Question
I have been going through unusual levels of stress. Around the same time, I developed a severe pain in my shoulder and neck. I shrugged it off (no pun intended), but it got worse as I was boarding a plane to return home yesterday. I had a professional massage, but there was no relief. Could it be that high stress and anxiety could cause severe muscle pain?
Erik.
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Eric,
Absolutely! You have no idea how much and what body systems can be affected by stress.
From the beginning of time, man was equpped with a defense mechanism we refer to as 'THE FIGHT OR FLIGHT SYNDROME". What this means is that when confronted with unsure or upsetting situations, the body prepares to do what is necessary to survive. The first thing that happens is your heart rate rises, many chemicals are released into the bloodstream by various organs to be ready for action, and your muscles tense so that you are ready to fight or run.
A real good example of this is when someone startles you by jumping out and yelling BOO!
Everything in you tenses, your heart goes fast and you have a funny feeling all over. It quickly goes away because in a few seconds you realize that there is no real danger and you calm down.
What you are experiencing however, is long term. No immediate resolution, so those processes are prolonged and they begin to take their toll.
Persons who clench or grind teeth will develop jaw pain, some like you will develop muscle pain most often in the neck and shoulders which can also cause headaches. Some will develop stomach problems.
I once had a long term stress problem and developed skipped heart beats to the point where I would become dizzy and almost lose consciousness. I thought I had cardiac problems. It was all stress related and once the stress was releived, I was OK. It does return when I have been stressed for a long period.
If you look in the archives of the 'Read-Only' part of my forum, you will find an article I wrote on stress and how to deal with it. Check it out. There is some real good info there.
Massage may help over time, medication may offer some releif. But the ultimate goal is to releive the stress to any degree.
Please let me know if I can be of further help.
Keeping you safe, healthy, and on the road. Nurse RedVisit us at
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I've been through the routine of having bypass surgury, 10 yrs ago. This last spring I came in from a trip, I had been having some back and shoulder pain. That weekend I went to the emergency room three times, convinced that I was having another heart attack. I had all of the classic symptoms, mostly pain in various places. After all was said and done, it turned out to be stress related, mostly big city deliverys I think. Good luck and be sure to have things checked out
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You need a professional medival evaluation. Pain such as you describe is GENERALLY not cardiogenic in nature, but occasionally is the result of a lack of oxygen to certain parts of the heart. This is reflected in pain in other parts of the body (the linkages are called dermatomes) and these include the left shoulder (generally) left arm, chin, and very ocassionally the neck. Cardiogenic pain is generally constant or increasing, IS NOT POSITIONALLY RELIEVED OR RELIEVED BY MASSAGE and requires professional treatment. One tool used in the emergency room is to administer a nitroglycerine tablet under the tongue which vasodilated the blood vessels to the heart increasing oxygen supply. If the pain goes away, it is by definition cardiogenic. Such pain can also be caused by lack of calcium, which can be rectified by drinking a glass or two of milk. Stress causes restriction of blood vessels, puts tissue into oxygen deficiency and the products of anaerobib metabolism (metabolism in the absence of oxygen) build up, generally potassium, toxic products and acidic products. I have found that a hot sauna followed by ice cold water, followed by a hot sauna will flush the lymphatic system (alternately causing squeezing and expansion of the tissues, forcing out toxins) and is a non-traditional remedy for such stress pains. Massage, of course, always helps. You might also try range of motion exercises with the head THROUGH THE LIMITS OF PAIN and ahostr periods of axial traction. You can get a non-prescription axial traction device for about forty bucks. It separates the vertebrae. Your symptoms could also come from compression syndrome, which will not show on an x-ray.
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Erik,
You have received lots of good info and advice here. But I am curious as to how you are feeling now, Please update us.
To NEW YORK-It seems you have much knowledge on alternate methods of treatment practices. Something I don't have. Please come back in often to respond to the posters here. I think it would be very good for the posters and readers to have all treatment options made known to them. I know I will learn a lot as my background is based on traditional
medical practices. Thanks for your input.
Nurse RedVisit us at
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A couple of years ago, I had to go to the doctor for pain along my ribs on my left side. At first my paranoid mind automatically thought I must have some sort of cancer. My doctor and I were both convinced I must have a cracked rib, until a bone scan indicated otherwise. We eventually decided it was caused by stress. Sometimes it shows up on the other side.
I had an even better demonstration of it recently when I underwent a very stressful prep session for a deposition in a lawsuit. By the end of the session, I had a headache that ran from the top of my head to my waist -- including that familiar "rib cancer"!
