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Uncomfortable Feeling In The Chest, Pressure And Chocking. X Ray And Heart Monitoring Normal. Is Anxiety Related To This, Advice?

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Posted on Thu, 12 Jul 2012
Question: I have an uncomfortable feeling in my chest, almost all days. It is located in my upper left chest above the heart and towards the center of the chest cavity. I don't feel it during the night. I had chest X-rays and heart monitored and nothing seemed wrong. Weirdly it seems like the effort supersedes the uneasiness. It happened 4 months ago and it is continuous since. I have the feeling that it is a pressure and sometimes it chokes me and I feel the urge to cough to get relief. I can breathe deeply with no problem. I had comprehensive pulmonary testing and heart testing and all seemed well. I seem to have higher anxiety since this happened.I am a menopausal 50 year old, active person but I feel tired often.I also have really bad back pain in the center of my back when I wake up and during hiking if carring a heavy backpack.
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Answered by Dr. Ashwini Kolur (31 minutes later)
Hello
Thanks for your query.

I will try my best to provide you with best possible professional recommendations to your questions.

As you have gone through lot of investigation and all of them have turned normal i think you might be experiencing anxiety induced chest pain.

Anxiety does have the ability to make your chest hurt and it does this in generally through
1.Gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD causes your stomach to create excess acid which is “backed” up into your esophagus which in turn creates heart burn and chest pain.
2.Esophageal spasm
3.Stress itself, over a prolonged period of time can cause muscle tightness and tension.

Stress can lead to all kinds of aches and pains all over, including the chest area and in the back.

Backache while carrying heavy backpack is normal you need not to worry about that.

You should relax and accept that not all chest pain is heart related. In my opinion you should try to put your mind at ease so you can reduce your stress level which would decrease the anxiety symptoms that create chest pain.

Yet again, I do hope that you have found something helpful and I will be glad to answer any further query.

Hope i have cleared your queries. If you do not have any clarifications, you can close the discussion and rate the answer

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
Answered by
Dr.
Dr. Ashwini Kolur

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2008

Answered : 1014 Questions

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Uncomfortable Feeling In The Chest, Pressure And Chocking. X Ray And Heart Monitoring Normal. Is Anxiety Related To This, Advice?

Hello
Thanks for your query.

I will try my best to provide you with best possible professional recommendations to your questions.

As you have gone through lot of investigation and all of them have turned normal i think you might be experiencing anxiety induced chest pain.

Anxiety does have the ability to make your chest hurt and it does this in generally through
1.Gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD causes your stomach to create excess acid which is “backed” up into your esophagus which in turn creates heart burn and chest pain.
2.Esophageal spasm
3.Stress itself, over a prolonged period of time can cause muscle tightness and tension.

Stress can lead to all kinds of aches and pains all over, including the chest area and in the back.

Backache while carrying heavy backpack is normal you need not to worry about that.

You should relax and accept that not all chest pain is heart related. In my opinion you should try to put your mind at ease so you can reduce your stress level which would decrease the anxiety symptoms that create chest pain.

Yet again, I do hope that you have found something helpful and I will be glad to answer any further query.

Hope i have cleared your queries. If you do not have any clarifications, you can close the discussion and rate the answer

Regards