Sternum pain ,chest discomfort

[Adsingh]

So by introducing myself I am a 22 Year old random guy,obssessed with gyming and living an active and healthy life,lately in January I got diagnosed with typhoid and that led to a long break from gym and workout for me.I was always a cardiophobic (currently not my concern anymore) due to no obvious reasons/symptoms, you can put it as a hypochondriac, so the story starts post my typhoid recovery i got hit all of sudden from a sharp sternum pain in middle of my chest and that would come like a shooting pain in a specific way ,that's it i ran down all the possible tests i could chest xray,EkgEcho, Chest Mri (this month) and all came out perfectly normal,doc diganosed my pain as muskoskeletal and that would go with time,but what happened now was i have discovered several postures (like pigeonchest if i hunch over my chest),while sleeping,etc which would trigger a chest sensation for me which no more just a sternum pain but a constant feeling of discomfort and pain in my chest area,
I feel demotivated, i tired everything i could via an ortho and a cardiologist they didnt diagnosed me with any specific sever thing ,and just asked me ro ignore,but trying my best i again get to ground zero when i try to check my pain and its still there and it makes me freak out,i feel my life is off track,no gym etc,cant do studies ,i am spoiling my life,i have this constant fear of this turning out hoepless in future,it constantly bugs me,whenever i try to be happy when the pain inst there ,i would check it out/it would come on its own and i feel like the end would approach and i get really sad.


Please tell me is it due to tms ,because i cant find any cure or absolute reason for this sensation,it get worst if i sleep over my chest and then a movement occurs, sharp pain feels like something stabbed for few seconds or so,but i feel consumed .

 

[bobbyPT]

If you were already checked out by doctors and the tests were negative that is a good thing. Most likely TMS then. When that pain came on initially can you think of any current stressor that was going on at that time? Any triggers? That can help you figure out a cause but not necessary either. You are in a fear pain cycle now. The brain can remember this sensation and condition you to feel it with certain movements or postures. Goal is to try your best not to focus on the pain or lack of pain otherwise that will just continue the anxiety and pain itself. Get back to activities you enjoy at a gradual pace.

 

[Adsingh]

Yes when the pain started i was then going through a lot of stress and constant negative thoughts of my life ending (,idl why but i was having a lot of fever due to typhoid),all that got fixed but this never left me and now this is the only stressesr of my life.

If you were already checked out by doctors and the tests were negative that is a good thing. Most likely TMS then. When that pain came on initially can you think of any current stressor that was going on at that time? Any triggers? That can help you figure out a cause but not necessary either. You are in a fear pain cycle now. The brain can remember this sensation and condition you to feel it with certain movements or postures. Goal is to try your best not to focus on the pain or lack of pain otherwise that will just continue the anxiety and pain itself. Get back to activities you enjoy at a gradual pace.[/QUstarted i

 

[bobbyPT]

Sure that was a very traumatic experience especially for your age and how active you were. Symptom could have shown up as another way to keep you in a fear state and focused on your body vs dealing with the emotions. You can try the free recovery programs on here or read Dr. Sarno's books to get more information. As a PT doing this work I would say since you were cleared with everything else medically it would be helpful to gradually increase your activity to reduce the fear around being active. That is what works for most people.

 

[Adsingh]

Thanks sir,appreciate it

 

[JanAtheCPA]

Note: this post/question was duplicated in the General Discussion subforum where there is a different conversation taking place simultaneously with this one - which is a bit confusing.

The correct location for a support question is here in the Support subforum and thank you to @bobbyPT for your good advice to our new member. However, because the other conversation is still going on with multiple participants, I'm going to lock this thread with a redirect to the other one here: https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/sternum-pain-and-chest-discomfort.28243/#post-146714 (Sternum pain and chest discomfort)