chest pain

[sherry761]

I am having chest pain and tightness(feels like someone is sitting on my chest for about two minutes) numbness and tingling in left arm and pain in back and nausia. i am 37 years old and i smoke a pack and a half a day.

[Smily21]

I agree with FENDUR. I am a smoker as well too. I dont smoke a pack and a half a day. I have other smokers in the house and we share together so i can say i average at least 6 to 7 cigs a day or 2. Anyways. the pain you are feeling is what I have as well. I do have a herniated disc in my back from an accident. I shouldn't be alive because I was hit by a bus. Everytime i lay a certain way or move a certain way that nerve that is in our spine sends that signal to our brains because it is pinching that area. Mostly what I do is to warm my body up by taking a warm shower to ease the pain. You will get that chest pain and tightness like someone punched you or it feels like your having a heartburn but you need to check with your doctor to make sure of that. It can be the herniated disc, acid reflex or heart burn. But check with the doctor first because it could be a number of things. I normally what I do is to see if it is heart burn i would take heartburn or acid reflux medicine is just depends on the individual body I hope that a doctor you have can help you cuz it could be many factors going on.

[LeahLash]

the symptoms are the exact example for angina pectoris (kind of a chronic heart disease). It could be directly related to your smoking (maybe the real problem is in your lungs and it just represents this way - sorry, but the only thing I could think of is lung cancer, 'cause it represents in young smokers) or not.
Anyway, in my opinion, you should immediately go to the doctor (cardiologist) to get at least ECG (electrocardiogram) and other examinations, to check how your heart is working, because the signs you mentioned are quite serious and can get even more serious if you don't do anything!

[FENDUR]

I smoke as well but a pack and a half a day is completely ridiculous....stop it.  Quitting ***** so I won't rag on you because at least 3-5 other people do it to you already just like they do to me but you're an adult and there is absolutely no reason you cannot cut that # in half so do it starting TODAY NOT TOMORROW. There's really nothing more to say about that. Smoking may or may not have something to do with the shortness of breathe but as a smoker myself we both know smoking hardly every causes acute problems like that lasting only 2 minutes. Do you also have tingling in your fingers? If so you may have a disc herniation; which would have to be in your Cervical of Thoracic spinal regions based on the origins of nerves in those 2 areas that would cause pain in the arm. I never get nauseated because of my 2 disc herniations (between C4+C5+C6) but peoples' bodies react differently to pain so really can't say much on that one. Seeing a doctor will be almost inevitable but with the description of your symptoms, which I'm assuming are probably much more extensive if you were to be asked more detailed questions, I can tell you that you've got an MRI in your immediate future. Until then start a daily regimen of anti-inflammatory medication and start icing it 3-5 times a day. 20 minutes of ice on the problem area of your back (ice pack never in direct contact with the skin of course), 40 minutes off. Any more than 20 minutes can actually be counter-productive as the cold can begin to cause tissue damage and what most people are unaware of is that the cold is not what's doing the healing. Your body warming the area that has just been iced is what actually begins the healing process. Hope you start feeling better! And seriously...cut back on the carcinogens boss, haha! You'll notice the difference within the 1st few days. It's worth it...