Yay, unexplained chest pain!

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
<blog>
<twitter>
<ATOT feigns interest>

For a few days, I'd had a weird feeling in the general vicinity of my heart. Just a very dull ache, barely quantifiable as pain. And a bit of pressure, like a very small and lightly-inflated balloon was stuck in my chest.
I finally called a doctor today, and they directed me to urgent care or the ER.

After the usual questions and "interview" from a doctor, I got an EKG, the chest X-rays, blood work, that fun stuff...and I've got no additional answers. I don't have the results of the bloodwork yet though. I gave three vials of blood, got very light-headed and got close to throwing up on the friendly and pleasant nurse there, and was given in return a nice bag of grape Kool-Aid. Yeah, I'm a wuss with needles, especially when they stay in for awhile. (And dammit, it apparently leaves a bruise.)
Anyway, the doctor said I don't seem like an at-risk person. I'm 30, have no known family history of heart disease, at least that I know of, which could possibly be a knowledge gap on my part, but no smoking, no drinking, no hookers or blow. X-rays look fine, and nothing else that to says I'm about to croak and finally get to ride a Jesusaurus. And I feel otherwise normal, though I admittedly don't do much in the way of exercise.

So, I was sent home then...it just sucks not knowing any better now what's the deal than I did before. Ok, so the doctor said it doesn't seem like an impending heart attack. But what the heck is this then? Grr. :\


Edit: Resting heart rate at urgent care was 80BPM. Walking up and down stairs here in the apartment for several minutes, it's about 112. Not exactly aerobic activity though. Chest feeling isn't changed much though.
Uhhh, blood pressure.... Systolic: 112mm Hg. Diastolic: 76mm Hg.


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Update, July 15th: I ended up going to the ER last night, but everything still came up normal. The pain got a bit worse, and it expanded to include the region behind my sternum, as well as some lines of mild pain up my neck and along my left bicep.
I called the hospital, told them what was up. They told me very explicitly to hang up and dial 911. So I got to ride in an ambulance for the first time. They gave me a tiny nitroglycerin pill to see if that would help with the symptoms.
Sweet jesus god that sucked. Under different circumstances, I would have assumed that I was very much on the path to a quick death. Once the nitro kicked in, my blood pressure plummeted, my limbs went numb and were nearly useless, and I felt close to passing out while lying on the stretcher. The EMT commented that I must be extremely sensitive to it. The nitro did in fact help with the feeling of pressure and mild pain in my chest, though some of that was masked over by the general numbness and mental haziness.
Then at the hospital, they took at least 5 vials of blood - another blood pressure drop, though not as severe as the nitro tablet.

However, given the symptoms present, and the bloodwork, they also didn't see anything significantly wrong. The EKG showed that same bundle branch block on the right side, which doesn't seem to be something that's cause for concern. Whatever it is, it evidently stands out like a 5' sore thumb, as it's just about the first thing anyone sees when they look at the readout. And my bloodwork is "stone-cold normal."

So, I've still got some kind of pressure/mild pain, but evidently there are no signs of any kind of heart issues, and anything else that would have turned up in a chest X-ray. They do want me to schedule a followup appointment for some ultrasound scans though.

And I got a prescription for some 600mg ibuprofen tablets.
Why exactly do they even prescribe an OTC drug like that? Can people not perform complex calculations such as 3 * 200?



I live to nef another day.
 
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OverVolt

Lifer
Aug 31, 2002
14,278
89
91
Anginaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

And, I've had what you are describing. Its actually from sleeping wrong and either compressing my lungs all wrong, or pulling a deep rib muscle.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Hm, well that sounds fun. How is an angina found? Would bloodwork show signs of that? Or is this something more like burrowing a borescope through my circulatory system?
Second opinion time?
 

drum

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2003
6,810
4
81
What is the matter with you? I'm 30, don't post stuff like that!
 

pelov

Diamond Member
Dec 6, 2011
3,510
6
0
but no smoking, no drinking, no hookers or blow

Are you sure you're alive? because I'm pretty sure that's as good as being dead.

It could be angina but you could have potentially bruised a rib. Is it more painful when breathing in deep?

It could also be a sign of a blood clot as well. No numb feeling? What was your blood pressure like? Trouble breatihng or light-headedness? Long flights? Prolonged masturbation sessions?

