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Dear Polly
Your problem is unfortunately a very
commonCommon cold one. Chest pain notoriously associated with heart disease can arise from a number of different conditions and
organsOrgan-1 nr present in the chest and even remote from the chest. A clear and careful detailed history on the character, location, duration, precipitating and alleviating factors of the pain is an extremely helpful guide but is not complete as a definite diagnosis may still be missed. Although your symptoms are not typical for heart disease I agree with your doctors in investigating for the possibility of heart disease. If the investigation was exhaustive with an imaging stress test and an echocardiogram to rule out structural heart disease, it might be time to start looking at other possibility of our etiology while at the same time reassuring yourself that the likelihood of you having a serious cardiac condition is very remote. I suggest that you look into the possibility of a gastrointestinal problem or a disorder of the tendons, or nerve endings at the chest wall level. There are a number of possible treatment modalities for the variety of conditions that give rise to chest pain and I would not focus on the heart for all the answers.
I hope you and your sister get to the bottom of this and find some well needed relief. If you have any further questions or would like to come to the Cleveland Clinic to see one of our cardiologists for a second opinion please feel free to call 1-800-CCF-CARE for an appointment.
Information in this forum is intended for general purposes only, specific diagnosis and treatment strategies should be reserved for physicians directly involved in patient care.