26 having chest pain

[tooyoung99]

I am 26 and have been having on and off chest pain for about 3 yrs.  i have been to the doctor many times and he insists that nothing is wrong with me.  I have had an EKG, chest x-ray, chest ct scan, and numerous blood tests that all came back normal.   He says that I am suffering from anxiety, but I'm just not sure that I believe that.  I have no history of heart disease in my family, my blood pressure is good, my total cholesterol is 250, trigl=135,LDL =123, Hdl=100.  The doctor wants me to take Paxil for the anxiety, but I'm scared that I will never be able to stop taking it.  Am I just crazy or is there really something wrong with me.

[Cleveland Clinic]

At your age and also knowing that the chest pain has been present for 3 years, it is very unlikely that it is due to obstructive atherosclerosis. The CT of the chest should have also detected other vascular and pulmonary causes of chest pain. So the chest pain is definitely present, but is not due to any serious or life threatening condition. It may be secondary to a pulled muscle, rib pain, gastritis, etc. There are too many causes to list here, and they are all real and cause in some cases severe pain. But your doctor is telling you that this pain is not life threatening and can be worked up as an outpatient.

[tooyoung99]

I also forgot to mention that I have acid reflux and was taking Protonix 40 mg, but now am on the generic form of it.  Also I am female.  The pain is on my left side mostly and sometimes is felt in my left shoulder and into my back.

[boochew]

describe your chest pain in more details...

what are you doing when it starts

or is it just there most of the time, like a heaviness

do you have other symptoms like lightheadedness, nausea, palpitations

back pain?

[tooyoung99]

I have some back pain and a little bit of lightheadedness sometimes.  Generally the pain is just there all of the time.  This episode started about three weeks ago and i was in the ER 4 days ago and had the ekg, chest x-ray, and chest ct scan.  All came back normal.  Doc said that I probally pulled a muscle and to take motrin.

[tooyoung99]

About 2 years ago my gp sent me to an orthopedic doc because he said that it could have to do with my back.  I had an MRI of my spine and neck, which came back normal except for a torn ligament.  I was getting cortizone shots in my back for about a year and was feeling a lot better.  Do you think that this may all be related to my back?