarely have any neck pain now.
Does anyone have a similar experience or any ideas? Thank you!
I am a 51 yr old female and I too have been having heaviness bilaterally in my arms then to my chest and down my legs. I am a firefighter/paramedic and have put off getting it checked. They started about a yr ago but the episodes come and go. I could go months without any episodes. Over the past 6 wks the episodes have increased in frequency and intensity which I actually went out for about 15 to 20 seconds. I was at work watching tv when I went out with one of the episodes so I had to be transported to the hospital. I had all the tests done, EKG, EEG, echo cardiogram, MRI, CT scan and all tests were neg. Tomorrow I am having a tilt test done and an angiogram. As I have been looking for answers the only thing I have found is called variant angina ( spasm of the coronary artery) I don't have the chest pain which is normally a symptom but as I have looked into it not all patients have that. Hopefully I can find an answer because this is putting my career in jeopardy. I have never had an episode while excersizing every episodes has been either sitting, driving or laying down a couple while just standing. Hopefully we'll find an answer soon!
Hello, everyone, I'll try to help.
I'm not saying everyone here has the same thing, but a few things to consider:
- arm heaviness, numbness, tingliness, etc. is associated with muscular tension and nerve impingement. Nerve impigement does not cause pain, it causes numbness, tingling and heaviness, while tension does causes pain and heaviness.
- chest pain might come from both tigh muscles from the chest and/or tigh muscles from the dorsum of the scapula (rotator cuff group), that makes pressure under the armpit, which might feel that comes from the chest.
- so, just because the pain is happening somewhere, doesn't mean that is the place to look (or at leat, not the only place)
- it is not necessary to have a pinched nerve or a herniated disc to present the symptoms people are complaining about here. Muscle imbalance (some muscles are really tight, others are really weak) might cause some muscles to over-work to compensate this imbalance.
You end up with heavy arms, for instance, because your rhomboids and mid and lower traps are weak, so the rotator cuff over compensates for them, getting really tigh, making your triceps work harder with every movement, giving you heavy arms. And it scalates. You start to breath more and more with your chest, because of the consequential bad posture, and this puts pressure on the scalenes (neck), which have a direct effect on the medial, ulnar and radial nerves that goes through your arms, intensifying the feeling.
This is just an example. There are a lot of scenarios - bad posture makes some muscles work harder to compensate other weak ones. Thoracic outlet syndrome is also common.
My point is: with all those people going to the doctor and getting clear from heart problems and other physiological maladies, and also getting misdiagnosed with carpal tunnel and other orthopedic conditions, perhaps the problem is not one that will appear on a blood or imaging test.
That's the bad news. The good news is that muscle, fascial, postural, nerve problems are treatable.
I'd reccomend you to make an appointment to a chiropractor to treat fascia and bones. He/she will be able to determine which muscles need working, and which ones need releasing - and give you the right exercises and stretches. And if you can, a yoga class to help with posture, anxiety and flexibility. Pilates is also great. Meditation is a good thing to help with muscle relaxation; massage as well. And after the chiropractor says you're good to go, exercise and stretching.
One thing is certain: this will not worsten your condition, no matter what this might be, and it might just cure it.
I'm not saying everyone here has the same thing, but a few things to consider:
- arm heaviness, numbness, tingliness, etc. is associated with muscular tension and nerve impingement. Nerve impigement does not cause pain, it causes numbness, tingling and heaviness, while tension does causes pain and heaviness.
- chest pain might come from both tigh muscles from the chest and/or tigh muscles from the dorsum of the scapula (rotator cuff group), that makes pressure under the armpit, which might feel that comes from the chest.
- so, just because the pain is happening somewhere, doesn't mean that is the place to look (or at leat, not the only place)
- it is not necessary to have a pinched nerve or a herniated disc to present the symptoms people are complaining about here. Muscle imbalance (some muscles are really tight, others are really weak) might cause some muscles to over-work to compensate this imbalance.
You end up with heavy arms, for instance, because your rhomboids and mid and lower traps are weak, so the rotator cuff over compensates for them, getting really tigh, making your triceps work harder with every movement, giving you heavy arms. And it scalates. You start to breath more and more with your chest, because of the consequential bad posture, and this puts pressure on the scalenes (neck), which have a direct effect on the medial, ulnar and radial nerves that goes through your arms, intensifying the feeling.
