Rapid Heart Rate, Sharp Pain, PVC

[SCTitan06]

I am a white male age 22. I have never smoked and I drink lightly. I am 6'2" 170 lbs. In good general health and currently on no medications. My blood sugar is great, my cholesterol is low, and my blood pressure is normal.

Recently I have been experiencing a sharp stabbing pain in the heart area that lasts for a few seconds and I also get a rapid heartbeat which occurs after the sharp pain. The pain usually only comes when I am sitting down watching TV or something and usually after I have eaten although not always.  I do not have any other symptoms besides sharp stabbing pain and rapid heartbeat.  Sometimes I will get what I think is PVC and my heart feels like it skips a beat and then I get a pounding heartbeat which takes my breath away.  This always seems to happen randomly when I am at rest. I run sometimes and can run a mile or more on an incline and notice no pain in chest or heart area.  All of these symptoms seems to happen when I am at rest.

As a side note, I have an inflammation of the breastbone near the heart area because if I press on a certain spot it produces a very sharp pain but I do not think this is related to the above symptoms.

Any ideas or help is appreciated. I am really worried about all of this and I can't stop thinking that something might be wrong with me.

[SCTitan06]

I might also note that I do have some anxieties and I am a little high strung

[Celeste77]

Sorry to hear about your worries.
Unfortunetly, the only way to really rule out significant problems would be to have a complete cardiac work-up. The best I can offer is that  "chest pain" that only lasts a few seconds is very, very common in young healthy people and is almost always "benign chest wall pain". Inflammation of any kind in the chest area, like that seen with costochondritis, can also cause sharp pains that feel cardiac in nature. According to the MayoClinic, "If the pressure of a finger duplicates your chest pain, you probably can conclude that a serious cause of chest pain, such as a heart attack, isn't responsible." The speeding up of your heartrate could be anxiety caused by the pain and being "high strung" probably adds to it considerably.

I would see your GP and ask for a few tests like an ekg and echo just for peace of mind.

Take care

[mel127]

I think if you were having a heart attack the pain wouldn't go away, and probably come when your exercising, I think it might be gas, you say this happens after you eat, and that honestly happens to me I feel a slight sharp pain in the heart area, I start making myself burp and it seems to relieve the pressure, but my heart rate doesn't change, I think that your freaking yourself out and that your heart starts pounding because your getting worked up. Better safe than sorry, go get it checked out, just tell  your doctor, they can tell alot by blood work, breathing, listening to your chest, it will make you feel better, here are some tips to the next time this happens:
take 2 tylenol
if you have a heating pad put it on your chest
and try to burp to see if its gas, but if it gets real bad go to doctor.
Hope that helps