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GP appointment on Wednesday, dreading it, please make me feel better

Hope

 

Today I took the brave decision to book an appointment with my GP for this Wednesday afternoon. The reason for the appointment is that I suffer from occasional stabbing pains under my left ***, over my ribs in the side. I have had these occasional pains for a very long time - at least 6 years. They sometimes happen when I laugh, change position, or breath in deeply. They rarely happen when I exercise, and mainly occur at rest or during gentle movement.

Last year I went to the GP about aches in my sturnum, which I also sometimes get, and she reassurred me there was nothing wrong with my heart. My blood pressure was healthy, and while she noticed my heart was beating fast ( I get palpitations when anxious, which I did tell her), the beats were regular. I left feeling as though a great weight had been lifted because I was worrying that I was going to have a heart attack.

My anxiety is mainly health related, but I also get anxious about social situations, the general stresses of life, and a multitude of things going wrong. I often hyperventilate or breath too fast, and I aware that all my bodily tension can create aches and pains. But my anxious half worries that there could be something wrong with me, however unlikely.

I am hoping the GP visit will confirm that the occasional stabbing pain in a localised part of my rib cage is simply anxiety. It is not always there, comes and goes, but sometimes I go days or weeks with no such pain, and then I have a few days where it happens with some frequency. I do not have any other worrying symptoms other than a fast heart rate.

I have read about something called precordial catch syndrome, and reckon that this is what I might have. It is the most common cause of pain caused by anxiety, and occurs beneath the left ***.

I am going with my support worker. I have a fear of doctors. I think I will explain that I have Asperger's - I told the receptionist this - because information has to be very concrete and precise.

I welcome your words of reassurance. Please say something that calms my nerves Foot in Mouth

  • Thanks longman.

    I do in fact have  hyponchondria, but of the sort that prevents me from visiting the GP, until eventually the anxiety grows to such an extent that I have to seek professional reassurance. It has got to that point now because I  am becoming increasingly house-bound, cancelling important appointments, all because I have this extreme fear that I have something wrong with me, and could collapse!. It is a mental form of OCD, without the obvious compulsions - pure O, I think they call it.

    I have not even told my parents about this fear, and have only just divulged some of my concerns to my support-worker, who will come with me to the GP. I pretend everything is ok because I don't like admitting to things.

  • But yes, precordial catch syndrome matches my symptoms exactly.

    On Tuesday night I got the sudden pain while watching TV in bed, and upon changing posture. It was there for a few minutes, but then resolved. I had no further such pains on Wednesday. But on Saturday evening, while standing and talking to my mum, I suddenly got the stabbing pain below my left *** again. I had to leave the room and take a few deep breaths, before it went away. On Sunday, the pains seemed to come and go, more in the side this time, and my side felt tender, achy and sore in general. I feel the same this morning, which is why I phoned the doctor. I had no pains when I was relaxed and lying in bed, before I got up.

    The pains prevent me from going out because of fear that I have something wrong with me. I just want the doctor to give me answers, not, 'oh, it's just anxiety'!

  • Thanks for the info IntenseWorld. I will mention it to the GP, and see what she says. The previous GP said 'it's just anxiety', which is not too helpful for the Asperger mind!. I need to  know why I get these pains, why the anxiety causes it, in order for my mind to be put at rest.

    I tend to catastrophise the pain, thinking that pain in the chest area must be serious,  because it is the main symptom of heart attacks. But I try and reassure myself by thinking that there are other benign  causes, I have no heart disease in my family, I am young, don't smoke, eat healthily, and by remembering what the last GP said.

    I hope that this GP will re-confirm what the previous GP said, but that she will give me more information as to precisely how anxiety can cause pain.

    When younger I used to think of it as like a stitch because it is similar, it just occurs a lot higher up. It is not even in the main chest area, and never radiates. Funnily enough, my rib area feels a little tender,so I wonder whether I could have pulled something.

  • Social isolation denies people on the spectrum the opportunity to reassure themselves by obtaining corroboration from others.

    This is what's called a two-edged-sword (or cuts both ways). Social friends can provide positive reassurance, but they can also tease by making up a story to achieve the opposite effect, for a laugh. But NTs can usually read whether such a comment is genuine or not. 

    Talking to others can elicit responses like "I get that sometimes" or "my mother used to have that and went to a physiotherapist who cured it" etc. (Incidentally, I think when NTs respond to people describing their autism symptoms, by saying lots of people get that, is part of NT reassurance).

    In relative isolation, and with a propensity to anxiety, people on the spectrum are bound to find going to the doctor about a pain a difficult thing, especially as the consultation time is so short.

    However it is important to get things checked, and not to be embarrassed about asking. Hence the adverts about talking to you doctor "if you poo changes" - it is important to get any changes checked in case they indicate something more serious, where early identification helps treatment.

    In most instances it will prove to be a minior ailment like muscle pain, rib snagging, damaged nerve ending, indigestion etc. The fact that it is minor shouldn't prevent you going to the doctor again if you are still concerned (and doctors shouldn't make you feel uncomfortable about asking again - unless maybe someone is hypochondriac and going to the doctor several times a week, but even then...).

    Its best to have reassurance, and if you haven't the benefit of friends sharing experience, who can reassure you for all the wrong reasons however (called "the blind leading the blind" in metaphor land), your doctor is the best place to go.

  • I just read up on precordial catch syndrome and this is what I have had many times.  According to that fount of all knowledge Wikipedia, it is not serious and there is no remedy for it, other than lifting your arms above your head.

    I always assumed it was trapped wind in the abdomen.  I have IBS so I am sure it's related.  You might find this thread interesting:

    http://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/topic/96780-chest-pain-from-gas/

  • I am seeing a different GP to last time as well, which worsens the anxiety.