Deep Chest Pain

[BettyJoann]

For nearly two years, my daughter has had deep chest pains that make her feel like her chest is in a vise.  Now, she has started having muscle twitches.  The doctors, after numerous testing, have been unable to determine a diagnosis.  Lyrica helped at first, but is not helping much anymore.  Her tests have included blood work, light down throat, heart monitor, MRI's with and without dye; sonagrams, stress tests, to no avail. Where should she go from here?

[BettyJoann]

Thanks a lot - this is encouraging, I don't believe she has had these two tests and I am passing this information along to my daughter.  Thanks again.

[PaulMD]

Hi there.

All the negative tests are re-assuring in the sense that there may be nothing anatomically wrong, and nothing life-threatening.  However, there are really a lot of conditions in medicine that have no adequate explanations.  These type of pains are usually labeled as "idiopathic" or unknown cause.  Idiopathic pain is considered when a diligent search for the cause (which I believe your doctors already did) turns out negative.  The management would include symptomatic treatment (pain medications) and constant reporting of the symptoms to her doctors for any changes.  If not yet done, you can request tests like EMG (electromyography) or NCV (nerve conduction velocity) to assess for myopathy or neuropathy.

Regards and God bless.