Severe pain while exercising?

[theassociate]

I am 18 years old and for the past couple years now I have been experiencing severe pain while running. The pain is in the upper left portion of my chest, exactly where my heart is. It feels like there is a muscle that is being constricted when I exercise. The pain slowly builds when I start running, and slowly decreases when I stop or walk. I have tried a couple times to just keep running through the pain, but I have had to stop because the pain became too severe and I was crying because it hurt so much. What can I do to stop this pain that is keeping me from exercising.

[Tuckamore]

Hello and Welcome to the Pain Management Forum.

Phil and Sherry have offered you great advice. I too encourage you to consult your PCP (Primary Care Physician). I'd do so asap.

Pain is our body's way of signalling us that something is just not right. It can be from a painful shoulder muscle spasm - to our Cardiac Muscle tightening or crying for oxygen.  

Before you run again please consult your PCP - and than please let us know what you discover. You're always welcome here. We look forward to hearing more from you.

Take Care,
~Tuck

[namnam46]

First, I'd like to tell you that we're happy you've found this forum. :)

I'm  so sorry that you are experiencing such severe pain doing something that you love at such a young age.  I know how frightening and confusing it must be to you.  Philnoir is correct. The first thing you MUST do is to consult your Doctor.  Pain is can be a warning sign that shouldn't be dismissed off-handidly.  Hopefully, it will be something simple but you need to check it out.

Please keep in touch and let us know what you find out.

Looking forward to your update.....Sherry :)

[philnoir]

Pain can be a warning sign. Touch a hot stove -- what happens?

If you try to run every day and get a pain in the chest -- don't do that.

It's very simple, even when you're 18.

If you want to know if it is OK to exercise, see a doctor.