heart burn or heart problem

[curiousGeorge249]

Greetings everybody,

I'm a 27 year old male (not overweight, healthy), ever since I could remember back in grade school I would get this sudden sharp pain every once in a while.  The pain is in the left chest area (heart area).  I've always thought of it as occasional heart burn and for the first time in a while I got it again today. Let me describe today's incident as it is pretty similar to all other incidents I can remember.  
Today about an hour after eating a lean pocket and about 12 chicken tenders drenched in ketchup and tabasco sauce I laid down to take a nap.  I couldn't fall asleep after 10 minutes so I stood up and that's when the pain hit me.  The pain was in the left side of my chest (literally around the heart), my left shoulder and down my left arm.  It isn't a constant feeling.  What happens is if I inhale it hurts like hell, so I have to inhale a little and exhale a lot just to get my oxygen.   I did this for like a minute and it went away.  It only hurts when I inhale.  This has happened to me a lot (not a real lot), but because it hurts when it happens I am remembering all the different times it did happen.
It's been a while since it's been this noticeably sharp in pain, most the time I can barely feel it but today it was sharp.  I confidently say all the other times I had just eaten something as well, which leads me to think this is just heartburn.  All other times however, I didn't have any feeling in my left shoulder and left arm, but today I actually was laying on my left shoulder and left arm before I stood up out of bed, so that might be the reason why they were feeling that way.  

My question is, does this sound like a painful episode of heartburn?  If it were a heart problem I'm thinking I would be dead already.

[curiousGeorge249]

It could be.  I was talking to one of my friends who is only 15.  He describes that he gets the exact same thing on occasion.  We seem to agree that when we breathe in it hurts so we have to breathe in slightly and breathe out more until the sharp pain subsides, which is usually after about a minute.  Honestly, I'm pretty convinced now that it's heartburn since my friend described that he gets it too.  
I knew someone that had ulcers, elderly person, and they were moaning in pain when it hurt.  I can't even moan cause the sharp pain effects my breathing so I'm leaning more towards heartburn.  However, the internet says heartburn feels like a burning sensation. Mine feels like a sharp pin being jabbed into the heart.  If that's what a heart attack feels like, only stronger, I definitely don't want a heart attack later in life.

[ireneo]

Remember, the stomach is primarily on the left side of the body as well. Pain from ulcers or heartburn can radiate out to other parts of the upper body. Just curious - when you have this pain after eating, have you tried an antacid to see if it calms things down? What about after eating smaller meals - any problems then?