After struggling with docs for years over this I thought I would turn to the wider world some input. I am a 27 year old, healthy (enough) male who has been getting intermitment, iregular and infrequent chest pains on and off for around 10 years.
During an 'attack' the pain can be quite severe and sharp - I guess a bit like being stabbed. The pain is localised to the left side of my sternum and feels fairly deep (i.e. it cannot be palpated).
Attacks can last anywhere from a few seconds to a day or so, and tend to come in 'clusters' that can be present for up to a week. There can be months between each cluster of attacks (if you get my drift!).
Pain can sometimes be exacerbated when leaning forward, coughing, lying on my side or raising an arm (seems to always vary - and can sometimes not have any stimulators).
During a 'cluster' period and between attacks I can often feel a mild, underlying ache in my chest. This is easy enough to ignore however.
I have had ECGs and chest xrays that have all been fine, and am not affected at all during exercise - I can happily go out and run 10k with ease.
Doctors have in the past rulled out gastro refulx as there was no tenderness on palpation of my stomach area, although I have sometimes thought that attack can follow a big meal and be accompnied by burping (although this may be my mind tricking me).
Muscolskeletal problems have been mentioned, but why would attacks come in clusters and seemingly out of the blue?
I am at a compltete loss and doctors have been no help. My wife is scared that I will just drop dead from a heart attack - and I am struggling to find new ways of reassuring her.
Any help/thoughts/insight/advice would be seriously welcome!
It sounds very like cosotchondritis you have to me. Cosot is infalmmation of the cartilage between the ribcage. There are quite a few discussions on this about it, which myself and quite a few others have commented on and chatted about. Look it up, I think you will find lots of information on this. I am surprised your doc has not suggested this to you. I like you had all the tests, Chest Xrays, ECG's & Blood tests which all came back normal, my doctor immediately diagnosed me with costo, just over 2 years ago. Although its a very common condition not alot of people know about it when I mention it, so when I found the discussions on here they really reassured me. I was conviced there was something much more serious wrong. Like you said the pain feels like its deep inside, like an organ. Costo effects everybody differently but the chest pain is the most common symptom. I do get alot of chest pain but suffer mostly with upper back pain that can travel from side to side in shoulder blades, sometimes a stabbing pain, sometimes a constant pain. It can travel down to my lower back and my upper arms. It travels all the time. It does flare up every couple of months for a week to 3 weeks. When this happens sometimes I am down for days. But like you said its never completely gone. I always have a dull pain, but it doesn't stop me getting about and doing things, I find when I sit down it bothers me more.
Naproxin (anti inflammatory) are quite good and glucosine chondriotin also help repair the sartilage. Heat, maybe a hot water bottle helps. Just pressing on the pained area help. It sucks and you will discover you are not alone on here.
Oh by the way I am a 38 year old female living in Ireland.
Thanks Sinead. I had done some reading about costo so it was on my radar.
I don't have any tenderness really when I press down on the painful area though. As a musculoskeltal infalmatory condition I would have thought this would ilicit a pain response?
Alos, is it normal for costo to just come and go with no real trigger or suspressant?
I totally understand your pain. I'm a 32 year old female from Atlanta. I'm in decent health and suffered with chest pain for over a decade. I've had numerous test performed w/ negative results. I've even developed an anxiety disorder bc of my worriness over the chest pain. Mine is usually on the left side over the heart and penetrates to my back, left shoulder blade. It feels deep too but the pain can vary from dull aches, tingling, sharp, stabbing, etc... And usually sends numbness and tingling down my left arm. Even when I'm not having an "attack", I'm aware of it all the time also. I don't doubt that it can be stress related however it never occurs during stressful events or with physical exertion. I can go months without pain then spend a whole month suffering. My doc has mentioned Costochondritis too but neither she or I really believe that's it. I hope/wish it's that simple! Knowing that I'm not alone is comforting but please keep me updated on any info you find out.
Hi, i have had this i am only 17, female and i have developed anxeity and panic attacks because of this pain, i have also had xrays blood tests and an echocardiogram (heart scan) every test has come back normal. Like you said ji86 i dont have tenderness near the sites where i feel pain. The pain can sometimes be sharp and stabbing when i move but most of the time the pain comes by itself .the pain is usually in my left side in my arm and chest as well as back. I also have clusters of this pain some weeks im fine sometimes its mild pain and sometimes its quite bad i wouldn't say extreme but still worrying. I dont understand how it can be chostroconditis when it isnt tender but also i believe it isnt anything serious as the tests say otherwise. I know how annoying it is though, this pain thats unexplained that doesnt ease.
