Heart pain, literally

[flyinshark]

I dunno how to call this but it happens to me once every month or a bit more rarely. It happens out of the blue, and i feel this pain inside the left side of my chest. I am not an anatomy expert, but i assume it can either be the lung or the heart, with a higher probability for the latter one.

It's pretty scary, since i have the impression that i can't do any sudden movement and i can't inhale air without more pain. So, i just breathe slowly and try to stay calm, and less than 10 seconds later i am fine again.

A friend of mine, a chick, said that she has those too, like 1-2 times a month even...

Any of you know what i am talking about? Is it serious?

 

[DrMetallica]

It happens to me too. I just had one a couple days ago, before that I havn't had it in a year. I talked to my doctor about it a couple years ago, and he said it was growing pain, but wtf, I'm too old to be growing any more.

 

[Create Reality]

This shouldn't even be in Health and Fitness; go see a doctor dude.

 

[Desdinova]

I had this myself and checked into a doctor. You should do it too just in case.

Anyway, he ran me through a whole pile of tests. All the tests came back fine, indicating I was completely healthy. He told me that likely it was due to stress. After that, they began to go away.

What didn't help me is that I was stressing over the pain. Once I stopped stressing over it, it went away. I haven't had the problem in a long time.

Even though this is how my case turned out, you should still go see a doctor.

 

[spider_007]

i have exact same thing, every couple of months or so. I always thought it was a muscle in the chest area..... or something (even tho it's right above the heart.....) I'm not quiet sure what it is eather.

Any "doctors" in the house?

 

[flyinshark]

I was secretly expecting a few people to say that they too have had this thing. I think it's pretty common from the trend i am seeing. It doesn't make it any more normal though, i guess.

I will wait for the doctors in da house to show up and solve this mysterious condition for us. But if no one manages to give a convincing explanation, i will check with my doctor just to be safe. It would be a waste if i was to die so young

 

[Don Pablo]

I have it happen too. Let me know what the doc says.

 

[sifer]

I... I have it too. It happens.

I thought I was alone, so I was very hesitant about it.

Hm...

 

[Porky]

Sounds like pre-cordial heart syndrome, but obviously you should talk to your doctor.

I used to get it all the time and I still do once in a while. just take short breaths. no big deal, but ask your doctor.

 

[h2o]

sh*t dude, you might have a collapsed lung...it's somewhat rare, and doctors don't know why it happens, but my left lung collapsed twice

if it's not attended to, it can kill you in a few hours...and it's more common in males than females...it's called spontanous pneumothorax; technical name

first time it happened i thought i was having a heart attack...you can't breathe, walking is difficult and painful

do you smoke? if so, it's probably best to quit. smoking weed is worse

it may not be lung related, but go see a doctor and take an xray just in case...so yeah, i'm not a doctor, and i'm probably wrong, but go see a doc

good luck

 

[Wyldfire]

It could be a panic attack. A Friend of mind had that happen to her and she would get chest pain. Do you eat and drink foods with a lot of caffeine?

 

[flyinshark]

Originally posted by h2o
[...] first time it happened i thought i was having a heart attack...you can't breathe, walking is difficult and painful

do you smoke? if so, it's probably best to quit. smoking weed is worse [...]

Ok, it's not THAT bad. I can walk fine if it happens. It seems that i can't take a deep breath because it would hurt. It does feel like a mini heart attack, which is scary.

No, i dont smoke and never smoked. No weed either, and no second hand smoke.

Originally posted by Wyldfire
It could be a panic attack. A Friend of mind had that happen to her and she would get chest pain. Do you eat and drink foods with a lot of caffeine?

I never drink coffee. I sometimes drink coke or pepsi, but a can a day max. I don't think i eat anything that has caffeine in it.

But i am wondering, aren't panic attacks supposed to be caused by...well...panic, or a stressful situation? I ask because i get this weird sudden pain in moments of no stress whatsoever. It doesn't seem to be related to anything in particular.

Today it happened when i was at work, sitting comfortably in my chair and not doing much (stress of boss seeing me doing nothing maybe??). And the other time, maybe a month and a half ago i was on my bed and i was changing positions from belly to sitting down, so there was some kind of extremely light physical effort.

This is weird i find. I asked another friend tonight and he said that he had it too in the past. It's starting to actually be funny for some reason

I'm a guy, so seeing a doctor for this is not really in the top of my priorities, so i can't promise i'll go see one very soon, for those hoping i will give them an update soon. However, if it happens again in the next week or so, then i will go see a doc. Typical guy thinking, i know. I am waiting for Wyldfire, or any other women on the boards, to come and tell me how irresponsible i am.

 

[sifer]

I know this is an ignorant statement to make (afterall I am ignorant about this) but if everyone or most people are experiencing the same change (be it painful or pleasureful), I personally think it's evolution..

 

[diablo]

H&F...

 

[manuva]

Originally posted by h2o
sh*t dude, you might have a collapsed lung...
if it's not attended to, it can kill you in a few hours...

I guess if he doesn't post anymore then we'll know it was quite bad.

 

[Create Reality]

lol

 

[The Bad Ass Canadian]

pain that doesn't bother you for extended amounts of time are nothing to worry about.

If it isn't debilitating (eg... your paralyzed and can't breathe) then I'd say it's nothing to worry about. To ease your mind, you could go to a doctor, but I'd doubt there's anything wrong. Not when you can go from fine to sharp pain and back to fine again.

I have an anxiety disorder... I've had it since i was a kid (It is fully under control and is pretty much non-existent now)and you'd be surprised what sort of physical symptoms can arise from your mind making the pain up. It could be just stress.

Don't stress over it, and it probably will go away.

 

[sempor]

I also sometimes get these chest pains, but they often happen when I've been sitting/lying on the couch with my head against my chest (uberlazy position) for a long time or when I've been sleeping with my head on too many pillows, so my head is kinda pushed against my chest. The pain when I return to a normal position goes pretty deep. It could be something totally different though...

 

[Arroba]

I had a similar problem, in my case it was clearly the lungs.

A doctor told me it could be caused by coke or other sodas, so I stopped drinking that (even though I only took one a day _maximum_) and the pain went away.

Now I drink a coke from time to time and I never feel it again, so maybe it wasn't the sodas, but I guess it's worth trying to stop drinking them and see.

 

[Hunchback]

I've had this for almost all my life. So I don't think it's stress in my case.

It literally does feel like a heart attack or something though.

I noticed a trend though. When I first started exercising (say 12 or something) they became WAY more frequent for me. Like once a day. For about ten minutes each time where I literally couldn't move and I could hardly breathe.

Then when my exercising leveled out, I never got them....for like 6 or 7 years.

Now my working out is starting to plateau so I have to work a lot harder, so I sometimes get them, not nearly as bad though.

I think it's the amount of strain you put on your body. Lack of sleep or problems in your diet don't help either.

That's just my two cents.