Left Arm Pain and Shoulder Pain

[hikari89]

Hello all. First time posting so I hope I am doing this correctly for the convenience of others.
I've been having pains in my left shoulder blade area for quite some time ... probably from last month. I went to the ER and at that time they couldn't find anything wrong with me. At that time I had chest pains problems breathing, basically symptoms of a heart attack. They did an AKG, chest x-ray, blood/urine lab tests and couldn't find anything wrong. Since then the pain hasn't gone away completely. I also suffer panic attacks.
- Yesterday I had left arm/shoulder pain all day and heart palpitations.
- Today my arm has been getting pain off and on.
- The pain feels most prominent in my upper arm.Also my left arm feels fatigued sometimes. Weak.
- The pain is not enough to keep me awake.
I don't know if I am just worrying over nothing or if there could possibly be something really wrong. I'm not sure what it could be especially if I have been getting pain for two month and nothing has happened yet.. I was thinking possible blood clot?  But I have no discolorations or swelling. Or maybe a bone out of place in my back?
Maybe its a pinched nerve?
I can't really go see the doctor as I have no health insurance.
In any case, any suggestions or questions are welcome.

[Glenislay]

I know what it is like to go through what you are going through.  Depending on your age, physical condition, and family history, you can often put a lot of weight into those factors.  Having pain in the right place can easily cause anxiety and some anxiety symptoms that make it even harder to figure it out.  There are also many many reasons for the symptoms that may not be serious.  

Sometimes trying tylenol, then advil, then just plain aspirin to see if one makes a difference and notating which if any helped. You may want to journal throughout the day every day to see if you can spot anything that makes it better or worse. I found one time that a laundry detergent or fabric softener with my shirts was causing my chest and arm to burn and hurt because I noticed after a shower, it was always better. Other things to watch might be food or other behaviors that could be a factor.  I once figured out through journaling that getting a little too hard of back massage was pushing my chest on the floor and making it sore for days.  Another time I read where two days before I was doing something repetitively and the soreness/pain was delayed.  

If it is a nerve problem like with brachial plexus or a host of other nerve possibilities, pain killers may not make a difference, and you should splurge and see a doctor and tell him you have tried different nsaids pain killers and they didn't work, plus anything you have gleaned from journaling to make your doctor visit a better value.  You might explain you have been journaling because of no insurance so he understands why you have so many details to try to figure it out.  

Doing a little research on the net might help you with things to help with anxiety such as nutrition, exercise, and relaxation activities.   I have found however that researching chest/left arm pain can cause a panic attack in itself because of all the dreaded first listed possibilities.

I hope by the time you read this, your symptoms and cause are gone.  It is no fun to have pain in those areas.  My situation turned out to be a nerve problem, but I had to go through the anxiety, panic attack, depression possibilities from a doctor first to get it figured out.  Whenever I had nerve pain in the mid chest area, I would break into a sweat and my heart would race just because I was wondering if it could be the big one.  After a while I got used to it and knew it wasn't.  If your stomach isn't sensitive, taking a baby aspirin each day is good until you get a doctor's input.  At least carry one around with you.  Office appointments are sometimes not as much as one would think, and it is better to be safe than sorry.