Hi, you have literally said everthing i have been going through exept i have had this for 4 years, i have had several tests on my heart as i was convinced this was the cause, all tests came back fine and i now feel to embarrased to go back to hospital and GP as i have been so many times and nothing obvious has been found. If you happen to find out what it is, please let me know, wish you all the best i know it is hell
I live in Atlanta, am 35 yr old male and dealt with this for years. I used to have a more physically active job until about a year ago. I put on 25 lbs in a year and am much less active and now I have these pains all the time! Last year I had an echocardiogram and the cardiologist basically laughed me out of his office, said he saw absolutely othing wrong with my heart. I smoked for years so of course now I think I have lung cancer, but these pains have come and gone for the last 10 years. They used to not be so frequent and I used to not have so much anxiety about them. Nowadays I am so anxious all the time I feel like it's ruling all my thoughts. I'm afraid to take a breath sometimes because I don't want to feel the stab! The pain varies between stabbing, dull and sometimes even electric like. It hits me to the left of center in my chest, or in my upper back, or left arm, or sometimes all the way left or right of chest. It's like a ping pong of pain bouncing around in my chest cavity! Nothing specific brings it on, I'm great one second then boom I think im about to die. I'm verry quickly developing a severe anxiety disorder. I'm going to try exercising, eating healthy, losing weight, chiropractic visits and natural anxiety remedies. I hope one of those things helps
Hello, I'm a 18year old female, and have a good life, and good job, no stresses or worries. Iv had the same pain as yourself since September 2013 they kept saying is inflammation in the cartridge, but for it be come so sudden and last anything from 5/10mins to a week really does push me over board. I don't do anything to trigger it, I can be sat watching tv and bang I'm in pain I cant control, I cant breath. And its a sharp stabbing pain and I cant put myself in a position for it to go off. My auntie seems to think it maybe fibromyalgia but my partner doesn't think it is. But blood tests are fine, xrays are fine and ECG's are fine. But I feel like the doctors can not be bothered to do anything or investigate further. Iv been in A&E as I'm in that much pain, and no pain killers they give me make any difference. I just don't know what else to do I'm loosing the world to live and I'm only 18... I hope you find out what the problem is and keep me up to date if you find anything x
You have no idea how happy (sort of) that I am to find this thread. I have been suffering from these chest pains for about 6 months now. The symptoms you describe are identical to mine with the exception that my right side is more prone to the more severe pain, though it does happen on my left side, too. I get the tingling and numbness down both of my arms. My doc gave me a low dose of valium to take during the day, because like you, even when not in pain, I am very aware of it. So she prescribed the low dose so that I don't tense up so much when the pain hits. But I stopped taking it after a few days because it's not doing anything to stop the pain so why pump myself full of drugs that aren't doing anything for the main issue? A friend kept saying it was stress but it happens almost randomly. I have yet to have a break from the pain. Just less painful days. This whole week has been terrible but I've been pushing through like everyone else in this thread. This is beyond frustrating. I've got thousands of medical bills because of all the testing I've been through. ER trips, blood tests, MRI's, chest x-rays, physical therapy (they thought possible muscular/skeletal issue). I will bring this up to my GP doc and hopefully I'll finally get an answer. We shouldn't have to live like this.
I understand the frustration its hard to deal with pain especially when its affecting your every day life. Ive been having the pain since october 2014 and the doctors have prescribed painkillers which do nothing/only get relief for an hour. Im dealing with pain as well as i can, now i suppose.
Same here - for me it started in September. The first trip to the ER, I was given morphine because I was in such agony. It was the first time I ever had the stuff and it hit me like a ton of bricks. When I came back from the scan, my mother had arrived and was like um what's up with my daughter and they told her what they'd given me. They had to give me a second dose after several hours because the pain came back. I didn't like the fact that the next 2 days were all jumbled for me because of that stuff. I tried to go back to work and was ok for a month and then the pain hit again and I couldn't even stand up straight. I still managed to drive myself to the ER and was hunched over but insisted on walking myself to the room. When they asked me to change into the gown I burst into tears because every movement of my upper body - I can't even begin to describe how much it hurt. They eventually had to give me morphine, which pretty much knocked me out so I wasn't in pain anymore. But I refused to take it again when it wore off. They gave me percocet to take home and I gave that up after a few days because I didn't like the zoned out, druggy feeling. And I can't function with that stuff - I need to work! I have baffled all of my doctors. I am glad to know that I'm not losing my mind and that others are going through this as well. We shouldn't have to manage this. We should be able to get the relief we need. It pains me to hear that others have been suffering for close to a decade and no relief.
