Having strange "spasm" feeling in my chest ...

[purbeast0]

Last Sunday I went to golf w/my father. It was a normal day on the course and I noticed this strange random "spasm" in my chest. It is right below my chest plate directly in the center of my chest, in the soft middle spot of the upper abs. I didn't think much of it.

Later that night I got it again, and again. It kind of worried me but I went to sleep.

The following day I had it again. I couldn't figure out what was triggering it or anything. It didn't hurt at all, it just felt basically like a muscle spasm in my upper abs in the center of my chest.

I was having them on/off all week and I went about my normal exercise and weight lifting programming and it felt okay, again never having any pain.

Saturday I played in a football game and afterwards I felt it a little bit, and then later on that day again I had like 2-3 spasms.

Yesterday I didn't have 1 of them so I thought it was gone.

Then last night in my dream, I was having these spasms. I woke up and was kind of like phew, then it happened again. Then it was happening like every 2-3 minutes and kind of freaked me out.

Last Thursday I talked to my dad about this (he's a doctor but a Urologist) and i told him the symptoms. I told him I could physically feel it on my chest when it happened if my hand was over the area, and it was in the center of my chest. I also noticed that if I kept my abs flexed/tense, I wouldn't really get these. I also wasn't feeling any loss of breath or anything which is common symptoms with heart palpitations. I also told him how I had bench pressed the previous Thursday and i kind of "bounced" it harder off my chest on one of my sets cause my area felt kind of bruised externally. He said not to worry because it didn't sound bad but if it was bugging me in a week to get it checked out.

So this morning i called him to have him recommend me someone to see. I'm waiting for a phone call back from him about when my appointment is, so while doing so I just wanted to know if anyone on here has every experienced this.

Doing some research, it seems like this could be anxiety related, which is strange as it came out of nowhere and first happened while golfing which is relaxing heh.

 

[crt1530]

Souns like a muscle twitch. Everyone gets them from time to time. Not really something to worry about. Fatigue, anxiety, exercise, and how much caffeine you've had can all cause a higher prevalence.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medline...ncy/article/003296.htm

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: crt1530
Souns like a muscle twitch. Everyone gets them from time to time. Not really something to worry about. Fatigue, anxiety, exercise, and how much caffeine you've had can all cause a higher prevalence.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medline...ncy/article/003296.htm

yea i'm hoping thats all it is. just the location of it kind of freaked me out since it's so close to the heart. it also just feels uncomfortable and i just want to know what is going on.

my appointment is at 3pm today so we'll see what they say.

 

[PSU]

Golf is not relaxing if you are not used to the swinging motion. I did an 18 hole round last year only to find that I had flexed my front deltoids so much that I had cramps/spasms for two days and a niggling tightness for four weeks. According my doctor, my rotator cuff was turned in an odd angle due to my large chest, which forced the front deltoid to bear too much burden. Apparently, being quite muscular and golfing are not always the best mix.

Your symptoms could be similar in that you overused the upper abdominal region or already had a minor injury from some prior activity.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: crt1530
Souns like a muscle twitch. Everyone gets them from time to time. Not really something to worry about. Fatigue, anxiety, exercise, and how much caffeine you've had can all cause a higher prevalence.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medline...ncy/article/003296.htm

yea i'm hoping thats all it is. just the location of it kind of freaked me out since it's so close to the heart. it also just feels uncomfortable and i just want to know what is going on.

my appointment is at 3pm today so we'll see what they say.

You're going to the doctor for it? I wish I could get some of the people on here to go to the doctor that easily It's just a muscle twitch, in all likelihood. Therefore, eat a banana, take a multivitamin and see if that helps. It may be a magnesium, potassium, or calcium thing.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: crt1530
Souns like a muscle twitch. Everyone gets them from time to time. Not really something to worry about. Fatigue, anxiety, exercise, and how much caffeine you've had can all cause a higher prevalence.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medline...ncy/article/003296.htm

yea i'm hoping thats all it is. just the location of it kind of freaked me out since it's so close to the heart. it also just feels uncomfortable and i just want to know what is going on.

my appointment is at 3pm today so we'll see what they say.

You're going to the doctor for it? I wish I could get some of the people on here to go to the doctor that easily It's just a muscle twitch, in all likelihood. Therefore, eat a banana, take a multivitamin and see if that helps. It may be a magnesium, potassium, or calcium thing.

yea i'm really hoping/thinking it's just a muscle twitch, but i dunno, the location of it being close to my heart and being on the chest kind of freaked me out. and since it's been happening for over a week now, i want to get a professional opinion.

it is just weird too because i've always gotten muscle twitches, but i've never ever gotten them in this location before.

