PLEASE HELP ME chest pain problem :(

[heartstopper4]

Really hope someone on here understands what I mean, I’ll try to explain it as best as I can.

I’m 24 now but since I was a teenager I’ve had on and off chest pain. I get it 1-2x a week but sometimes I get it much more frequently and then other times I don’t have it for weeks maybe months. It feels like an extremely painful needle-like stabbing pain in my left chest, in the middle of my breast area but not breast pain it’s definitely chest. It’s only really bad when I try to breath in and I can only take really shallow breaths until it passes. If I try to take a normal or deeper breath it’s like someone is driving a sharp ice pick into my chest. It’s horrific. Sometimes it goes in minutes and other times it’s lasted over an hour, by which point I’m extremely breathless from taking such shallow breaths. It starts randomly- nothing triggers it- then stops randomly too.

today I was out on my horse when it randomly happened. It was the worst moment of my life because I was in agony and on an excited horse on a cross country course and had to get back to the horse box as quickly as we could. I ended up waiting 30 minutes in agony not being able to breathe properly before it eventually stopped.

has anyone ever experienced this before?? I’ve been to the doctor so many times who said my heart sounds fine and I’ve had blood tests and several heart tests in the GP and hospital (the ones where they put stickers on your chest) and everything was fine with it. He said it was probably anxiety but I don’t think so- I’m not anxious and It’s a very real pain. I went from having great fun on my horse to writhing about the grass clutching my chest in agony within about 30 seconds.

does anyone have any knowledge or experience of this? Thank you in advance x

Have you had a chest x-ray? DM had similar symptoms (although for a few months, not years) and was referred for one. Hi

MALS?

Sorry about the random hi! Not sure where that came from.

Thanks for the suggestion but I don’t think it’s mals because of where the pain is, it’s never near my stomach or abdomen area it’s only ever in my left upper chest x

Assume you’ve had thorough ECGs and heart rhythm checks?

Has costocondritus been ruled out? I have it and it’s seriously intense pain (landed me in hospital emergency heart scans I’m the past)

If I press on my chest bones they are very tender - is the pain located around there?

No I’ve never had one, I can’t really afford it privately and the doctor said there’s no need because I’ve had it on and off for so long and because every other test was normal. Hope your DM got some answers and everything was ok x

Haha! Hi 😂

Ah apologies x

I came on to suggest costocondritus. I have had it a few times and the pain is exactly as you describe.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/costochondritis/symptoms-causes/syc-20371175

took me 8 years of pain before I was diagnosed.

Pleurisy
Though i get the pain u describe but it passes

Symptoms sound like precordial catch syndrome, which is harmless, but best to get checked out to rule out any other causes 🙂

It could be a rib issue like costochondritis as the poster above has said. There's also precordial catch syndrome that causes sharp chest pains but isn't anything serious. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precordial_catch_syndrome

I think I’ve had those tests yeah, I had the one in hospital where they put lots of stickers on your chest to check your heart. I’m not sure actually but the doctor said they ruled out anything serious and it’s just anxiety. Next time it happens I’ll check and see if pressing on the chest bones makes a difference. When it flares up It hurts SO much but only really when I breath in which I wish I didn’t have to do!!😩

Have you had blood tests recently? Vitamin B12 deficiency can certainly cause palpitations so possibly other pains too.

Sounds very much like Precordial catch syndrome (PCS) to me. More common in younger people, although I only stopped getting it in my early 40s. An incredibly sharp pain that you have to grit your teeth and breathe through to get rid of.

https://gpnotebook.com/simplepage.cfm?ID=x20070319114937295600

You may have solved it..i get what the ops describing but never knew what it was..thank you!

Is the pain inside where your lungs are or feel like it’s all over around your left side?

When it happens does it lasts for hours/days/weeks? Does a hot water bottle/heat pad soothe it at all?

Sometimes it lasts for a few minutes but other times it’s much longer. Today it probably lasted around 30 minutes until it stopped. It comes and goes randomly.

It doesn’t feel like a general pain, it’s like an EXTREMELY sharp ice pick type pain in my left chest, behind my left breast. I could pinpoint exactly where it is when it happens, it’s not spread across a big area it’s very specific and sharp. It’s so sharp that when I try to breath in I absolutely can’t ignore the pain and breath anyway through the pain, my body physically stops itself from breathing in and it’s like I’m being stabbed with an ice pick. I just have to take really shallow breaths until it stops.

i did try a hot water bottle once and I think it did help it if I remember correctly. Unfortunately today when I was riding I didn’t have access to any heat but I did find that leaning forward and sort of bending forward helped a bit with it too x

I'd honestly put money on it being Precordial Catch Syndrome.

You should be referred to cardiology and out in an ECG for minimum of 24 hours.

If you can afford it, get a Kardia device. You put your fingers on it and it records a 1 lead ECG. It is recognised by the NHS and is what my GP recommended.

What you’re describing sounds like what SVT palpitations felt to me. But please don’t take a “diagnosis” from a ransomer on the internet. Chest pain should never go unchecked.

Hi OP, sounds like Costochondritis. The symptoms you describe are spot on.

From what I’ve read that sounds more like the other syndrome people have suggested - PCS - than costocondritus to me. They both look very very similar, pain related to the same ribs/costocondrital joints area, but in my personal experience costocondritus is constant pain that can be intense for hours or sometimes bad flare ups for weeks, and whilst it can hurt whilst I breathe, not the intensity that you’re describing.

I’m not medically trained- my suggestion would be take these two suggestions to a GP and ask for their opinion, and to make sure they’ve 100% ruled out heart rhythm type stuff - I had 24 hour ECG tape to check. Sounds like you’ve had a standard ECG (stickers and wires on your chest) but it really should be 24 hour tape to check from what I’ve been told in the past.