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Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
Undefined Chest Pain
This forum is for questions and support regarding heart issues such as: Angina, Angioplasty, Arrhythmia, Bypass Surgery, Cardiomyopathy, Coronary Artery Disease, Defibrillator, Heart Attack, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Mitral Valve Prolapse, Pacemaker, PAD, Stenosis, Stress Tests.
Undefined Chest Pain
by Jim__0, May 25, 1998 12:00AM
A few months ago, I developed some chest pain around the area where the heart is located. It came and left several times over a span of 3 or 4 days. I did not feel faint or lightheaded nor did the pain radiate to my arms and neck. It was just an uncomfortable pain around the heart area.
After 3 days of this, I went to the ER and had it checked out. They couldn't find anything wrong but admitted me overnite for observation.
I was hooked up to a EKG nad given numerous blood tests and the doctors concluded that this pain had nothing to do with my heart. The next morning I was given a stress echo test and passed in flying colors.
They didn't offer much of an explanation as to what the pain may have been. What are the possiblities? Could this have been muscle pain? A pinched nerve? Some other chest abnormality? Are there lots of other things that this could be related to? I have never had any of the pain since this one experience.
Doctor's Answer
by CCF Cardio MD-SGM, May 25, 1998 12:00AM
Dear Jim,
Chest pain is a symptom that encompasses a broad range of potential causes. Angina (or chest pain due to disease of the coronary arteries) is but one of these. Fortunately, it appears that the results of your stress test argue against angina as the cause of your symptoms.
The chest is composed numerous structures including the lungs, the muscles of the chest wall (which assist in breathing), joints of the ribs and sternum, nerves that supply these structures, as well as other organs such as the digestive system (esophagus and stomach) to name a few. Chest pain can result from any of these structures. It may be helpful to see a good Internal Medicine specialist to discuss the quality of your pain. Such an interview and examination may help to better define what's causing your problem, especially if your symptoms are recurrent and/or troubling. Treatment may be supportive, i.e. reassurance, or possibly other tests might be warranted, such as an examination of the upper gastrointestinal tract.
Best of luck with this problem. Information in the Heart Forum is for general purposes. Specific diagnoses and therapies can only be provided by your physician.
