What is this 'Buzzing' in my chest?

[HotRod72]

For the last month or two I've had a recurring buzzing sensation in my left pectoral/ breast as if I had a bee or a bug in my shirt pocket, so I googled it and stumbled on several postings on this site. These threads are hard for me to follow so I'm not sure I've found out anything except a few others have point out similar symptoms. Is there a definitively known cause and solution?

[Nanaedake]

Could it be anything to do with thymus? Have you checked vitamin D and calcium status?

Post latest thyroid blood test results for best responses.

[humanbean]

Could be low or high cortisol. Quite a few people write in complaining about "internal vibrations" usually in the chest.

[HotRod72 in reply to humanbean]

Not sure about cortisol, how, when, or why is it checked, humanbean? I just googled and checked my lab tests not sure it has ever been checked. My symptoms are clearly and specifically only a buzzing in my left breast/pec

[humanbean in reply to HotRod72]

Cortisol is one of the main stress hormones. (Adrenaline is another one.) So if a healthy person watches a horror film their cortisol might rise. Or if they were being interviewed for a job the same thing might happen. In both cases the cortisol level would eventually drop back to a normal level some time after the film was over or the interview was over.

In people with low levels of thyroid hormones their bodies react by trying to replace the missing hormones with cortisol and adrenaline. If the person stays low in thyroid hormones for a long time then the raised cortisol may become their new "normal", even if their thyroid gets treated.

In some people the continuous production of excessive cortisol can eventually (in some way I don't understand) wear out the adrenal glands and the production of cortisol eventually drops to below normal.

So, people with low thyroid hormone levels can have high cortisol or low cortisol. One of the symptoms that people can get is a strange vibration sensation in the chest.

Whether any of this applies to you would be entirely guess work on my part. So all I can suggest is that if you have optimised thyroid hormone levels and the major nutrients and still have problems then it might be worth getting cortisol levels tested. Unfortunately, the medical profession almost universally refuses to accept that cortisol can ever be a problem unless the patient has Addison's Disease i.e. they produce zero or almost zero cortisol, or Cushing's Disease or Cushing's Syndrome where they produce lots of cortisol 24 hours a day.

However, many people online have discovered that having cortisol levels that are low (but not so low as Addison's) or high (but not so high as Cushing's) can make people feel very unwell.

[HotRod72 in reply to humanbean]

Thanks, humanbean, I appreciate that explanation. My TSH is OK and T3 and T4 are also OK. Are those fellow travelers of cortisol?

[humanbean in reply to HotRod72]

There is a connection between thyroid levels and cortisol, but I'm not capable of explaining the connection.

All I can give you is an anecdote...

I had high cortisol and low thyroid hormone levels. I couldn't raise my thyroid medication high enough to optimise my levels because I felt severely unwell when I tried to do this - heart issues such as tachycardia, palpitations, also severe sweating, feeling anxious and jittery, brain fog, extreme fatigue.

Eventually I found a supplement that seemed to help me reduce my high cortisol. I was then able to double my dose of my thyroid treatment.

[HotRod72 in reply to humanbean]

Thanks, humanbean. I've take Thyroid supplements for 20 + years as do all of my siblings - 100mcg, I'm very relaxed, in good health, pretty close to a vegetarian, leafy greens, whole grains, low fat, I'm at the other end of the heart cycle with bradycardia. When younger regularly below 40 bpm. I've been doing nautilus lately and thought it was a muscle twitch. Just walked dogs and was 'buzzed' twice. What supplements would you recommend. B6-12 & D?

[humanbean in reply to HotRod72]

Magnesium to start with, lots of people are very deficient. Blood tests for it aren't reliable, and as long as your kidneys are in reasonably good shape, you can supplement without problems that I'm aware of (although, be aware that I have zero medical training!).

If you google for "best and worst forms of magnesium" you can choose a supplement which suits your needs - there are lots of different kinds available.

It is best to test vitamin B12 and vitamin D before supplementing. Vitamin B6 is not often supplemented on its own (as far as I know), and I have never read of anyone testing it on this forum (although I'm not saying it's a bad idea). I would suggest buying a good quality B Complex to boost your B6, but since they also contain B12 you should wait until you've had this tested before buying a B Complex.

[HotRod72 in reply to humanbean]

Thanks for the good advice. humanbean (and disclaimer re:medical training - you coulda fooled me) your advice has been good (and free) and worth every penny of it!! Thanks Again. I'll let you know of any success.

[humanbean in reply to HotRod72]

Good luck.

[HotRod72]

Calcium9.58.6-10.4 (mg/dL); Vitamin D 25-OH, Total33.530.0 - 100.0 (ng/mL).

Why would you suggest thymus, Nanaedake? BTW, I'm 77 years old.

[humanbean in reply to HotRod72]

Why would you suggest thymus,

Probably because it is right in the middle of the chest where your buzzing is coming from.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thymu...

[Mamapea1 in reply to HotRod72]

humanbean has made an amazing job of explaining cortisol, and I'm pretty sure my low cortisol played a part in my 'buzzing', and then somewhat rapidly developing full on tremors! In fact they got so bad, my family were convinced I had something terrible! 😳

However, interestingly, the horrible, uncontrollable shaking actually stopped when I began taking quite high doses of B12 spray ~ tests showed 'in range', but folate was v low. I only mention this because I remember it starting with an internal 'buzz' that was slight and undetectable to others for a long time, like I'd swallowed a bee! 🐝 Just a suggestion, of something else to check.👍 (as if we haven't enough things to check already!)🌻.