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Pain above left breast, left armpit and shoulder
Hi. Since April I have had pain above my left breast. It's not constantly there, but it comes and goes. Sometimes it feels like a burning pain, other times it feels like a cramp. I've also felt it in my armpit at times and it will also creep up over my shoulder. Although I VERY RARELY feel it on the right side, it DOES happen once in awhile. But for the most part it's been my left side. I've had all the heart tests, including stress echo, I've had an MRI of my brain and neck, I've had a breast exam. I've even seen a chiropractor. Every test they've done comes back normal. And nothing seems to help. I've tried aspri - doesn't work. I try massaging my breast and shoulders and that seems to help a tiny bit. Usually the pain is very dull...but one night I woke up in excruciating pain for about 10 seconds, then it went back to being dull. I'm 24, and I am being treated for Anxiety/Panic Disorder. My Psychiatrist does not think it's related. Does ANYONE have ANY ideas about what could be going on with me?!?!?!
Hi. I also was diagnosed with anxiety and depression years ago. I am no longer on medicine. I am 24 years old and currently 22wks pregnant and have a 10 mth old son. I am constantly stressing out over everything. I can't seem to help it. I have had a really bad pregnancy this time with getting sick, headaches, feeling faint, gerd, and chest pain. Feeling like this is a big stresser in itself. Recently I have had a burning sensation that is not where my gerd would normally affect me. I have it above my left breast and it radiates to my neck and i feel like i can't breath as well as normal. Lately any thing that hurts on me, I fear it is going to kill me. I fear dying horribly bad and I am afraid this pain might have to do with my heart. Although, I have been to the doctors and the said my heart and lungs sound good. but no test were done. Do you think this could be my anxiety affecting me? Have you had these symptoms? I have a presciption for zoloft but am afraid to take it because of my unborn baby.
I can't believe I stumbled upon this forum. I have sore breast/armpit/back/shoulder pain. It has come on since I had a panic attack last month. The feelings change from tingling to burning to sore to pulsing to itchy. It is primarily on my left side, but I get a little on my right at times.
I am on zoloft for the anxiety and working with a therapist, but the pain is still there.
I thought there must be something seriously wrong with me. I can't believe how many others mention this same pain.
Has anyone received any type of explanation from a doctor?
I am on zoloft for the anxiety and working with a therapist, but the pain is still there.
I thought there must be something seriously wrong with me. I can't believe how many others mention this same pain.
Has anyone received any type of explanation from a doctor?
I am fifty three years old and have had chest arm pit and shoulder pain foranout 12 years. I have been diagnosed with costcchondritis, have had EKGs, thread mill and everything came out negative. I now a burning sensation under my arm and there is definitely alump undermy arm. I will be seeing the doctor today about this new development. I am very concerned.
I, too, have suffered from panic/anxiety/PTSD for the past 5 1/2 years and have the pain in my breast and under my arm. Often I have tingling down my arms or the muscles in my biceps will tighten up and cause pain.
I believe, from working with a panic disorder specialist, that this is the cause of an over abundance of adrenalin. The fear of fear is what causes our panic/anxiety attacks and that, I feel, is what causes the pain.
But, that doesn't make it any less real or painless! Last night at a friend's house I experienced a huge anxiety attack where both arms, my face & head, and chest felt tingly and my legs cramped. I though for sure I was going to die. Today I have the chest/under arm pain.
Adrenalin rushes suck as it is the cause for all of this heartache and confusion. If we can get that under control life would be much less painful.
I went through the CHAANGE program for anxiety and it helped dramatically! I am only taking clonazepan occasionally as I understand what is happening to my body - the adrenalin rush (am I spelling that correctly?). However, I'm not completely over it...but I'm getting there!
Good luck everyone. Forums such as these are a blessing.
I believe, from working with a panic disorder specialist, that this is the cause of an over abundance of adrenalin. The fear of fear is what causes our panic/anxiety attacks and that, I feel, is what causes the pain.
But, that doesn't make it any less real or painless! Last night at a friend's house I experienced a huge anxiety attack where both arms, my face & head, and chest felt tingly and my legs cramped. I though for sure I was going to die. Today I have the chest/under arm pain.
Adrenalin rushes suck as it is the cause for all of this heartache and confusion. If we can get that under control life would be much less painful.
I went through the CHAANGE program for anxiety and it helped dramatically! I am only taking clonazepan occasionally as I understand what is happening to my body - the adrenalin rush (am I spelling that correctly?). However, I'm not completely over it...but I'm getting there!
Good luck everyone. Forums such as these are a blessing.
LOL I love your theory Palla! I agree I believe that it should be named the Broken Heart Syndrome. The pain over my left breast does not move to other parts of my body, it remains right where my heart is. It started off withheavy pressure on my chest though. I didn't start having these pains until I realized although I'm still very much in love that I needed to divorce my now ex-husband. After the divorce the pain subsided but came back last Sunday after he sent me a text msg. Weird huh? I mean we both wanted the divorce and I'm happy. Maybe my heart just need a little time to get over the emotional roller coaster ride he put me on for the last time. LOL I do plan to go to the doctor too.
I have had both HEARTBURN and ANXIETY problems for awhile now. I went to the doctor and she said that what many people don't know it that these problems are related to each other and can have similar symptoms and can affect each other. STRESS is a major cause of both!
