Costochondritis , Anxiety , ERs

Bones, joints and muscles
1

Hello All , 

First of all thank you admin for having such a wonderful forum. Somehow I navigated to this website via google while I was searching for my symptoms.

I understand this forum is to discuss and share your thoughts and I am not totally relying on thoughts made here. I am still supervised under my Doctor.. Any help or kind words appreciated.

About Me :

Age : 30 , Male

Weight : 200 lb , Height = 6 ft

Activities : Used to do weight lifting , Running etc.

For about last 4-5 years I am having some sort of dull pain around my left upper chest , shoulder , arm area. This is not consistent pain. It comes stays for month , 15 days and goes away but I remember its there since long time ...This pain is always changing its positions , sometimes its on my back side , sometimes its on upper left chest . If I press it firmly I can feel that pain area .

My First visit to doctor - DEC 2014 : 

Frequent chest fluttering , left side pain... sudden nightmares whiles sleeping and feels like I was having heart attack. This happened multiple times for 2 nights 

Consulted to doctor , performed EKG , Blood Pressure  and result was everything normal . So as doctor suggested I started working on Exercise , meditations etc..

Emergency Visits for last 2 months ( July , August ) :

I somehow managed to live with this pain for years without any worry but it was 2 months back while I had chest pressure , dizziness and I was scared if I had heart attack. So went to ER did TROPONIN , EKG , Several X - Rays , Nuclear Stress test but everything came as a normal. 

Blood pressure was rose but doctor said its because I got panic and said its anxiety attack

This happened 3 times when I went to ER and doctor said its nothing to worry as all tests are normal.

Now behind the scenes my mind always thinks about this pain , I contineously monitor my heartbeats via apple watch and had many visits to check my blood pressure with my family doctor. In between I was diagnosed with H Pylori bacteria which caused chest pressure and Gas symptoms .

I am still worried about what is happening , is it something related to heart , elevated heart bits , fluttering  and left side pain is it Anxiety + Costochondritis effect ? 

Thank You.. Any help/ kind words appreciated smile

2

This could be me writing this. I am going through the same thing. I’ve had countless e c gs and other heart tests. My rheumatologist says it’s all Costo related and my heart is fine. But then I’m told the raise in my heart rate isn’t connected to my Costo. They won’t do anymore tests and I’m at my wits end. I’m sorry for your suffering and have my total empathy. 

3

You sound exactly like I used to be before I realised it was celiac disease. I was misdiagnosed with costo and many other things. I was also rushed to hospital after collapsing, and it looked and felt like a heart attack at the time. My advice is - keep a food and feelings diary. See if you notice these feelings hitting you within several hours of eating products containing gluten. It could be other foods doing you damage like goitrogens. I recommend that you get yourself both a celiac and a gluten sensitivity test through your doctor. It's important to keep eating gluten before the tests, otherwise they won't work. In the meantime, have a look at this.

https://glutendude.com/celiac/celiac-disease-symptoms/

All the best Kunal,

Tony

4

Sorry to hear you're going through this too. I also suffer from anxiety and was diagnosed with Costo in July 2017. No matter how many EKGs I have done, I still feel like it's heart related everytime my pain flares up. I found a natural pill called Hylands Calms that really helps with my anxiety. Might wanna look into that. Good luck.

5

I can relate to this. I finally went to a Dr after I couldn't stand the pain anymore. ( 2 months) I was told it is Costo related. EKGs come back abnormal and oxygen level down to 85%. Told not heart related? Im on a steriod,anti inflam and take tylenol  every 4 hours for the pain. Ice packs are the only thing that helps me. I agree with the body pillow

. Go back in tomorrow for a  follow up - very nervous

6

This was me a year ago. Started two years ago with a viral infection.

Now I am fine most days, but I still have bad (painful, heart rate all over the place kind of) days. I believe that I actually have a milder form of fibromyalgia and/or post viral fatigue. If you read up on those, you'll see that they can go hand-in-hand with all of our symptoms that do not really agree with costo as it's described in the text books. I think it's a spectrum sort of thing and what you see more of is the costo side, but that does not mean that you do not have the other symptoms in some form. I was on beta blockers for a year for elevated heart rate, but I managed to wean myself off of it. Anxiety is very understandable if you have costo but I feel that doctors like to label people with anxiety more often than necessary. Good luck!

7

Hope your follow up goes well 🤞

8

Thanks a lot Tonatius . You made a good idea to track food and feelings notebook. I will surely work on it.

9

Thanks Lisa for your prompt attention to this thread. I have started some Yoga , Meditations etc. I will look for this med Hylands if its available in USA.

10

I agree with your point that they unnecessarily label people with Anxiety. Thanks a lot for your kind words

11

Hi Shelly , 

Yes I am exactly at the end where doctors are saying there are no tests left . I just need to work on my anxiety