This is just an example. There are a lot of scenarios - bad posture makes some muscles work harder to compensate other weak ones. Thoracic outlet syndrome is also common.
My point is: with all those people going to the doctor and getting clear from heart problems and other physiological maladies, and also getting misdiagnosed with carpal tunnel and other orthopedic conditions, perhaps the problem is not one that will appear on a blood or imaging test.
That's the bad news. The good news is that muscle, fascial, postural, nerve problems are treatable.
I'd reccomend you to make an appointment to a chiropractor to treat fascia and bones. He/she will be able to determine which muscles need working, and which ones need releasing - and give you the right exercises and stretches. And if you can, a yoga class to help with posture, anxiety and flexibility. Pilates is also great. Meditation is a good thing to help with muscle relaxation; massage as well. And after the chiropractor says you're good to go, exercise and stretching.
One thing is certain: this will not worsten your condition, no matter what this might be, and it might just cure it.
I am 52 yr. old female. Menopause symptoms also.I have had 2 episodes in the last 2 weeks, both at work( desk job). Heavy arms, heavy chest ,sweaty palms,shaky feeling & weak, tired feeling afterwards. I went to ER after 2nd time.EKG,XRAY/LABWORK all good.The only concern was my Pulse was 48-50 .
The following week had only heavy chest , weak and unable to breath properly. I was already scheduled for Cardiologist the next morning. He did a Ultrasound of my heart, EKG,Stress test , all were normal. I did wear a Holter Monitor overnight, still waiting for results.
Now i am waiting for CT scan of chest & MRI of neck.
I will come back and share results. Scary feeling, good to know my heart is okay.
The following week had only heavy chest , weak and unable to breath properly. I was already scheduled for Cardiologist the next morning. He did a Ultrasound of my heart, EKG,Stress test , all were normal. I did wear a Holter Monitor overnight, still waiting for results.
Now i am waiting for CT scan of chest & MRI of neck.
I will come back and share results. Scary feeling, good to know my heart is okay.
I'm a 39 year old male. I just left the emergency room after experiencing all the issues described by you all. According to the doc I'm very healthy. Did anyone ever get a real diagnosis
I am a 57 year old woman with all the same symptoms. I have been having them now and again for about 5 years. It seems to me to be related to computer use, though it can happen to me at any time. I can recognize that it's coming on now. Today was a little weirder in that I had a tingle on the top of my head along with the bilateral heaiviness in my arms and then the weakness in my hands. I have never spoken to my doctor about it because it is so on and off with years in between. I do have some feeling of being less mentally sharp after it.
Has anyone here had these symptoms and do not own a smart phone? Just trying to eliminate that has a potential cause as I know I started getting these symptoms around the time I got my first smart phone...
I am a 57 year old male, excellent health, low thyroids, have had L1 - L6 and T1 fused back in 1987 and two back operations with the second one 1990. Walk at least a mile a day, exercise daily (back exercises and other routines including some yoga and breathing). These have been very sporadic as for their occurrence, sometimes a few times in one day and other times months before I have one and they started occurring in 2011/2012 and have had a couple of EKG's that have come back normal and rarely does it happen after exercising or exerting myself!
I know it seems a little weird that this could be a cause, but I did want rule it out as a potential cause. Specifically since my intuition has placed mistrust in some of our new technology as if it is causing my spiritual and physical persona to become unstable or out of balance at times.... The funny part is I am a computer geek and work with new technologies.... go figure!
I am a 57 year old male, excellent health, low thyroids, have had L1 - L6 and T1 fused back in 1987 and two back operations with the second one 1990. Walk at least a mile a day, exercise daily (back exercises and other routines including some yoga and breathing). These have been very sporadic as for their occurrence, sometimes a few times in one day and other times months before I have one and they started occurring in 2011/2012 and have had a couple of EKG's that have come back normal and rarely does it happen after exercising or exerting myself!
I know it seems a little weird that this could be a cause, but I did want rule it out as a potential cause. Specifically since my intuition has placed mistrust in some of our new technology as if it is causing my spiritual and physical persona to become unstable or out of balance at times.... The funny part is I am a computer geek and work with new technologies.... go figure!
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