To treat my HEARTBURN symptoms she told me I could take Prilosec OTC or Zantac 175. This would help with the heartburn which would then help with the anxiety. If after 2 weeks on Prilosec and/or 4 weeks of taking Zantac (don't take them at the same time because they are the same thing, just take one or the other, or in my case take one first and then the other) my symptoms went away. I also chose to eat things that wouldn't irritate my stomach (I stayed away from caffeine, fried food, acidic food, pop, etc.). The bad news is that heartburn and anxiety come and go. They never get fully treated. So my doctor said if my symptoms returned I could begin taking the medicine again and if that still didn't help I should come and see her for other treatment options.
As for the ANXIETY, I went to a psychologist and had group sessions where I learned about panic and anxiety and ways to cope with them. Basically you need to view the situations that make you anxious in a different light by breaking them down and getting to the root of your anxious thinking. An example of this would be say you are really anxious about loosing your job or breaking up with you significant other. Then on a scale of 1-100 you rate how anxious you are about it. After that you go through the things that make you anxious about it. Job-if I don't have a job I won't be able to pay for rent, food, clothes, etc. Break up- I won't ever be happy again, they must not love me, I would die if I lost them, I'm not good enough, etc. Then you break down those thoughts even further and say well if I do loose my job what can I still pay for, are their other jobs I can get, etc. Same with the break up- if we did break up I would still be able to date other people, I'm not actually going to die if we break up, they weren't good enough for me... Then you re-evaluate your anxiety level on the same 1-100 scale on the issue- hopefully your anxiety should have gone down after you thought through the situation. I think that those are the key points in that process, but there are many other ways in which to reduce anxiety drug-free just by changing your thinking.
Key points from this are that instead of thinking "what if" you should think "what then" because you will be thinking more reasonably about the situation. Also it is important to recognize that there are really things to be anxious about- anxiety is good- if we didn't have it our lives would be boring- we just need to have a healthy level of it and not over think things.
My best advice to anyone suffering the symptoms mentioned in other people's comments and mine are:
1. Try and relax. Take a bath, do something that calms you down.
2. Don't dwell on the negative it will just make the pain worse.
3. Eat a better diet. Heartburn has a lot to do with these symptoms so if you can eat less fatty, acidic foods and stay away from caffeine and alcohol you should begin to feel better.
4. Write it down- document when you feel the pain, what you have been doing lately, and what foods you have eaten. You might find a correlation between you symptoms and what you are doing. (Usually you don't feel the symptoms until awhile after you have been stressed, at least that's how it is for me, it's like your body builds it up until it can't take it any longer.)
5. If your symptoms don't go away or get worse, go to a doctor. They can prescribe something stronger to help you and may even find a deeper issue at hand. But like a lot of people said there is not much doctors know about how all this is related and should be treated so understand that they might not be able to do as much as you would like.
I hope what I have said will help you and that your pain will go away soon!!
To treat my HEARTBURN symptoms she told me I could take Prilosec OTC or Zantac 175. This would help with the heartburn which would then help with the anxiety. If after 2 weeks on Prilosec and/or 4 weeks of taking Zantac (don't take them at the same time because they are the same thing, just take one or the other, or in my case take one first and then the other) my symptoms went away. I also chose to eat things that wouldn't irritate my stomach (I stayed away from caffeine, fried food, acidic food, pop, etc.). The bad news is that heartburn and anxiety come and go. They never get fully treated. So my doctor said if my symptoms returned I could begin taking the medicine again and if that still didn't help I should come and see her for other treatment options.
As for the ANXIETY, I went to a psychologist and had group sessions where I learned about panic and anxiety and ways to cope with them. Basically you need to view the situations that make you anxious in a different light by breaking them down and getting to the root of your anxious thinking. An example of this would be say you are really anxious about loosing your job or breaking up with you significant other. Then on a scale of 1-100 you rate how anxious you are about it. After that you go through the things that make you anxious about it. Job-if I don't have a job I won't be able to pay for rent, food, clothes, etc. Break up- I won't ever be happy again, they must not love me, I would die if I lost them, I'm not good enough, etc. Then you break down those thoughts even further and say well if I do loose my job what can I still pay for, are their other jobs I can get, etc. Same with the break up- if we did break up I would still be able to date other people, I'm not actually going to die if we break up, they weren't good enough for me... Then you re-evaluate your anxiety level on the same 1-100 scale on the issue- hopefully your anxiety should have gone down after you thought through the situation. I think that those are the key points in that process, but there are many other ways in which to reduce anxiety drug-free just by changing your thinking.
Key points from this are that instead of thinking "what if" you should think "what then" because you will be thinking more reasonably about the situation. Also it is important to recognize that there are really things to be anxious about- anxiety is good- if we didn't have it our lives would be boring- we just need to have a healthy level of it and not over think things.
My best advice to anyone suffering the symptoms mentioned in other people's comments and mine are:
1. Try and relax. Take a bath, do something that calms you down.
2. Don't dwell on the negative it will just make the pain worse.
3. Eat a better diet. Heartburn has a lot to do with these symptoms so if you can eat less fatty, acidic foods and stay away from caffeine and alcohol you should begin to feel better.
4. Write it down- document when you feel the pain, what you have been doing lately, and what foods you have eaten. You might find a correlation between you symptoms and what you are doing. (Usually you don't feel the symptoms until awhile after you have been stressed, at least that's how it is for me, it's like your body builds it up until it can't take it any longer.)
5. If your symptoms don't go away or get worse, go to a doctor. They can prescribe something stronger to help you and may even find a deeper issue at hand. But like a lot of people said there is not much doctors know about how all this is related and should be treated so understand that they might not be able to do as much as you would like.
I hope what I have said will help you and that your pain will go away soon!!
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