Undiagnosed Chest Discomfort

Question

I am a 30 year old male in good shape. About six months ago, I was awaken in the middle of the night by what felt like a chest cold coming on. For about a month following that, I had a tightness in my chest. I went to the doctor, and he said, that I was probably allergic to something in my apartment. They took two chest x-rays, and a blood oxygen. Both were fine. They presrcibed an inhaler, but it has had no effect. Then starting in december, I started having chest and heart discomfort while laying down. I ended up going to the ER, and they performed an ecg and some blood test that turned out fine also. I still have the odd heart discomfort, but the pressure is gone. The sensation from the heart is an uncomfortable hard regular beat. Some days are better than others. It usually takes a couple of hour's to fall asleep when I go to bed. I don't feel it when I am upright. At this point, my back and ribs up to my sternum are sore.  My blood pressure is 98/60, my resting heart rate is between 50 and 55. Could there be something that is putting pressure on an organ that is having this effect? This symptom is starting to effect my job performance.

Jasonk2 · Answer

Thank you all for your input. I did have a very stressful couple of weeks about a month before this all came on. I would like to think this from poor office ergonomics and stress. I do what I can to deal with the stress. I go biking for an hour or two everyother night and walking for 2 miles the other nights. I will bring up what you all have said the next time I see the doctor. Maybe, I just forgot how to relax. Thank You.

star queen · Answer

There is a condition called Costochondritis where there is an inflammation of the costochondral joints of the chest which can give chest pain similiar to your symptoms.  The costochondral joints are those where the  bones of the ribs join with the sternum. If you have pain when you gently push the areas near the sternum, then you may  have this condition.  It is an arthritis and is treatable with anti-inflammatories.  This will sometimes resolve spontaneously over time.

Mikk76 · Answer

Man, I understand your problem - I'm a 30 year old guy too...  I had the same thing happen to me about a half year ago.  I went to the ER about 5 times to no avail.    They never figured out what the heck was causing it.  And It has gotten worse, and I have severe back pain now, freaky headaches, and something is up with my nerves.  I have had CTs, MRIs, bloodwork, all come out clean!  Doctors keep telling me either (1) Live with it, it is nothing serious, or (2) You are stressed out - take it easy...

If this is stress, I've certainly never felt anything like it!!!!  Not that I want to freak you out here with my problems.... but did your doctor mention stress?  I'm a project manager at work, and spend my days in constant confrontation with people... to be honest, I LIKE it this way - I get bored otherwise... but perhaps is is starting to take it's toll...  If all continues to fail with my medical diagnosis - I think I am going to start investigating this stress thing further, but don't know where to begin.

Does anyone know (really) how bad stress can affect things like nerves?  Everything I read says that nearly any syptom for any problem CAN be related to stress.... that's a pretty sweeping statement to me.

Undiagnosed Chest Discomfort

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