Pain in left chest area

  I've been having pains in the left side of my chest for about a month now. I went to a Doctor who guessed it to be an intercostal muscle pull.  He took an x-ray of my chest and said everything looked good.  I stopped exercizing and as time went on I started feeling better.  But then I was around a lot of second-hand smoke and my chest started hurting very badly, mostly around my rib cage.  Then recently I've developed a sore throat and a slight tickle at the base of my throat.  But it's odd; yesterday I felt fine but today I've been having pains in my side again. I've continued taking Ibuprofen, and I have started a light-weight exercize routine, and I usually feel really good when I'm working out.  My question is this: the pains after the smoking began some weeks after my x-ray.  Is it possible something could've developed in my heart or lungs in that time?  I'm  male, 24, in good shape, and I'm a non-smoker.  I used to smoke an occasional cigar and pipe, but never inhaled, though of course I was getting the second-hand smoke.  I don't have a hacking cough, just this slight tickle in my throat that will sometimes occur in conjunction with the chest pains. I also don't know of anyone in my family ever having lung cancer or anything like that.  I'm sure most of it is psychosomatic, but the pain is definitely real.  What's this sound like?  Thanks a lot.

[CCF Cardio MD - MTR]

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Dear Joe, thank you for your question.  I doubt that you have cardiac-related chest pain.  Most likely, you had inflammation of the intercostal muscles and cartilage as the cause of the chest pain.  The second hand smoke may have irritated your airway/bronchioles to cause the sensation that you describe.  This could indicate that you have a form of allergic asthma, but you need to see your own physician to determine what the problem is.  At age 24, it is extremely unlikely that you have coronary artery disease as the cause of the chest pain you describe.  

I hope you find this information useful.  Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only.  Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. Please feel free to write back with additional questions.  Good luck.
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