Did they tell you to take an aspirin or two? I would.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Are you sure you're alive? because I'm pretty sure that's as good as being dead.

It could be angina but you could have potentially bruised a rib. Is it more painful when breathing in deep?

It could also be a sign of a blood clot as well. No numb feeling? What was your blood pressure like? Trouble breatihng or light-headedness? Long flights? Prolonged masturbation sessions?

Did they tell you to take an aspirin or two? I would.
No pain from breathing in any fashion, nor from thumping my fist against my chest in that area. I don't know how I would have bruised or damaged a rib like that in the first place.
The only numb feeling came while they were taking blood, when I damn near passed out/threw up. I pretty much lost the ability to move at that point, and I was even whiter than usual.
No trouble breathing, no long flights, and that depends on your definition of "prolonged."

They said ibuprofen or tylenol. No mention of aspirin.


Interestingly, I just found that lying down on my stomach makes the feeling nearly go away entirely.
 

techs

Lifer
Sep 26, 2000
28,559
4
0
Hm, well that sounds fun. How is an angina found? Would bloodwork show signs of that? Or is this something more like burrowing a borescope through my circulatory system?
Second opinion time?

Three months ago I had a heart attack.

For about three or four days my right arm ached. I thought I had slept on it wrong. I couldn't figure it out so I went about my normal routine, including a couple of miles on my treadmill.

Finally after a few days it seemed to get just a little worse and my doctor was on vacation so I went to the E.R. Everything seemed ok and they were just about to release me when the blood work came back. Apparently there are cardiac enzymes that change when you have a heart attack and its a pretty definitive test.
So, they take me to the big medical center, do a cardiac catheterization and put in a stent. Very minimal damage and I am back on the treadmill in about 10 days.

The worst part is that I can never eat anything that tastes good again, ever.

So, the important part of the story is if your cardiac enzymes are ok then you can be pretty sure you didn't have a heart attack caused by ischemia (lack of blood/oxygen to the heart). You could still have an arrythmia which is a problem with the way your heart beats, but that is also pretty easy to diagnose especially if the problem is steady like yours is.

So, don't worry. Its probably not a heart attack. Its probably cancer.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Jesus...yeah, I'm out of shape. I just did a few minutes of running in place and going up/down on one stair.
I think I'm around 180BPM now.
No terrible pain in my chest. If anything, the odd feeling has gone away now.
And I'm sweating a bit, and my knees and ankles hurt. I think my physical body decided that most of it is no longer necessary, with the exception of the appendages necessary for interfacing with a computer.




Three months ago I had a heart attack.

For about three or four days my right arm ached. I thought I had slept on it wrong. I couldn't figure it out so I went about my normal routine, including a couple of miles on my treadmill.
The only arm aching I've gotten from this is from the 3 vials of blood leaving my arm. There's a bruise forming around it.
I'll say this though, those vials sure do fill up fast.



Finally after a few days it seemed to get just a little worse and my doctor was on vacation so I went to the E.R. Everything seemed ok and they were just about to release me when the blood work came back. Apparently there are cardiac enzymes that change when you have a heart attack and its a pretty definitive test.
So, they take me to the big medical center, do a cardiac catheterization and put in a stent. Very minimal damage and I am back on the treadmill in about 10 days.
I'll definitely call tomorrow about the bloodwork results.


The worst part is that I can never eat anything that tastes good again, ever.
Yeah. :\
Too bad they can't use the research gained to put good taste and nutrition together. Instead, the taste is separated from nutrition, and the latter is discarded completely.



So, the important part of the story is if your cardiac enzymes are ok then you can be pretty sure you didn't have a heart attack caused by ischemia (lack of blood/oxygen to the heart). You could still have an arrythmia which is a problem with the way your heart beats, but that is also pretty easy to diagnose especially if the problem is steady like yours is.

So, don't worry. Its probably not a heart attack. Its probably cancer.
Yay.
I hope it's a cancerous brain that will grant me superintelligence.


They did see something in the EKG, but the doctor said it's nothing to worry about: Something about the nerve clusters around the heart that tell them when to beat. They split off into two groups, and are meant to make two parts of the heart beat together. In mine, there's a slight timing error, so one of those sides beats slightly out of sync with the other. He didn't seem to think it was any cause for concern.
I don't know if it's always been that way, or how that works.



