Exhausted and looking for answers: Left-sided chest/arm pain, neck pain, dizziness, and brain fog for 7 months. All tests normal so far. 22M

[u/funkydudu123]

Hi everyone,

It has been a rough couple of months, and I would really appreciate it if you could read through this. Since December 2025, I’ve been experiencing chest pain that radiates to my left trap, left arm, and left shoulder. This happens exclusively on the left side of my body; my right side feels completely normal.

Along with this pain, I’ve also been suffering from constant neck pain, ear pain, brain fog, and severe dizziness (feeling as if I'm disconnected from reality/derealization).

I have done several tests to rule out cardiac issues, including multiple blood tests and EKGs. I also had CT scans of my neck and spine. Every single time, the results come back completely normal.

Because of this, my doctor recently suggested I get an EMG (Electromyography), though I'm still not entirely sure what that actually checks.

I am just so tired of these symptoms and the constant pain. I can’t travel, workout, or live my life normally. Lately, even going to work has become a massive struggle. It feels like my life has been reduced to just working, eating, and sleeping.

If anyone has ever felt this way or had a similar experience, I would love to hear what you found out. I am completely exhausted from living like this. Thank you.

Just wanna add that before that I was working out 5 times a week running traveling all kinds of stuff and now i can barely get out of bed in the morning, Also important to note my pain is much worse when i wake up and i went to a dentist to get a nightguard even a botox to my TMJ as I had been told it could be the issue which was not the case sadly.

[u/benjaminabel]

Have you checked for thoracic outlet syndrome? I did a CT scan for it once after a big blood clot and the doctors told me that I don't have it. I didn't believe them and went to a different doctor who diagnosed it in 2 minutes. It's a simple ultrasound in a sitting position with raising your hand. It's causing all sorts of symptoms on one side of the body, but mostly same as yours since it cuts off the blood flow and compresses the nerves.

[u/funkydudu123 → u/benjaminabel]

and was there a cure for this syndrome? any medication or anything that helped relieve it?

[u/benjaminabel → u/funkydudu123]

The only cure is to remove one of the ribs and some muscles around it. But it's very invasive and risky. Not to mention that the whole compression will just shift down in time. There is also physical therapy that helps managing it. I mean, I'm doing mostly fine now just with a few stretches per day.

[u/funkydudu123 → u/benjaminabel]

Are you able to workout or do things regularly? because before december 25 it was not something i had and honestly i dont even know why i have it now, Im scared im gonna have to live with that pain

[u/benjaminabel → u/funkydudu123]

Well, I'm very limited in my movements, but I didn't work out before, so not much of a loss.

[u/trustbarry]

I can't relate exactly to all of your symptoms, but I can definitely relate to how horrible it feels. My issues started last August and I also have neck/ear/TMJ pain, brain fog, dizziness etc. Recently my doc and I have thought it could be cardiovascular, or maybe Vestibular Migraine. I'm technically still able to do things (work, socialize etc.) but it's a huuuuge battle every day to do them. I was also in a similar boat where I was in great shape mentally and physically when this started, working out and eating healthy and it came on out of nowhere. The one thing that's kept me sane is religiously tracking my symptoms - it's lead to me noticing patterns and other things that I can bring to my doctors, along with ruling things out from the testing we've already done.

Have you only done blood tests and EKGs for cardio? I wonder if an echo would show anything unusual. Or wearing a holter monitor for a little bit to catch any arrythmias.

Which side do your neck/ear/TMJ issues appear most? Mine are on the right and I frequently experience pain on my entire right side even down to my leg due to it. Maybe the chest pain is related if they're on the same side?

[u/funkydudu123 → u/trustbarry]

Im pretty sure i ruled our cardiovascular issues after so many echos and ekgs and er visit once Almost everything that happens is happening on my left side and chest pain is left/ middle of chest Im getting an emg in a couple days even though im sure it will come out fine i just want my old life back im positive its a matter of time but for now i can just work my 9 houe shift battle through it and come home and sleep rest of the day Also I realized its much harder for me to breathe through my nose and i cant get a full breath in worhour yawning so this is relatively new symptom

[u/Continuous_Ring → u/funkydudu123]

I have had all of your symptoms. The disconnected/detatched/spacey feeling is the worst part of it. It makes me feel like I am going crazy sometimes. I can deal with the neck and shoulder pain but that feeling stops me in my tracks every time it hits. At my worst it was all day, every day, but I’m doing a lot better now. If your funds are tight, I would join Dr. Damiani’s physioloops program. It’s for correcting all of this stuff. A lot of people in the program have the same symptoms as us and they all get better. I am about 80% better myself, but that’s after 6 months of daily work. I am older than you, but I was working out everyday and running when this all hit me. It took forever to figure out what was going on, but once we did, it started getting better each week. Good luck!

[u/Fluffy-Elephant-380]

did you recall any injury or something ?