I know I've been posting a lot lately...

[DizzyKangaroo]

I have this horrible burning pain in my back. It seems to originate somewhere in my left shoulder blade, right where it meets my back. It's a pretty much constant pain that radiates to my chest, right where my heart is, down my left arm, and occasionally up my neck. When I press the spot it seems to be originating from, I can feel small cracking sensations, but nothing actually moves. I've often posted about my lymph node concerns, and lately I've had quite a few swell up-- anywhere from four to six in my neck right now.

The burning in the chest worried me at first, but I was very recently at the doctor and my blood pressure was fine (120/70). I'm not overweight, either. My white blood cell count is fine, and hell, I'm only twenty-one, so I know I'm not at an age where I should really be worrying about anything sinister.

Still, the pain is very real. I haven't been injured at all lately; I can't imagine how this started. I can't stop imagining some sort of cancer or tumor (I imagine tumors don't crack when massaged, but my mind still goes there) growing inside me. Advil helps a little, along with very hard massages over the spot of origin. I don't really know where I'm going with all this, but has anyone had any experience with this? It's awful, and I can't stop imagining that I'm dying.

[Evap]

I'm 21 and really healthy too. During my really bad anxious bouts, my back feels like it's on fire for days at a time. It's just muscle tension.

[DizzyKangaroo]

The pain was so bad last night I nearly went to the ER. In the end I stuck it out through the night without sleeping, and went to a doctor today. It's a bad muscle spasm, and I'm on Motrin now to deal with the pain. I'm still nervous about the lymph nodes-- I'm not sick at the moment, but one is almost 2 cm and the neck around it is sore. However, I've been poking it a lot lately, so that may have contributed to it swelling up.

It really is incredible-- one moment I'm petrified about my back, and the moment I find out it's all right I immediately shift the fear to my neck. It's exhausting! I find myself worrying that I might have an infection, and because I'm not on antibiotics it'll get worse and I'll die. Which is very, very unlikely, but my mind is a strange place. It helps to post about it though-- it makes me realize how ridiculous I'm being!

[aunjypoo]

I made every single lymph node in my groin swollen at one point from poking and prodding them.. It's what started my most recent HA struggle.. Finally I told myself I am NOT going to touch these again.. And I slipped up for a couple days and touched them once or twice but eventually I forgot about it and Now all but one is back to normal and the one swollen one has always been big and the DR says it feels normal, nothing to worry about!

[DizzyKangaroo]

Yeah, I know that's probably the case. Another one of my irrational fears is that because my neck is slightly swollen/stiff on one side that I'm developing meningitis. I have a slightly sore throat and a cough, but no fever, and I'm pretty sure if I had meningitis I'd damn well know I had it. Oh, Health Anxiety. Thanks to everyone for their advice/thoughts-- I do recognize how silly I'm being!

[Evap]

I'm glad you figured out your back is fine! One if my main issues with my HA is that I realise how silly it is to honestly believe one can suffer a stroke, heart attack, MS, and 873 other diseases/illnesses in a single day!