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Respiratory Disorders (Expert Forum)
Chest pain & breathlessness
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Chest pain & breathlessness
by nini7, Mar 01, 2007 12:00AM
I am a 45 yo female who occasionally suffers chest pain. Never smoked, 5'7",130lbs. 7 years ago while playing volleyball with my family tremendous pain hit dead center in my chest, and breathing was very difficult. I had just recovered from 2 bouts of strep throat & was starting to get my strength back. I sat down,waiting for the pain to end. I've had chest pain during exercise before, which would go away within 2 mins. This time it lasted into the night. Sat up most of the night (and many subsequent nights), as
breathing was difficult while lying down. Felt very weak during the days. 2 days later went to the Dr. who did an ekg & said all was fine. Since then I've experienced chest pain-always on my left side, at times of over-exertion, and a feeling of breathless-ness,or being deflated,always on my left side. If a child sits on
my lap and leans against my left side,I feel crushed & breathless
and have to move him. Right side is fine. I can no longer sleep on my left side. Sometimes with exertion I don't feel pain, but a
soreness & heaviness on my left side afterwards, a tenderness, as
if my insides are bruised. I saw a PA last Aug. when experiencing
symptoms, he said it could be stress. I don't think so. It is always tied to exertion, & I can't think of anything I'm too stressed about. I've had chest x-rays and a stress-echo, which revealed nothing. Do you feel there may be something physiologi-
cally wrong? Perhaps lungs instead of heart? No cough. No hyper-
ventilating. Thanks
breathing was difficult while lying down. Felt very weak during the days. 2 days later went to the Dr. who did an ekg & said all was fine. Since then I've experienced chest pain-always on my left side, at times of over-exertion, and a feeling of breathless-ness,or being deflated,always on my left side. If a child sits on
my lap and leans against my left side,I feel crushed & breathless
and have to move him. Right side is fine. I can no longer sleep on my left side. Sometimes with exertion I don't feel pain, but a
soreness & heaviness on my left side afterwards, a tenderness, as
if my insides are bruised. I saw a PA last Aug. when experiencing
symptoms, he said it could be stress. I don't think so. It is always tied to exertion, & I can't think of anything I'm too stressed about. I've had chest x-rays and a stress-echo, which revealed nothing. Do you feel there may be something physiologi-
cally wrong? Perhaps lungs instead of heart? No cough. No hyper-
ventilating. Thanks
Doctor's Answer
by National Jewish, Mar 02, 2007 12:00AM
, Mar 02, 2007 12:00AM
It is difficult to know the exact cause of this problem without a good examination and probably some more tests. Pain in the chest as you describe can come from different areas, such as the heart, lungs and the muscles and nerves of the chest wall. Each of these has to be evaluated as a potential cause of the pain and breathlessness. The fact that the pain and difficulty breathing has lasted through the night on several occasions makes it much more important to discover the cause than an isolated short lasting event. I would suggest seeing a pulmonologist to work on evaluating this further.
