Unexplained Chest Pain - 3 Months
Posted , 2 users are following.
I'm a 35-year old white male, a little overweight (not obese), I don't smoke and I drink occasionally.
Towards the end of July I went to Urgent Care. For about a week I was having sharp pains in various parts of my left and right chest, with the occasional sharp pain in my upper abdomen just below my ribs. It seemed to have no triggers and would just randomly happen throughout the day. The Urgent Care did an EKG, urinalysis and chest x-ray. All were normal and I was told I had anxiety. It's funny being told you have anxiety when you don't, but that was their prognosis.
The pain continued on and off for 3 months and I just kinda got used to it, but I did notice this past week it felt more intense then I was used to so I made an appointment to see my GP. That would be upcoming in a week.
However, this morning I abruptly woke at 4 AM by the most intense cramping I've ever experienced in the center of my chest. It was so painful and frightening that it made me tear up. Not sure what to do off to the ER I went. They did blood work (which they didn't do before), EKG and a new chest x-ray. Again all normal. The ER doctor said he isn't sure what's going on but it doesn't seem to be my heart. While he never specifically said some kind of indigestion, I could see he was circling it.
I'm curious if anyone has thoughts. Googling is the worst and always just screams CANCER so I'm avoiding that now. I still have my appointment upcoming, but I'm at a loss with this mysterious goings ons.
0 likes, 3 replies
DoctorMark michael21687
Posted
hello, obviously it sounds like your heart, however something I'm seeing quite a lot of is a lung infection, those things hurt man.
cramps, Kind of feeling like it will get better if you change position but never does.
as you say chest x-ray was normal, something I would definitely look into is a covid test, haha there it is..
also have a feel, see if pressing around the area hurts, if it does its muscular and nothing to do with an organ.
one sure way to see if its cardiac pains is to breathe deep, hold it for a few seconds, then exhale fully amd hold for a few seconds, if you get pain when breathing in or holding breath but none on the exhale then pain when not breathing back in it's not heart relate.
you are definitely doing the correct thing, seeing specialist.
did your bloods show anything?
michael21687 DoctorMark
Posted
Hi DoctorMark,
Thanks for replying. To answer your question the blood work I'm told was normal. The liver and kidney functions were fine and everything else was within what it should be. With the chest x-rays I've had the two. One at Urgent Care 3 months ago and a different view chest x-ray at the ER most recently. Both very normal. I did have a video appointment with my GP this past Saturday. He like all the other doctors keep telling me it might be anxiety. I can be an anxious person but I know how I present when I'm anxious and this isn't it. He said based on my symptoms it didn't seem heart related and is more thinking it's gastro related or muscular-skeletal. Of course I told him about my paranoia that it's stomach or esophageal cancer, to which he said at my age he's only ever seen one case of stomach cancer in all his time practicing and with esophageal my symptoms don't match up. I have chest pressure after eating but no issues swallowing. I'm supposed to just keep an eye on the abdominal pains and if I feel like it's getting worse then I can see him in person so he can order scans. I had hoped he'd just order tests, but no such luck. Since then I decided I really didn't wanna wait so I did make an appointment to see him, soonest being Dec. 3rd. I also emailed him to see him I can nudge him to order tests NOW so I don't have to wait a month.
I tried the breathing exercise. I can create pain in the center-ish area of my chest with a deep breath in and hold, but breathing out it doesn't hurt.
DoctorMark michael21687
Posted
okay all normal, interesting.
the problem right now is every man and his dog need to see a GP, so we cannot initiate appointments between 8am and 11am due to the walk ins and arranged appointments need to be guaranteed.
it may well be related to health anxiety but its an unusual presentation.
if you want to get test now then heading to a hospital is the best bet, although stretched due to covid they have the staff and resources to see you now.
have you ever had an ECG to get the actual activity of your heart?
I don't want to put you off seeing a doctor but it really doesn't sound cardiac related.
How's your breathing?
any chest tightness or anything you would say that really isn't right?
cardiac pain CAN sometimes present as a heartburn feeling so do keep an eye on things there.
I cracked a rib earlier this week (bathing a baby of all things) and if that was on my left I'd be worried because its causing laboured breathing and pain so it might be a rib, they're unbelievably easy to crack haha.
so my cracked rib is obviously nothing to worry much about but a small crack against the lung can cause inflammation and infection due to the constant rubbing caused by normal breathing. its time, have you recently started a new exercise you are unfamiliar or have not done for a while, like setups, sex, new job, driving an artic even, new house with different stairs.
it really DOES sound muscular.
need to clarify this is my opinion and do not put off seeing your doctor.
he/she will be a lot more able to find the problem.