Possibly Angina, but not 100% sure.

Hi Golffor,

Reading your symptoms, they could mean a few conditions and the only way to get an accurate answer is to see your doctor who can then run the appropriate tests. You mentioned that you are on cholesterol medication, How long have you been taking this medication ? this could be the culprit, has an angiogram been done if you have high cholesterol ? Also you mentioned that you lye down immedietly after dinner, this could cause your pain as well, where your food isn't being digested properly because of laying down, reflux....sometimes antacids don't help reflux, another thing that could be causing your discomfort is ulcers, but one would think more tummy pains than chest pain. If aspirin is taking away the pain it's kind of pointing to another couple of scenarios, aspirin is a pain reliever in conditions like colds , viruses , sore throats and general aches and pains, aspirin is also used to thin the blood so your heart can pump the blood more easily, Aspirin generally doesn't relieve angina pain, Depending on which type of angina you may have the common types generally show up on an ECG ( EKG ) and generally but not always involve a blockage in a coronary artery, Prinzmetal Angina is one example, you can have normal , clean, un obstructed coronary arteries yet the arteries and blood vessels go into uncontrollable spasms giving moderate to severe chest pain.

As I have said, talk to your doctor, he or she will do the basics first , ECG, blood pressure , etc etc, they should also make referals for blood  and imaging tests, . You ask how do you stop the scary pain, generally the GTN or the little pill under the tongue keeps angina and it's pain in check, sometimes if it's a bad attack GTN won't alleviate the pain and that's when you should be going into the emergency department . Also there are medications that can control "normal " angina and lifestyle changes, I say " normal " because it's easily diagnosed, the run of the mill angina, where as people can be healthy and develop Prinzmetal angina, Syndrome X  and MVD , these and probably a couple of others I may have forgotten are hard to diagnose unless you have a doctor or specialist that has the thorough knowledge to think of these conditions rather than the types that throw their hands up and say....look I / we don't know what's wrong.