I am a 16-year-old female. Recently I have been having 2 recurring symptoms: a kind of pressure/tightness in my chest that comes and goes, and a feeling of weakness (slightly tingly sometimes) in my chest area (sometimes radiating down into my upper abdomen.) I remember feeling this way occasionally over the past couple of months, but during the last week I've been feeling this way most of the time. I have also had times where I felt like it was hard to breathe. Several times I've randomly had a strong, weird sensation - like the feeling of sudden, intense embarrassment/fear/nervousness, but not triggered by anything emotional. I feel like maybe it is a sensation associated with not being able to breathe well. I have also been rather tired and sometimes not very hungry this past week - although this may be because I haven't been getting enough sleep, and have been too worried about this to eat. My mom thinks it is anxiety, and it is true that I am generally very stressed about school, etc. Plus, it doesn't happen when I'm sleeping, and sometimes I feel like if I think about it, it gets worse. But I do not think I have anxiety (no panic attacks or anything like that), and this feels worse than anxiety. I went to the doctor and he did blood work and an EKG and said that everything was fine and it could be anxiety, but I know that something is wrong. For the past 2 days I have also had a rather weird feeling in my head - like I have a slight pressure in my ears and behind my eyes, and noises bother me.
I have had something like that since April. It felt like my lungs were full and I had a very hard time breathing. I went to the doctor in July and she said it is a virus that is going around and it takes months to get rid of it. I went again in October and she gave me an inhaler to help with breathing, it was a great help and relief almost instantly. I've been using it sporadically when the breathing got bad. Now at the beginning of December I am feeling much better finally but it sure ruined my summer. I live in the northeast part of the US. I have spoken to many others who have had the same thing this year.
It seems to be improving but very slowly. It's been over a year now since it started and if I look back a couple months, yes it's better but to say it's better this week than last week is impossible. So if I live a few more years it might be gone or if I don't it surely will be gone.
Finally last week I had some pulmonary tests but don't know the results yet or who is supposed to analyze them, some other doctor I suppose. So far I can't complain really but I wonder who's going to pay for all this. Two years ago she wanted a blood test before the annual exam and Medicare refused to pay $230 for it. Blood tests are quite routine before annual exams so they can tell what's going on inside you so I'm a little pissed about Medicare. I get one every time I go to the VA so I told her she would have to use theirs from now on. I always get a copy of that anyway.
Of course I haven't seen any billing for the recent tests/appointments so I'm wondering how much Medicare will skip out on and how much I will have to pay. Luckily my local hospital has a very good sliding scale for low income help on payments but that doesn't include the doctors bills.
Right now I seem to be getting better very slowly without any medical help but it would be nice if I could get some medical intervention that would hasten up the recovery.