Is a&e appropriate for this?

[buffoon56]

Chest pain that has been going on for a week or more? More like a tight ache than a stabbing pain. On the left hand side in the heart area. Slight breathlessness at times but no other symptoms. Online it says chest pain that has been going on for a week is unlikely to be an emergency which makes me think a&e is not the right place. Equally it's a nightmare to try and get a GP appointment and they may send me to a&e anyway.

I will get seen but just wondering the right course of action. I'm 90% sure it's a muscular injury and it's not debilitating at all but I feel like you have to be careful with these things.

Just ring them.

If you can't go today then it's not urgent enough for a&e

I have had both a PE and pericarditis with pain to the left but bearable enough to do everyday tasks and slight mild breathlessness.

If you anticipate 111 to tell you to go to a&e, that's where you should go.

To rule out infection and blood clot you need a blood test which will probably get turned around within 8 hours or so. If it comes back fine they'll discharge you.

if it’s a background niggle then no not A&E. Try and get a GP appointment or if you feel it needs assessment this weekend then go to a walk in centre.

This! I was sat next to a woman in a&e once who arrived at around 7pm, she had been feeling a bit off like she had flu all day, but had been in work, then gone home and had her tea, then went to a&e(she was telling her friend on the phone)

You shouldn't ignore chest pain, but I would call your Dr Monday morning unless it gets worse over the weekend.

I would make an appointment with the GP.. i wouldn't call 111 because all they will do is use a checklist on your symptoms and then send you to a&e anyway.

i agree that if its lasted this long, then its possibly not an emergency.

I’ve had Costocondritis which can mimic heart attack symptoms, however you really do need proper medical advice.

Someone I know is currently recovering from a double heart bypass after months of being fobbed off with “It’s a damaged rotator cuff “.

If I had followed some of the advice on here, I could have died. @buffoon56 should go to A & E.

Does it hurt when you breathe in and out, like a stabbing pain? If so then could be costocondritis. That's really painful, and can make someone fear heart symptoms. The only relief is strong pain killers so I'd say go to the GP. It could also be some kind of chest infection, or sprain? If your breathing is not getting worse then a&e probably isn't the best way forward.

I’ve had left hand side pain a couple of times. The first went on for about a week and I thought was muscular pains. Until one night it escalated to stabbing pains when breathing and it was then blue lights to A&E with blood clots in my lungs. The second time it was acute anxiety and I couldn’t distinguish the symptoms from the earlier blood clots (which I thought was muscular). As a PP said, A&E will do a blood test (and may give you a preventative anti coag pending the results). Not the best day out but better safe than sorry.

If you've got chest pain, go to A&E. That’s what they are there for.

@chestnutlovers a background niggle can absolutely be an a and e case - as in dp that still continued working and carrying out daily tasks- the niggle was a heart attack that needed a triple cabg. Or dsis that was walking around with a niggle that turned out to be an arterial aneurysm that ruptured....

I wish people wouldn't be gatekeepers to a and e. Things can be an emergency without being acute and it's always better to get checked out.

I’ve been having this since I had Covid 6 weeks Ago. Not helped by the fact I have costochondritis as well. But the breathlessness is getting worse. I’m being fobbed off by the GP.

im Calling gp again on Monday. If I was you I’d go to a&e. Only thing stopping me doing so is that I had ct scan 3 weeks ago and I assume would have called if I had a clot.

A&E on a Saturday night isn't going to be much fun. I get the reticence. Although it probably is the best place to go in the circumstances, if you really feel like you can't manage it then get yourself comfy for now.

Have you got someone with you to keep an eye on you?

As 111 will say, if anything changes or you start to feel worse, please do seek help immediately. There's a reason chest pain needs investigating, even if it is nothing serious.

I would get an out of hours GP appt and see what they say. GP can absolutely treat chest pain; I have it right now due to a chest infection in both lungs. When I saw doc it was a ‘background niggle’ and therefore started antibiotics just before it got a lot worse. As others have said, chest pain could be an infection of the lungs or a muscular strain, or something much more serious, like blood clots or heart attacks. You definitely need to be seen, and wouldn’t be turned away from A&E if that’s where you choose.

The powers of the universe do not make us somehow ‘know’ when to present at A&E, nor the hospital necessarily know when we should be fast tacked on presentation. Last year I went to A&E after my GP advised he could no longer treat me and I would need A&E if no improvement. I went at a time convenient to me, felt like a fraud, and was admitted within the hour. Prior to this I have also been to A&E when I felt dreadful but apparently looked fine. I drifted in and out of conscious in the waiting area all day, very much treated as lowest priority, then had a team around me as soon as I went through and my obs revealed serious issues. Also admitted.

If your in a position to wait a day to go to A and E then you don’t need A and E!

That's really not true. I've waited overnight when I've been poorly and ended up in resus the next day.

This isn’t true. I could easily have waited, I wasn’t that breathless. Yet I had multiple blood clots in both lungs.

@buffoon56

You really need to call 111 or go to A&E.

I had an intermittent chest pin for a few weeks on and off, nothing major and manageable. No other symptoms at all. 8 weeks ago my son was driving me to my friends who lives 10 minutes from me and between here and there I had a massive heart attack. It was the worst kind, a STEMI apparantly. I was blue lighted from my car to a heart unit an hour away and almost died in the ambulance. The cardiac surgeon said so many would have died because they thought they had a pulled muscle or indigestion.

I was just very lucky! The ambulance arrived quickly and the heart team were ready for me. I'm still in shock that I can sit here and calmly tell you about it.

Please get checked.

If you're in a position to wait a day to go to A and E then you don’t need A and E!

I do wish people would spout this rubbish

*wouldn't

Same with me. Pain in side of chest which I thought was muscular and some breathlessness. GO said hospital now. Hospital said pulmonary embolism which is not uncommon after chemo. Better to get it checked.