I myself suffer from costo chondritis I've been suffering this for a year and a half! But I don't think u have this... My husband for the last year has been complaining of almost the exact same thing as you! I have been telling him to go to the doctors but he's stubborn and won't go... He also feels like it is worse after eating and. Comes out of the blue too! I did a bit of digging in to it and I think it could be an issue with his gallbladder but I'm not a doctor so I could be wrong but he will just say it's major indigestion but I think he's wrong! Anyhow I hope you get checked again maybe you could mention it to him/her good luck!
Hi, I also have extremely similar chest pains, they started when I was 10 and I am now 17 and still having them. I must have gone to the doctors at least twice a year because of them, I try to go to the doctors as little as possible because they dont know what they are and I feel like I'm wasting their time when I go and I never get the same doctor so I have to explain my symptoms all over again every time I go. I've also had the same tests you all appear to have had, an ECG, a chest xray and numerous blood tests but they've all come back fine. Mine also come and go, I wont have them for a few months and then they come back for about 2 months and then go again, its been on and off like this for seven years now. My latest period of chest pains was in november last year, they felt like stabbing pains and would often make me fall to the floor in pain and I'd have to stop doing whatever I was doing until they went. I went to the doctors about it and they did a blood test which came back with low iron (not related to the chest pains) and that was it so the doctor decided to refer me to a rheumatologist because they dont think its costochondritis since I've had it for so long. I'm so happy I found this thread, when I looked up costochondritis and other chest pains it always says they only last for a few months so I'm glad to know I'm not the only one.
Hello, I am a 17 year old young lady. I have been have sharp pains on my left side of my chest that will last for a few seconds and will sometimes go away for weeks even months without happening again. a few months ago I had an 'attack' at a local art store and found myself on my knees grabbing my chest to try and 'rub'out the pain. It was very uncomfortable and of course falling to the ground didn't help much. I went to the ER Immediately and the doctors took an X-ray, EKG, pregnancy test even! Everything came back completely normal and the doctor said I probably tore some cartilage when I popped my back earlier that day. Anyways I tried to tell the doctor that this was not the first time this has happened but he insisted nothing was wrong. I have had these 'few second attacks' for over 3 years now and even though it may not be life threatening it would still be nice to know what going on and how I can prevent this! I don't want to bug the doctors anymore because I know they feel like I am making my pain up. Take some ibuprofen is always the same answer I get from Almost every doctor. Has anyone figured out what this pain is from? Please help!
I have been having the same issues for over a year now. It's been making me want to go crazy Noone can live like thus forever it's like a squeezing fullness feeling for me only on the left side of my chest. It's causing me to have sleeping problems and not be able to enjoy life at all. Today I even went to a chiropractor and he said it was my ribs and did some stuff to me and it went away for a few hours then came back. Someone please figure this out and help all of us get back to living a normal life.
i am 36 years old living in berlin . i am complaining since 10 months from constant pain at left side of chet anf left upper arm and shoulder and also left back pain. the pain is persistant all the day but the pain severity and chest tightness change from day to another. i alread visit a doctor. ECG, ECHO, cardiac enzymes are all normal. the cardiologist discharge me from his clinic few months ago, but the symptoms still persist.
thanks
i smoke since 15 years and have chronic asthma controlled by medications
Hi everybody! I dont know how this is going to sound, but I found so much comfort in these comments. Im a 23 year old woman that has been dealing with this for 5 months. It all started one day when I was taking my 3 yr old daughter a shower, it hit me. This sharp deep pain in my chest. It literally knocked me over because the pain was so bad I had to lay down and could barely move. Ever since that day, it has not went away. It is always there! Whether its a mild pain(one that I can deal with) or a severe pain, I can always feel it. Some days its really bad, I can do nothing but just lay down. Nothing triggers the pain, it just comes whenever it pleases. Im in pain right now as I type this. I just came home from the ER after ignoring these symptoms praying that they go away but havent. My EKG came back normal and my Xray was fine, however they did no blood work on me. They told me to follow up with a cardiologist and physician, but I dont even have insurance. Everybody in that ER was running around while I was just another patient they had to hurry out and check off. TELL YOUR WIFE YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Im sure theres millions of us having to deal with this agony and worry. Has anybody looked into Pulmonary Embolism? Most of the time I'm scared to go to sleep because Im scared I wont wake up. I go to sleep with the pain and wake up with the pain Dont we all. God Bless you all, hopefully we find our answers before its too late.
I've had constant chest pain for going on 2 months. I've had multiple chest x rays, blood work, ekgs. Everything came up negative. My doctor then mentioned something to me about chronic hyperventilation syndrome. Maybe look into it and ask your GP about it.
I'm loosing the world to live and I'm only 18... I hope you find out what the problem is and keep me up to date if you find anything x