I'm tired of not getting any answers.

[Steph6506]

I have been having mild chest pain (both sided) and shoulder/back pain for almost two weeks now. The chest pain is a "fullness" feeling. It comes and goes. It does not seem to be agitated by physical activity - in fact, physical activity usually makes it go away. I have no health problems other than being over weight. I eat low cholesterol, low carbohydrate foods. We don't eat red meat in my house, and we try to keep our diet high in fiber. We don't exercise as much as we should.

I went to the ER last week. They ran blood work, did an EKG, and Chest/Shoulder X-Rays. Everything came back fine. The only thing that came back abnormal was a test they did called "d-dimer" (for blood clots). They did a vascular scan of my legs, and a CT scan of my chest, both of which came back fine. I was sent home and told to follow up with my family DR. I'm waiting insurance cards from my new insurance and then will be scheduling my appointment.

I'm frustrated. Looking online just causes me to worry more - about possible Pulmonary Embolisms, Heart Attacks, Etc. I'm young, and aside from being over weight, I have no real risk factors for anything.

The nurse that took care of me at the ER suggested that I may have a mild form of anxiety. Would this be causing a constant chest pain and shoulder pain? They also implied that I may have just pulled a muscle in my shoulder and that I may have heartburn which would be causing the feeling of pressure and fullness in my chest.

An elevated D-Dimer level, is this something I should be concerned about?

Thanks for any help.

[doctornee medical]

Hi
Welcome to the forum!
An elevated D-dimer test apart from indicating a clot in the body could also be high due to recent surgery, trauma, infection, liver disease, pregnancy, eclampsia, heart disease, and some cancers. An elevated D-dimer alone is not significant. It needs to be followed up with other tests. Liver diseases can cause clotting factor abnormalities.
A chest pain that is relieved by exercise is really strange. It could be due to anxiety that is overcome when you are working. Other possibility is osteoarthritis of the spine causing pinched nerves and chest and shoulder pain.
It is difficult to comment beyond this. You would need to follow this up with your PCP.
Hope this helps. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!