It's amazing the things that stress can do to your body. I've found that regular exercise helps me deal with stress. (I don't always DO it, but I know it helps when I do!)
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Hi Nurse Red!!
My stress is under control now, and I no longer have any pain in my shoulder, (gee I wonder why ).
Erik.
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Erik,
Glad to hear things have worked out for you and that you are OK.
I'd like to share my story about the weird things stress can do to your body.
About 15 years ago, I was working critical care and ER as a nurse. I was trying to raise three kids (15, 3, and 4). My husband was an alcoholic with a mean streak and was no help what-so-ever to me or the children. My oldest son was getting into lots of problems and I was working very hard to get him straightened out in spite of our home life. This was a constant state of affairs for over a year. I kept dealing with it and it became the'norm' for me, or so I thought.
I began having dizzy spells in the morning while packing everyone's lunches and getting the little guys and myself ready for the day. At first I would lay down and feel better shortly. Thought nothing of it because I have always carried a low blood pressure that often caused this problem. At first it happened once or twice a week. Then it became daily. I then noticed my heart was skipping beats. I could feel it in my chest and in my pulse. I tried taking vitamins and eating better. It continued until I passed out cold at work one day. I woke up in my own ER hooked to monitors and all kinds of stuff. Actually, I was not skipping beats, there were extra ones. Nothing that indicates heart disease, but is indicative of 'something'. My labwork came back fine, so did x-rays and all the other tests. It was baffling the doctors. Finally, one of the Docs that had worked with most often began asking me what was going on at home. I told him and he nodded. He then told me that he felt all of this was due to stress and prescribed a new anti-anxiety medication for me. I resisted adamantly stating that I could not function safely at work if I was doped up. He assured me that taken correctly, I wouldn't even notice the effects of this medicine. I would just begin to feel better about everything.
He was right. I took the medication for six months and was doing fine. My son got straightened out, my husband left me for my best friend, I moved away from the area and nearer to my family. Then.....guess what! I no longer needed the medication. However, to this day, I can tell when I have alowed myself to get stressed out because the symptoms will return briefly. As soon as they appear, I know I need to slow down and ease up. Stress does very strange things to our bodies, but if we pay attention, our body will let us know when it has had enough. You now have your own early warning system, Erik.
Nurse RedVisit us at
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GOOD LORD NURSE RED!!! I am a Paramedic and I used to work in an E.R. just the few opening lines about C.C.U. and E.R. work plus three kids got me stressed out! I know what you mean. glad you're feeling better now.
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sawbones25
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There is a real good book out about stress and back pain called HEALING BACK PAIN by a Dr.Sarno MD. His idea is that back pain is the end point of a chain reaction that starts in your head and leads to pain in your back. That isn't saying that the pain is all in your head, but when you are under stress, the brain tries to protect you from stressing out and sends these emotions as a chemical message through the nervous system (to which it is connected)to another point in your body to try to diffuse your reaction. I started developing severe pain in my lower back when I was driving for a company I couldn't stomach anymore and I was going through a bad divorce. When I changed jobs,divorced and moved to another state, my back pain went away. Just think about what else is going on in your life that could be stirring things up (besides the stress of driving). If you think about it the back represents the support of life, and if you are having back pain, ask yourself: Do you feel totally unsupported by Life? Do you feel a lack of financial support? Do you feel a lack of emotional support? Sometimes it may do the trick just to understand that the pain can be fixed once your brain stops sending the wrong messages to your back and the only way you can do that is to try to understand the real nature of the problem and try to make some mental/emotional changes.
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Jersey Kid,
You have some excellent points here. It is very true that your back is the 'support system' of your body. And in even more ways than what your post refers to. Think about this. You injure your shoulder so you begin to do everything with one hand. You splint that side of your body. It causes you to move in ways that your body is not accustomed too. Where do you first notice the additional pain? Somewhere in your back or neck.
The same goes for a leg, hip or foot injury.
If you are favoring an injured limb, it will throw everything you do more to the uninjured side and put unusual strain on the back because you change your natural alignment. The body is an amazing machine. It is very finely tuned if you think about all the things it does and how all the innner systems operate and depend on each other. It can take a lot of abuse, but it will let you know when things are not quite right too. The trick is, like you say, to figure out the causes, acknowledge them and then do your best to fix what you can.
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Keeping you safe, healthy, and on the road.
Nurse Red
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