Update on chest pain moderate back pain and tight breathing sensations.. responses/suggestions appreciated :)

I just got my stress test results and they were normal on Bruce protocol 15 min 180 beats per min 180/66 on treadmill at 15 min, so my doctor does not want to do any further heart tests. Unfortunately I have still been having chest and mild back pain and some intermittent tight breathing sensations usually when I feel pain, although they are a bit improved from last week, especially when I lie down with a heating pad and work on breathing through my stomach.

My family doctor feels that the chest pain and mild back pain and breathless sensations are not from a serious cause given the fore-mentioned tests. He strongly feels that my depression, anxiety compounded by Hypochondria, along with acid reflux a rough gastroscope 3 weeks ago when i severely gagged and coughed perhaps caused some inflammation along with possible ouespohegal spasms and the chest muscle tightness from 5 weeks of extreme non stop anxiety and hypochondria are causing my chest/back pain

I started massage therapy today twice a week for a month to try and help with the moderate back pain i have had.

The diagnostic tests I have had to date in the past 5 weeks are:

1) Full Abdominal & Chest CT scan with contrast:  unremarkable except for under 3mm benign nodule in right lung (Granuloma)

2) Chest x ray: negative/unremarkable

3) 4 ecg's over 3 weeks when I was having pain with the heart panel blood work were all normal/okay
  
4) Stress test (Bruce Protocol):  Normal

5) Stomach Gastroscope normal except for a small hiatial hernia and the reflux I have had for   8+ years. The Biopsy was negative for Pylori.

6) Abdominal Ultrasound: Unremarkable

7) Numerous blood work including the following normal blood tests... calcium, PTH, glucose 2 hour plasma test (to rule out diabeits) , all Lytes urea creatinine, albumin, lipase, Amylase, magnesium, ferritin, tsh, ck, esr, ld, b12, cholesterol was ok (except for a slightly low HDL)  ldl normal.  

8) The only abnormal blood results as usual were slightly elevated alt ast and alk phos from a benign fatty liver, which were confirmed by a liver biopsy 5 years ago. Since I have lost weight from 220 to 190 last year those liver markers have actually steadily decreased

I do feel positive about these results, but the chest pain sharp to dull still worries me a bit. I don't think given the detailed tests that I have  anymore tests to do and the fact my family doctor says anything serious has been ruled out and he won't order any other tests anyway. He is trying to get me set up in the next month with my old psychiatrist who after a year away is moving back to my area hospital in early June.  

Lastly my family Dr.mentioned that overall, other than being a male 40 and the stress anxiety depression issues, which I have, that my overall risk for heart disease is relatively low given the tests to date and no family member has heart disease and I don't smoke or drink, no diabetis, good weight, relatively low carb diet, cholesterol ok (except hdl slightly low) and exercise when I resume it will help increase the hdl etc..

Until the chest pain goes away though I am kind of scared to continually exercise?

If any member or doctor has any further suggestions I would be happy to hear from you and thanks so much for the responses on my other post, much appreciated.

[Broken3995]

Wow a lot of tests. I wish you luck I do not have any advice but I do wish you luck and glad the tests came back with good results.
Good luck!

[Hegarty]

Hi Mark,

As you know I don't suffer with anxiety or hypochondria, my husband does. So, I'll give my advice based on my experiences with my husband. He too gets chest pains or tight chest, as well as other symptoms. He has also had a few tests done to rule out any serious disease/illness. All the tests he had done were negative, so nothing found. He likes going to the gym and also worried it would cause problems with his chest pain, amongst other things. My suggestion to him was start off doing a small amount of cardio vascular exercise, say 10 mins. Then change to do weights. Gradually increase the duration of energetic exercise until its back to what you normally would do. I also told him I knew he would get the symptoms he was concerned about but would see even though he got them, nothing serious would happen. Also, to try and come up with a short phrase he could say to himself when he experienced the chest pain etc to focus his mind on that and not how he was feeling. Something like "Although I am experiencing chest pain I know from the medical tests I have had I am ok and can exercise". Hope this helps, even if its only a tiny bit.

[bastet56]

I too have chest pain and tightness and like you I went thru cardiac stress tests recently which also came back normal. The result was that my pain is stress related. Knowing that my pain is not serious has allowed me to relax somewhat when the attacks come and to realize that I am ok and need think about just what is going on at that time that might be setting me off. Sometimes they just happen with no cause but sometimes it's because I am upset and anxious about something that is happening around me or I am thinking about something that has happened or I am in a situation that makes me anxious. I have no cure, but rest assured you are not alone. Good luck to you.

[Mark2929]

Thanks for the responses. I wish there was more.

I am still having chest and back pain. I saw my doctor today and he says I have to accept after all of the tests that that while the pain is real, it is of  a benign nature and my anxiety depression and hypochondria are making the pain worse. He did prescribe some massage therapy and suggested a chiropractor might help.

I suggested a bone scan but he said that the chest x-ray and chest CT with contrast would have picked up any chest bone or thoracic spine problems and that my blood work including alk phos for bone, calcium and pth were normal so he says the pain is not coming from the bones. He suggested I relax and over time the pain will begin fade away. My stress test was also confirmed normal.

[Mark2929]

I just started massage and Chiro to help with the chest/back pain and tight breathing. Today I had a back massage and the pain went away for a couple of hours, it was great but now seems to be coming back. The therapist said my back is in knots and everything is very tight and will take some time along with Chiropractic adjustments to see if I can benefit.

I am still nervous, (especially about the chest pain) but given all the aforementioned tests I am trying to remain positive. Saw my family doctor again today and he reiterated he will not do any further tests. He feels that anxiety depression hypochondria are making this worse and the likely cause  is a bad back/ gerd, ousopegal spasms, chest tightness from extreme anxiety and worry etc etc, sll benign causes. I have to admit that I have had allot of tests etc

Any further suggestions are welcome and thanks for the responses to date.

[Mark2929]

Any further suggestions would be appreciated