Everything hurts

I am 23 with 2 kids under 3 yrs of age, I just feel like Im falling apart at the seams. My back is in non-stop pain my joints always hurt, I get headaches off and on, Im always exhausted no matter what and if I take a nap I feel more tired than I did before taking a nap even though I dont get one that often, every once in awhile I get heart palpatations that take my breath away and just recently I got this feeling like something is stuck in my throat/chest and it hurts.
It hurts to swallow eat/drink and sometimes to take a deep breath. I have a hard time getting bread down. It started about 3 days ago. There is no heart burn but before this started every once in awhile I would get a slight feeling of heart burn but it would go away just as fast as it came. I get the feeling that Im going to burp....you know the feeling that you can feel the bubble coming up your chest well I get that but no burp and it feels like it gets stuck right before my throat than hurts to the point where I hold my breath.
I have cancer along with other hereditary disorders that run in the family so that scares me a bit. Im just wondering if everything could be warning signs to something more serious or what??? All I know is Im tired of being tired and in pain.  

[J T Junig, MD PhD]

I have a feeling that my response will anger you-- because people are usually angered when a psychiatrist thinks that they have a psychiatric condition...  

It is very unlikely that you, at the age of 23, have a number of independent illnesses.  You might have one or two, but not  4, 5, or 6.  But you would have to have that many in order to account for all of your symptoms, unless we found you to have somatization disorder-- one illness that causes all of your symptoms.  

Most people have cancer and other heritable disorders in their families.  When you think about it, every person has a very long list of relatives who died over the past 100 years-- and everyone dies from something-- so most people have many illnesses in their family tree.  Also, most cancers do not cause the symptoms you are listing until very late stages, when the cancers are obvious.  That is why cancer is so deadly-- it is often free of symptoms for a long time, causing the diagnosis to be missed.  

The swallowing problem is usually related to anxiety-- the symptoms are called 'achalasia'.  Palpitations, heartburn, back pain, fatigue... again, these symptoms are signs of stress most of the time.  You mention having two children younger than 3, and being only 23 years old-- so you have plenty of reason to be worn out!

You probably need help-- help with the bills, help keeping the house picked up, help with the meals, and help with getting out of the house for some rest and relaxation now and then.  Do you have anyone who can help with those things, for maybe a short time?

Some meds can make a difference;  I recommend avoiding things like valium or xanax, but a prozac-like med, an SSRI, can often make a big difference.  They don't do anything for about a month though, so you must be patient when taking them, and take them consistently.

Narcotic pain medication would be about the worst thing for you right now, so don't let some doctor put you on vicodin!

[mommy80908]

Thank you :)
It does not anger me.
Now would the somatization disorder you mentioned be like a hypochondriac?? I know that Im not that I dont think I have every disorder in the book.