Future Docs, I have a question

[guardian]

I've taken up running recently. Maybe four weeks ago, 15 minutes into running I'd have a sharp radiating pain running up and down perhaps 2-3 inches on the side of my neck (around the carotid/jugular region). It happened maybe 3 or 4 times but then went away within 5-10 minutes. I haven't been running the past week and I just had a 20 minute run and I had the pain on my right side. It has happened maybe once on my left, but mostly on the right. It still feels a little tender. And this sort of freaks me out because I have a weird phobia of anything happening to my neck. I'm gonna see a doctor tomorow, but I'm just a little curious .
-Hypochondriac first year med student

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[anesthesia33]

please include past medical history, meds, allergies, surgeries, family history, social history, and review of systems. How old are you?

 

[Brian20]

guardian

you're gonna die. its inevitable so just fill out your will before you go jogging next time. take care and dont forget me in your will....fellow alumni.

ps perhaps an advanced directive if you plan to be in a coma for long???

 

[guardian]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by anesthesia33:
•please include past medical history, meds, allergies, surgeries, family history, social history, and review of systems. How old are you?•••••PMH: no surgeries, hospitalizations, illnesses, transfusions or anything really. Occassional headaches every now and then (I assume stress related).
Medications: none
Allergies: none
Family History: father claimed to have heart problems but pediatrician wife denies it.
Social history: first year med student, tells you alot of things :wink:
Review of System: to my knowledge everything is normal.

I'm 22 years old btw. The thing that scared me is that it was a radiating pain going up and down linearly between 2-3 inches. It'd go away between 5-10 minutes though.

Brian20: you aint getting any of my books, atlases, Kaplan Step 1 review books, stethoscpe, otoscope, opthalmoscope, syphgomanometer, or a list of the horrible professors at Upstate.

 

[anesthesia33]

What came of your appointment?

Describe the quality of the pain and any associated symptoms.

PS - It's tough being a med student and having mostly benign symptoms. Our knowledge, especially during pre-clinical years, can be a dangerous thing. I had a rash looked at during my second year, which was biopsied. The dermatologist said it could be mycosis fungoides (form of lymphoma, mean survival 10 years). Didn't have it, by was scared as you know what before I got the path report back.

 

[edmadison]

One other question for you -- do you stretch you shoulders and arms before you run? I have found that if I don't, I get a sharp, crampy pain in my shoulder and neck. Many people tense their upper body when the run.

Ed

 

[NuMD97]

What Anesthesia said is very true: Med students are known to have rampant imaginations and will develop symptoms depending on which organ system is studied that week. Yet it is still wise to have these things checked out nonetheless, if for no other reason than to give you peace of mind.

And Guardian, when you have your appointment tomorrow, I, for one, would very much appreciate your posting the MD's impression, findings and recommendation. You've piqued my curiosity. Thanks in advance,

Nu

 

[dr.evil]

Oddly as this sounds, it could be diaphragmatic irritation. I know you usually hear of that being in the shoulder but I have hear of some neck complaints. I'm especially suspicious of this due to its bilaterality. Simple things being simple and the fact that your only 22yo, look for simple things first. Also it could be that your especially cautious of you neck due to your phobia, but I have no idea really.

 

[leila8888]

sounds like a musculoskeletal problem, especially if the area was tender to palpation for while after. sounds like a cramp in your sternocleidomastoid muscles secondary to neck motion while running (like turning your head and even just holding up your head to see where you are running).

 

[ckent]

I had the same problem, with the somatization of whatever disease we happened to be learning about. I went to the student health center because I was so worried that I had cancer, my doc told me that he didn't think that I had cancer but that I should come back in 6 months just to make sure. I never went back, but I learned last year that physicians treat somatoform disorder by telling patients to come back every 6 months or so while they are well. My medical records are probably starting to show a pattern, the only other times that I've been to see a physician is when I thought that I had menigitis when I had a cold, and when I got bit by a rat which I thought might have rabies. Don't even get me started when we had our psychiatry section, every other disease, . I will have to go in and destroy my medical record one day so nobody sees it and thinks that I'm crazy. Right now my jaw really hurts, if anyone wants to come up with a differential for that, I would appreciate it. :wink:

 

[guardian]

I wasn't able to go to health services today (classes all day). I'll probably have time tomorow. Thanks for all the input guys and gals. I'm coming to the realizations that I probably don't have a plaque at the bifurcation of my carotid :wink: (which wouldn't even cause these symptoms right?). Maybe come 2nd year I'll be more imaginative :wink: . I was just worried because I hadn't had this kind of pain before and it was a sharp, pulsing, radiating pain.

Liontrees, I thought about that too. And my neck phobia is just unexplainable. I'm ticklish for starters and when we were doing physicals I refused to have my thyroid palpated :wink: .

Leila, that's what my mom suggested over the phone. It could be that and if it is boy do I feel silly .

 

[rastelli]

Carotid body tumor?