odd feeling below sternum....

[kevin84]

Ok I think this has been going on for about a week or so maybe more...first let me say I have been under a lot of stress due to being unemployed and the money situation and my fiancee being stressed out giving me a hard time and what not. I mean I do have a lot of stress contributors so my mind should say its stress related but it doesn't I want to think its life threatening. Its hard to define the exact location of where the pain is but ill try...ok where your top 2 abdomen muscles meet it would be in the middle of those 2 abdomen muscles (where your sternum is at maybe 2 inches below it) and it feels like a little ball of dull pain that i can feel radiate into my esophagus I also feel a little nauseated at times...it seems to almost be the same spot that when I have a panic attack that is where the adrenaline comes from. So after looking at the human anatomy online checking different views I can only think its something with my adrenal glands or my liver because that is what is located there. Anyhow while writing this I have added the pancreas to my list of villains for the pain...I dont know I am just scared because I have felt light-headed anxious scared nervous plus this pain for a while now and it is wearing me out. I hate not knowing what it could be and thinking what it might be.

[Blah7886]

Have you been diagnosed with GERD? Heartburn, reflux, all of that fun stuff?? I have been diagnosed with it and I get a weird feeling below my sternum...almost like I swallowed a rock and it stuck right there.

[kjohop]

I was going to say GERD as well. I get fluttering there or tenderness with my GERD even though I do not necessarily have typical relfux symptoms.

Pretty sure liver/pancreas pain would be on the right side. I had my gallbladder out lasat spring and all my pain was right upper quadrant.. they checked all those things as that is where the pain typically presents itself.

Sorry to hear you are stressed. 
Hang in there.

[kevin84]

its been a long time since i had test done for acid reflux...I mean probably 8 years or so and they said on those test they did see a little acid reflux. I just don't know its a new symptom to me I haven't been checked for GERD but it might be because below the sternum in that spot is where it originates and I can feel pressure/discomfort in between my chest and it only is relieved by internal gas release or belching...its weird because its like around the middle of the chest where your heart would be I always get this gas build up that results in like an internal release like a burp but sometimes I do not belch and sometimes I do...that has been going on for a while now. I realized a while back that I tend to breath through my mouth a lot instead of through my nose so I wonder if that has anything to do with it so if I catch myself breathing through my mouth ill close my mouth and breath through my nose (I did while writing this post).

I am just worried about this feeling in the abdomen area..blah and kjohop does your pain feel near the skin surface or feel like towards the center of your body cause my pain feels like it comes deep within that area and just feels like a ball is just sitting there.

[kjohop]

it depends..I guess it is deeper then just below the skin.. I do know this though..
I get all sorts of strange feelings in that area.. especially when anxious. I have even called my PCP convinced that I had a hernia there b/c it felt like a knot was there and i had a hard time stretching out that area and it is so tight sometimes that I had a hard time doing my diapraghm breathing b/c it was so tight and sore.. then I would get like a fluttering feeling and like air bubbles coming up?
I truly believe that swallowing air is absolutely involved as well as stress. Some people are just shallower breathers and tend to swallow air when stressed.. part of anxiety or cause or whatever. If you have a little GERD and anxiety it can absolutely cause your symptoms.
But the bigger picture is this.. no matter what I say or anyone else says.. what will give you peace of mind? If you are really concerned then get it checked. My rule is this. if I have symptoms that are continously bothersome.. I go to the doctor and get it checked. But I only go once.. do what they say and try to let it go and trust them without checking and rechecking.  Easier said then done obviously.
Hope you feel better soon and please feel free to ask me any other questions.

[tmicrowave]

hey yeah. i think i have this too
and i'm always worrying about my heart
so i fear that
but i've recently come to the conclusion that it must be stomach related

i get it, it feels like kind of a slight pinching or something
always at the "bottom" of the sternum, feels like where the muscles meet. like you said