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: crt1530
Souns like a muscle twitch. Everyone gets them from time to time. Not really something to worry about. Fatigue, anxiety, exercise, and how much caffeine you've had can all cause a higher prevalence.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medline...ncy/article/003296.htm

yea i'm hoping thats all it is. just the location of it kind of freaked me out since it's so close to the heart. it also just feels uncomfortable and i just want to know what is going on.

my appointment is at 3pm today so we'll see what they say.

You're going to the doctor for it? I wish I could get some of the people on here to go to the doctor that easily It's just a muscle twitch, in all likelihood. Therefore, eat a banana, take a multivitamin and see if that helps. It may be a magnesium, potassium, or calcium thing.

yea i'm really hoping/thinking it's just a muscle twitch, but i dunno, the location of it being close to my heart and being on the chest kind of freaked me out. and since it's been happening for over a week now, i want to get a professional opinion.

it is just weird too because i've always gotten muscle twitches, but i've never ever gotten them in this location before.

I get twitches all the time all over my body. It's called old age Welcome to my hell.

 

[purbeast0]

So I went to the doc and while they couldn't diagnose exactly what was causing it, and of course it didn't happen once while I was there, he did tell me that it isn't.

I did an EKG test and my heart and cardiovascular system are all fine. he is pretty sure from what I explained that its just muscle spasms and that I can take some inflammatory to try and get it to go stop or I can just try to wait it out. He didn't really say it was caused by anxiety at all, and that it could have been a mixture of the heat/dehydration (while golfing when it started) and just overexertion on my muscles.

So I'm going to take this week off from the gym and see how it goes and see if I don't get anymore. I haven't had any since this morning which is good, and now I don't feel nearly as anxious as I was before since I ruled out what it isn't.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
So I went to the doc and while they couldn't diagnose exactly what was causing it, and of course it didn't happen once while I was there, he did tell me that it isn't.

I did an EKG test and my heart and cardiovascular system are all fine. he is pretty sure from what I explained that its just muscle spasms and that I can take some inflammatory to try and get it to go stop or I can just try to wait it out. He didn't really say it was caused by anxiety at all, and that it could have been a mixture of the heat/dehydration (while golfing when it started) and just overexertion on my muscles.

So I'm going to take this week off from the gym and see how it goes and see if I don't get anymore. I haven't had any since this morning which is good, and now I don't feel nearly as anxious as I was before since I ruled out what it isn't.

The deficiencies or Calcium and Potassium increase muscle excitability. Therefore, your cells are more easily excitable. You don't even have to consciously tell them to move if you're deficient enough, resulting in - you guessed it - muscle spasm. Therefore, do what I told you. Take a multivitamin and eat a banana every day. Magnesium also helps relax muscles and may potentially help you (it's in the multivitamin). I know what I'm talkin' about, just do it I used to get those when I would run out of bananas for a couple of days.

 

[brandonb]

I've had heart palpitations. I thought that was a muscle spasm in my chest when I first got them, luckily for me, I got them when I was hooked to to EKG. My condition was known as "premature ventrical contractions" . In my case it could have been connected to two things (among more I'm sure, I'm only speaking from my experience.)

1) Check your blood pressure, even if its the grocery store automatic machine. I had 160/110 when I had my heart palpitations. Atleast it might put your mind to rest a bit.

2) It might also have to do with a high Triglercride count in your blood. Those two were out of whack when I had my heart palpitations. My triglerceride was 700 when its supposed to be under 150. Drink less juice, pop, and east less pasta for awhile to lower your carbs in your blood stream.

Its things to try.

Edit - The doc also said if you chew tobacco, it causes problems as well, the high nicotene in the chew usually causes the blood pressure to skyrocket as you are chewing the tobacco (causing the PVCs) and lowers right away after you quit, which causes your heart to get out of rhythm. Smoking usually doesn't give you enough nicotene during the smoking of the cigarette to cause the problem. So thats another thing to consider.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: brandonb
I've had heart palpitations. I thought that was a muscle spasm in my chest when I first got them, luckily for me, I got them when I was hooked to to EKG. My condition was known as "premature ventrical contractions" . In my case it could have been connected to two things (among more I'm sure, I'm only speaking from my experience.)

1) Check your blood pressure, even if its the grocery store automatic machine. I had 160/110 when I had my heart palpitations. Atleast it might put your mind to rest a bit.

2) It might also have to do with a high Triglercride count in your blood. Those two were out of whack when I had my heart palpitations. My triglerceride was 700 when its supposed to be under 150. Drink less juice, pop, and east less pasta for awhile to lower your carbs in your blood stream.

Its things to try.

