palpitation and chest pain getting worse

  i am a 27 year old female, heavy smoker, with a history of anxiety related symptoms.
  I started having palpitation approx. a year ago, begging with perception of accelerated heart rate for no reason.
  I had a few EKG,everything was fine.
  I had a HOLSTER done, everything was allright.
  Then ,the heart skipping started, had another EKG, a cardiologist visit.
  Again, nothing seemed to be wrong.
  So, I decided to but my soul at peace and live with the palpitations.
  This was in February. The palpitations got worse, up to various skipps and
  boomBOOMBOOMBOOMs a day. Chest pain has gotten worse and worse. I am now nolonger suffering from anxiety
  related symptoms. Recently, the arm pain have become persistent. My hand goes numb often, my shoulder hurts. My chest pain is not
  located in the center of my chest, where i only experience some discomfort.
  The pain seems to concentrate under my left breast where it is strong and brief. Also, in the centre left part, above my breat, a get a small annoying pain.
  In the last few days my back ribcage has been hurting in strong, perisistant fitts left and right.
  Should i see a cardiologist again, and maybe have a stress test done?
  If not the heart specialist, who should i see.
  Thanks
  Emma

[CCF CARDIO MD APS]

_
Dear emma,
First thing you need to do is STOP SMOKING!
The stress test is not a bad idea, because if you pass that your chance of
having a heart attack is very low.  This not only brings peace of mind but it
also allows the physician to start looking for non-cardiac causes of chest pain.
Your general internist or family physician can not only order the stress test,
s/he also is more than capable at getting to the bottom of your chest discomfort.
If the chest pain is solely related to the heart skipping beats then this is not
uncommon and the initial treatment is to avoid all stimulants that help to produce the
skipped beats-these are caffeine, alcohol, stress, and cigarettes/tobacco.
Good Luck.
I hope you find this information useful.  Information provided in the heart forum is for general medical informational purposes only.  Only your physician can provide specific diagnosis and therapies.  
Please feel free to write back with additional questions.
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter.  The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your problem.