Chest pains - normal ecg

[2020firsttimemum]

Just wondering if anyone has any advice / places I can look to for help.

Today I woke up with chest pain which is worse with deep breathing, coughing, laughing etc. I left it for a while and went to work as I feel completely normal in myself.

It didn't resolve so I spoke to 111 who sent me down to A&E (shock)

After being seen by triage and being given painkillers, the pain calmed down a bit. I was sent for an ECG and told to wait to be seen by a GP.

The GP saw me and said that everything was normal and sent me on my way.

Now obviously here their concern was my heart and nothing else (I'm 27, I was aware I wasn't having a heart attack at my age)

I tried to tell him that I had had a similar issue before, where when I had flu back in October, I had slight chest pain afterwards and in my back but he completely dismissed me.

He told me that it's 'probably muscular' and that I've probably pulled something.

It's the SAME pain I had before, only worse. I've recently had a cold again so I don't know if it's an after pain from that and if it's normal / if it's going to get worse after every cold I get. I'm more concerned that it's an issue with my lungs.

Should I get a second opinion or has anyone experienced this?

I'm glad you've been checked out!

Any chance it could be costochondritis? www.nhs.uk/conditions/costochondritis/

Have you recently had COVID booster? Lots of people having similar symptoms afterwards, sometimes repeatedly for months. Hopefully not that, but just a thought

So I had this issue for years and a ton of doctors told me it's muscular or anxiety!

I trawled the Internet and came upon a magnesium deficiency. So I started taking some and I've not had it since.

Worth a try for sure.

Did you have it after a pfizer booster? I had same, all tests normal. Look at other threads here made recently with same issue. My cardiologist said its inflammation.

Thanks all for the quick responses!

I haven't had the covid booster. I've had vaccine 1 and 2 but not the booster

I'll definitely look into and try the magnesium and see if that helps.

It definitely feels to me like inflammation of the lungs or something but very frustrating when you're not listened to and immediately assumed it's a heart problem!

As long as they've done blood tests. Then it's ok. Did they just do an ECG or blood tests too.

The dangerous stuff to rule out is a clot on your lungs/ ectopic pregnancy and a few other dangerous stuff.

Other things that can cause this heart inflammation/ muscle pain/ pleurisy or even indigestion.

If your symptoms worsen I wouldn't hesitate to go back. Chest pain isnt something to mess around with.

Could it be low iron? I had iron deficient anaemia a couple of years ago and chest pains were one of the symptoms along with palpitations and breathlessness. Two weeks of high dose iron supplements made a big difference.

Just because you’re young doesn’t mean it can’t be heart related - I couldn’t answer without saying that, but it’s good you’ve been checked out and your heart is okay.

Lots of autoimmune issues can cause chest pain - lupus, Addison’s disease, hypothyroidism etc. I’d be wanting bloods done to rule out some of those.

I won't reply individually but

• they just did an ECG, no blood tests
• if it persists over the next couple of days I'll go to my GP to follow up
• I don't think it's iron as I eat a varied diet and red meat so I would be surprised if it was!
• there's definitely no pregnancy / eptopic

The pain is back tonight so I'm going to eat, take some strong painkilllers and get some rest. Thanks all for your advice!

Could it be vax related?
I know several people who are suffering heart problems since.

I know this also sounds a bit odd but it could also be silent / cough variant adult onset asthma. Get a peak flow meter (you can buy them from Amazon) and monitor your peak flow for a few days and see if it’s lower than it should be - google will help you find out what it should be. Approach your Gp about your results. (This is how my own adult onset asthma started).

Do you get acid reflux ? It can feel like heart attack as acid comes up and annoys all muscles even if you don’t feel like having reflux heartburn at time.

@Akire the only time I had acid reflux / heartburn was when I was pregnant! Nothing before and nothing since

Just very strange, wondering if it's cold and flu related or something

Post viral costochondritis- have a google. I had the same thing, chest pains normal ecg etc. It can flare up after any virus. My sternum was especially sore to touch. It is the cartelidge that holds ribs together that flares up, the same cartelidge is in the spine which explains back pain also.

That's really interesting about the magnesium - could you send me a link to the information you found on that? I have a history of low magnesium and have been diagnosed as having costochondritis at Christmas. There are no checks for it, it seems to be by a process of elimination in the absence of anything they can find as a source for the pain. However in my case, bloods were done and a chest xray, and ECG. They ruled out chest infection, any infection of any description, heart attack, blood clot, rib fracture, pancreatitis. Bloods were normal but magnesium was not checked.

@Mamascoven that's interesting thank you! It's really odd, I find the pain keeps radiating to different areas of my upper torso. I've had it near my ribs for a couple of days and the Gp is sending me for a scan to make sure it's not my gallbladder. However today it doesn't feel so bad but I can feel it right across my back, particularly when I'm walking.

I've had an awful migraine the last 3 days too so wondering if they're connected

I had this, it was acid reflux that I had ignored. Can no longer sleep flat or it flares up again and it escalates into other problems if left unchecked. Like chest pains.

I don't get heartburn anymore either. I'm surmising it's damaged that part of the pipe permanently. The only warning I get now is a slightly sore throat on a morning.