Chest pain

[Cindy]

I am a 25 year old female and I currently weigh about 160lbs. I have been experiencing more frequent chest pain for some months now.  It first started about 5 years ago and was not frequent (maybe once a month).  Recently I've been experiencing chest pain in the area of my left breast, actually just below it.  Sometimes when I get this pain, it hurts when I breath in which I have to take small very shallow breaths. I went to my general practioner a few months ago and it just so happened that I was having the pain during my visit.  She did an EKG which showed some abnormalities in which the doctor asked if I was willing to stay at the hospital for a couple days for some tests.  I was unable to go to the hospital and she then gave me an echocardiogram in her office in which she told me that everything was fine.  Later when I requested my results of these tests I came to find out that they looked anything but normal.  I had learned what a normal EKG looks like in school and this looked anything but normal.  The echocardiogram showed Pulmonic valve/Pulmonary artery insufficiency and borderline MVP.  Is there anything that I should be concerned about considering I've been getting the chest pain more frequently?  Is it possible that the results were not that severe to warrant any alarm and could that be why I wasn't informed of these abnormalities?  Could you tell me what an estimated EF of 55% and LV wall motion EF 72% means?  What does a LVPW(Diastole) of 7 and an IVS(Diastole) of 6 mean?

I guess I should also tell you that my increased chest pain started right around the time when I started taking birth control pills.  I also smoke but not much at all, maybe a pack a week, it used to be 2-3 packs a week but I haven't been smoking much because I've been taking the pill.  I also have high cholesterol usually around 250.  There is one more concern which I'm not too worried about now but I've been experiencing an almost tingling sensation and painful to touch area in the back of my right thigh and throbbing sensation in the back of my right calf...it's getting a bit uncomfortable and was wondering about the possibility of DVT.  I started the pill in April of this year and then went off of it because I thought I could be pregnant (I wasn't) and now I've started it again about a week ago.  I don't know if this is too much information but I wanted to be sure to give you as much info as possible so I can the most accurate response.

I appreciate you taking the time to read about my concerns. Thank you in advance for for your help.

Cindy

[CCF CARDIO MD - DLB]

Dear Cindy

I am not sure why you had the echocardiogram in the first place, as a young healthy woman such as yourself is unlikely to have heart disease. I am also not sure why a general practitioner is doing echocardiograms. Nevertheless, a bit of pulmonic insufficiency is found in almost everyone and borderline MVP probably really means no MVP. The chest pain is unlikely to be anything serious - if left untreated for five years, it would have progressed and caused problems if it were serious. However, the combination of smoking, obesity, and birth control pills can lead to DVT, which can lead to blood clots in the lung. If you have pain in the back of your right thigh, you should bring this to the attention of your doctor soon.

I hope this has been useful. I wish you the best of luck.