Chest Pain from age 15

I am a 32 year old female and have been having chest pains since I was a freshman in high school.  Doctors have run many tests on my heart, EKG’s, ECG’s, and all have come up with nothing.  My family doctor thought that I had acid reflux, so I carried a pH monitor and a probe in my throat to rule that out.  In addition, I carried a heart monitor to rule out arrhythmia, and those tests came back normal.  When I was young, a doctor told me that I had Mytro-Valve-Prolaps, but 6 years ago, a different doctor told to me that I had been miss-diagnosed.  A doctor had also suggested that I may have arthritis in my chest but he never ran a test and never followed up with me.  Recently, I went to the emergency room with my chest pains and had another complete work-up.  The cardiologist that was on my case did an angiogram to rule out blockages and found my arteries in my heart to be perfect.  In fact he could not find any signs of heart disease.  The chronic chest pain is between my breasts along with left arm pain, tingling, and pain between my shoulder blades.  I have been in chronic pain most my teens and adult life.  About every 3 to 6 months, my pain gets really bad to where I can't work and my family worries I am having a heart attack.  I am beginning to feel like there is no where to turn.  

[J T Junig, MD PhD]

I would suspect that you have costo-chondritis, which is chronic inflammation of the cartilage that joins the rib with the sternum.  This condition can cause intense pain, and can cause referred pain i.e. pain in areas removed from the location of the inflammation.

I don't want to give you ulcers, but have you tried naproxen or ibuprofen at anti-inflammatory doses for prolonged periods of time?  Please check with your doc, but I would consider taking something for my stomach-- prilosec is the best over the counter option-- and then take ibuprofen, 800 mg three times per day.  This is a full dose, and will reduce inflammation over a time span of about 4 weeks.

There are other possible sources of the pain, including vasospastic or 'prinzmetal's angina'-- but that would be unusual and rare at your age.  The idea I am proposing is  essentially the same thing as the person was saying who said that you have 'arthritis'.... only the problem is in the cartilage-- 'chondritis'-- rather than bone, in 'arthritis'.  Let us know how things work out.