You're going to die
And you can't have my stuff.

My sister would get first pickin's at whatever she wants of mine.
My PC shall go to AT's DC team, to crunch various numbers.
Finally, Destrekor gets my entire collection of filthy porn, whether he wants it or not.
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
71,884
31,963
136
Don't worry, it's just you moobs starting to blossom. Once they push out a bit, the pain will stop. Kind of like teething.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Don't worry, it's just you moobs starting to blossom. Once they push out a bit, the pain will stop. Kind of like teething.
I'll sign my first training bra and send it to you. Your choice: Oily, sweaty, or laundered.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Gas pains.
This would be the first of this type. And in a seemingly odd location.
And the most persistent. (This has been like this since...Friday, maybe?)


It'd sure be nice if that's it though.
 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
65,603
13,982
146
This would be the first of this type. And in a seemingly odd location.
And the most persistent. (This has been like this since...Friday, maybe?)

Dude...if you take many of my replies to this kind of thread seriously, you have FAR more problems than just chest pain...:p
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Dude...if you take many of my replies to this kind of thread seriously, you have FAR more problems than just chest pain...:p
Hey come on, at least I started this thread after going to a real doctor. ;)

And I've already settled on it being cancerous lupus.



I'm mainly going on what the doctor said - it doesn't seem like anything life-threatening, but if it starts to get worse, or if I notice weakness or irregular heartbeat, go to the ER. I guess that part is what's left me nervous. "It's nothing serious. But if it changes at all, it could kill you."
I guess that property is shared by water, too: It's perfectly benign. Unless it moves slightly and gets into your lungs.
 
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tcG

Golden Member
Jul 31, 2006
1,202
18
81
Angina just means chest pain. I'm not overweight and I've had occasional chest pain for as long as I can remember.
 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
65,603
13,982
146
Hey come on, at least I started this thread after going to a real doctor. ;)

And I've already settled on it being cancerous lupus.

Yet...your "real doctor" gave you no answers to the cause...therefore...

36ct5f.jpg
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Yet...your "real doctor" gave you no answers to the cause...therefore...

<img>
(Chestburster aliens?)

But, yeah, that also didn't really do much to help put my mind at ease.


It's the old "Something's wrong" syndrome.

Check engine.



did you try tums? Usually junky food causes this for me.
No Tums in the house. I did try Pepto Bismol a few days ago. No effect.
The feeling just comes and goes whenever it pleases, sticks around for a few minutes or hours, then goes away for awhile. Kind of like SandEagle.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
69,691
13,325
126
www.betteroff.ca
Probably heart aches/angina/blockages type deal. Ironicly, I've been getting the same thing today. I ate like crap this week, it was just one of those weeks when I never felt like making something complicated so I'd settle for something easy like ordering out, or making chicken in the oven with fries. I have to stop eating like that, it's going to catch up with me. I think my dad was in his early 30's when he got diagnosed with Angina. I'm 26 so I'm getting close to there. Scary thought.

But yeah, it's probably aliens.
 

Sho'Nuff

Diamond Member
Jul 12, 2007
6,211
121
106
This would be the first of this type. And in a seemingly odd location.
And the most persistent. (This has been like this since...Friday, maybe?)


It'd sure be nice if that's it though.

Mild pancreatitis? I've been having gallbladder/pancreas issues for just over a year now and sometimes it feels like what you are describing. Dull (though somewhat severe) ache under the rib cage (left or right side), etc. Had a really bad GB attack last Sunday (5th in a year) and am having my GB out tomorrow as a result.

If its not gas, gall bladder, angina, or pancreatitis, it must be Lupus.

Good luck to you OP, whatever it is.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Mild pancreatitis? I've been having gallbladder/pancreas issues for just over a year now and sometimes it feels like what you are describing. Dull (though somewhat severe) ache under the rib cage (left or right side), etc. Had a really bad GB attack last Sunday (5th in a year) and am having my GB out tomorrow as a result.

If its not gas, gall bladder, angina, or pancreatitis, it must be Lupus.

Good luck to you OP, whatever it is.
It's on the left side, primarily between nipple and collarbone.