Edit - The doc also said if you chew tobacco, it causes problems as well, the high nicotene in the chew usually causes the blood pressure to skyrocket as you are chewing the tobacco (causing the PVCs) and lowers right away after you quit, which causes your heart to get out of rhythm. Smoking usually doesn't give you enough nicotene during the smoking of the cigarette to cause the problem. So thats another thing to consider.

well they listened to my heart yesterday and said it sounded fine, and they also took my blood pressure and didn't say anything was out of whack there. i also don't smoke or do any tobacco stuff, and i don't really drink much juice at all. i was drinking a lot of diet sodas but have cut back on that the past 2 months or so, and i don't eat a lot of pasta at all.

i'm also curious, if you DO get heart palpatations just not during the EKG, will the EKG result as everything is fine?

also when you got your heart palpatations, could you physically feel it if you put your hand on your sternum area and had one? and did it hurt? cause i can physically feel something moving when i put my hand on my sternum area when i get one of these spasms, and it also doesn't hurt at all, not even remotely painful. it lasts just the split second that it happens.

i didn't get any at all overnight or this morning, but today at work i felt very slight ones, like 2 or 3 of them that weren't very intense at all, but i didn't think much of them after going to the docs yesterday.

 

[crt1530]

I just figured out what you have. Link

 

[brandonb]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

well they listened to my heart yesterday and said it sounded fine, and they also took my blood pressure and didn't say anything was out of whack there. i also don't smoke or do any tobacco stuff, and i don't really drink much juice at all. i was drinking a lot of diet sodas but have cut back on that the past 2 months or so, and i don't eat a lot of pasta at all.

i'm also curious, if you DO get heart palpatations just not during the EKG, will the EKG result as everything is fine?

also when you got your heart palpatations, could you physically feel it if you put your hand on your sternum area and had one? and did it hurt? cause i can physically feel something moving when i put my hand on my sternum area when i get one of these spasms, and it also doesn't hurt at all, not even remotely painful. it lasts just the split second that it happens.

i didn't get any at all overnight or this morning, but today at work i felt very slight ones, like 2 or 3 of them that weren't very intense at all, but i didn't think much of them after going to the docs yesterday.

Heart Palpitations would not be noticible with the stethoscope unless you are having one. Along with the EKG. If its not happening, it won't appear on the "radar". You have 4 chambers in the heart. When everything is firing normal (no palpitations) everything is running fine, firing in sequence like its supposed to, the EKG along with stethoscope will sound fine. When you have a palpitation, one of the chambers fires when its not supposed to, it will show up, but it has to happen during testing. Luckily the day I went in, I was having them every 3-10 seconds, so it came up.

When I had palpitations, yes, I could feel it on the sternum (or just off on the left side of my chest), and at first when I had them very rarely, I'd notice I got them mostly at night when I was laying in bed reading. Inactivity, and laying on my back in bed. I used to place my hand on my chest and like I said it felt like a muscle spasm or twitch. So I always thought it was. I ignored it. After a few years, it just got a bit more worse and more frequent (I was gaining weight and the blood pressure was going up)

Years later is when they got really bad and I went to the doctor I was getting them every 3-10 seconds. The best way I can describe the feeling is. My heart felt like it was hiccuping or fluttering (maybe both at the same time.) It would go fine, then it would stop for a second, then I'd get like 2 harder beats following the stop. It felt like it was fluttering... But I could feel a slight pause before the fluttering happened. Much like a muscle spasm/twitch might do. It wasn't exactly painful, just odd feeling. After a day of doing that, it felt sort of sore in there but that could have been my imagination or worrying.

Here is my EKG, and you can see things look fine except when I had a palpitation (circled in red, and you can see the other meters above and below it picking it up) but otherwise things were just fine looking.

http://img383.imageshack.us/my...?image=scan0001zl5.jpg

The good news is this. My doc said heart palpitations are completely harmless! So even though it feels weird and might make you nervous, its not really harmful to your heart or anything.

 

[purbeast0]

thanks for the reply.

honestly what you are describing kind of sounds like what is happening to me, well kind of.

the thing is, i'm getting this feeling in my sternum but slightly to the right of my sternum. like right where the upper right ab meets the middle of the abs.

also when you were getting these, did you ever feel short of breath? that seemed to be a feeling that generally comes w/palpitations, which i am not experiencing at all.

 

[Woosta]

Hmm, I also get a few weird spasm feelings in my chest. I'm pretty healthy - 6'2 155 lbs, workout/run often (well, I code more than I exercise), almost 20. I think it's normal.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: Woosta
Hmm, I also get a few weird spasm feelings in my chest. I'm pretty healthy - 6'2 155 lbs, workout/run often (well, I code more than I exercise), almost 20. I think it's normal.

You can be perfectly healthy and still have heart problems, especially if they run in your family. It's not THAT normal.

 

[SuperXNova]

Muscle spasms in center of chest just started last night. What are they?

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[highland145]

..

 

[purbeast0]

wow it's crazy reading this thread now with all the talk about my dad, and how he passed away the following year

but no chest spasms since, musta just been some muscle spasms.