Am I crazy?

I am a 39 year old white male, slightly overweight.  I have been in and out of the emergency room during the last couple of years due to chest pain.  Left side over the breast.  Feels like something is squeezing the heart itself.  Seems to encompass an area the size of an open hand.  Never radiates to the center or right side of the chest.  Each time they run what I presume are a standard battery of tests….Chest X-Ray, EKG, blood work etc.  Each time I am discharged with a form that states something to the effect of “Your chest pain does not appear to be coming from your heart”  My question is, how do they know this, as my understanding is that a chest x-ray will only show and enlarged heart / problem with lungs, and an EKG will only trip up if there has been a recent heart attack or if the heart is beating in a bad way.  Same for the blood work…Don’t those tests only come up positive if you just had / having a heart attack?  Are any of these tests going to show that one actually has clogged arteries?  Anyway,  as a precaution, I had a nuclear stress test performed.  Came back normal.  My cholesterol and blood pressure are controlled and every year my numbers come back great at my annual physical.  Should I chalk this up to NCCP?  Thanks for your time….

[CCF HeartMD6]

It is true that ECG and blood work will only show up positive if there is active ischemia or damage the heart muscle itself. However, a functional study such as a stress test is often used to assist in determining whether or not there is any compromised areas of perfusion of the heart. If these tests are negative, it is unlikely that your chest pain is cardiac in etiology.  However, there can be false negative results. If you have a high number of risk factors (hypertension, family history, diabetes, hyperlipidemia) and your chest pain sounds typical of angina, the gold standard would be a diagnostic coronary angiogram. However, this is often left at the discretion of your physician as there are considerable risks given this is an invasive procedure. A thorough history and physical is the key to helping decide whether or not this should be pursued.