Nothing Left To Do

I have been have chest discomfort for almost an ENTIRE year now EVERY single day of my life since it has began. I have been in and out of the doctors office and ER once and I really cant take it anymore cause its still just as bad. The pain radiates from the left side of chest up to left shoulder, neck , and sometimes left arm. I have had Chest Xray, EKG, CT Scan, Stress Test, Echo, and Bloodwork. Everything came back perfect on all of those. Doctors started telling me it was coming from my esophogus so I recently had a Endoscopy done. It came back with some plaque in the esophogus so they put me on a prescription Ive been on for about two weeks and the pain is still here more then ever. I really dont think the plaque has anything to do with it. I dont know what to do next, doctors all say the same thing I feel like they dont know what there talking about anymore cause Ive been to so many and they arent doing anything for me. I wonder if I should go back to a cardiologist cause it just seems like it cant be anything then cardiac related with these symptoms. It does feel worse after I would smoke marijuana occasionally but I quit that, it also does till this day after I drink alcohol. Im only 20 years old, well fit and active and weigh 160lbs. I just need to get this right its almost like im suffering in a way day in and day out. Please help if you can with some advice it would be greatly appreciated.

[Barbarella]

Since all your tests came back negative and you have been checked out throughly for your heart you could have an anxiety issue.  Anxxiety and stress can cause all the symptoms you have.

[Happy2girls]

I agree with Barbarella.  You should post your story over on the Anxiety forum and see what responses you receive.  At the very least you will see that there are plenty of others in your shoes.  Good luck to you.  

[caregiver222]

Obtain some nitroglycerine tablets, which are placed under the tongue. When you are experiencing thepain, sit down and use ONE tablet. If the pain diminishes or ends the problem is likely cardiogenic, regardless of what the tests say. I would agree that your symptoms appear to be cardiogenic, but they may not be. I would liketo explore the pain descripotion in more detail and am interested  knowing if the pain is constant, if it changes, or if it is positionally relieved?

[Tarheelguy1967]

Not sure I agree w/ caregiver about obtaining nitro tablets.  I think those should be prescribed for people w/ confirmed heart disease and used when the symptoms warrant.  I don't think they should be used as a self -diagnosis tool (except maybe under the care of a doc using it for some type of diagnosis).  Plus, I've been told nitro tablets relieve symptoms other than cardiac as well.  If you are absolutely committed to this not being anxiety, keep pushing the docs to do further testing and keep looking.  Given your testing and very young age (20), I highly doubt this is cardiac in nature, but stranger things have happened.  What I recommend you not do is use a site like this to diagnose a problem - this is more of an advice site.  I'd look around until you find a doc you are comfortable with who is as committed as you to finding out what is causing your problems.  Glad to hear you quit taking marijuana, and recommend limiting how much you drink for both health reasons and because you are underage.  Plaque on the esophogus can cause some of the symptoms you are experiencing - not sure two weeks on the meds is a sufficient period to make such a strong determination.  Maybe you need to adjust your GERD meds to find something that works for you.  But again, bottom line is to find a doctor in person who is willing to work with you until they find a solution (which may or may not include anxiety).

[sugarpea013]

Yeah who the heck are you caregiver to tell someone to try nitro?! OH my goodness I have chest pain too most of the time and if someone gave me nitro there is a VERY real chance I would develop a lethal arrhymia due to the fact I have a cardiac disorder.

I am with tarheelguy~These symptoms sound very much anxiety related. You have had all the tests to rule out heart disease. It is a hard thing to accept,but anxiety can and will cause you to feel very scary things.

[OverIt236]

I want to thank you all for taking the time to answer and give some good advice. My family has been telling me the entire time its anxiety related because im a very anxious person. It is just weird to me how smoking and drinking can make the pain intense by that min or by the next morning depending on which one it was. Your probably right about the MEDS I still have at least a month of taking them maybe more to determine if that is helping at all. To answer your question above the pain used to stick around a while back but for the last 8 months it comes and goes soemtimes I can handle it for the most part and sometimes its hard. Ive been noticing lately that my left leg gets some pain to right behind my knee cap. I dont know if its related but its still weird to me. Thanks again for everything so far.

[fjhepburn]

"The pain radiates from the left side of chest up to left shoulder, neck , and sometimes left arm."  Have you had anything done that could effect your body in an unusual way?  For example, did these symptoms start after dental work?   I.e., I developed shingles, a skin nerve infection with rash, after some inappropriately done dental work.  I suffered like yourself, with a diagnosis unknown, for several years before a DMD friend from church found my problem.  You just have to do your reasonable best at seeking at answer to the problem.  Another example, I've found that 81 mg of aspirin per day will aleviate optical migraines, which severely effects  my vision for hours.  I've llearned that aspirin can thin the blood, which helps me.  You may have to find those things that will help you.  

[vienna13]

I don't know about nitroglycerine tablets, but I would like to know myself who is caregiver222, because it seems to me  from all his/her posts( that I like to read) he/she knows exactly what he/she is talking about.
But as a nature of that board we can or we do not must tell more about ourselves, even though we wish he/she would.  :)

  

[Flycaster305]

If I have any chest pain, I take a nitroglycerine tablet, which is exactly what my cardiologist suggests.  

[Tarheelguy1967]

Agree - me too.  But we were prescribed nitro (I'm assuming "we") by our cardiologist.  I don't think everyone w/ undiagnosed chest pains should be popping nitro - can't imagine that being the right/safe way to diagnose yourself.