chest muscles pulled breathing painful

[1Abeer]

about 3 days ago, i think i strained my left arm and chest muscles. first there was pain in my left shoulder and arm. soon it spread through my chest. i thought it was heart pain. had extreme trouble with breathing. last night was spent in pure agony i thought i was going to die. the x ray was clear and so was the ECG. doc says it's just a pulled muscle. brufen eases the pain for some hours but at night it gets painful. i can't breathe deeply it hurts too much. what am i supposed to do? thank you

[1Abeer]

how much time does a pulled muscle need to heal? i also feel a pull in the area, as if something is shifting when i move, and breathing deeply is still painful. IF it's an infection, again, how much time would it take? thank you.

[1Abeer]

Thank you so much for your replies. Thankfully, the pain has subsided quite a bit, but not completely. it increases especially when i am working, or when a sneeze is starting, i haven't been able to sneeze yet because the pain is so sharp and intense, it stops forming. the doc said it was a pulled muscle, and gave me 'neoprox' which is for infection, i think? so am hoping it's going to get better, otherwise another trip to the doc. thanks a lot. take care

[Tuckamore]

Hi 1Abeer,

I am glad you found us at the Pain Management Forum. Welcome. I am sorry you are having chest pain ans spasms. I pulled muscle can be very painful. It can cause all the symptoms you described.

If you had a chest x-ray that should have shown any serious bronchitis or a URI (upper respiratory infection). Usually with an infection you also have a temperature but not always in the early stages. Did you go to ER last night?

You said you thought you pulled a muscle. Did you actually do something to could have done that or did you think that based on your symptoms. That is important. There are several conditions that would not show on an x-ray such as pleurisy. Pleurisy also causes a lot of pain with inspiration. You are very young to have inflamation of the pericardium (heart sack) but that is another possibility IF you did not strain a muscle. Again there are just too many conditions that this could be if it is not a pulled muscle that it is impossible to make an educated guess.

If you develop a fever or if your pain becomes worse you need to return to ER asap. And if your pain is not significantly reduced in 72 hours you should also seek medical treatment. However if the pain gradually gets better you can probably agree that you have pulled a muscle. Unfortunately sometimes it just takes time before you know if your pain is what they diagnosed or if you need additional evaluation.

Please let us know how you are doing. I look forward to your updates. And as always, Take Care, Tuck

[Mollyrae]

Hello Abeer:

Welcome to the Pain Forum. I'm sorry to hear of the chest pain. It can be scary. I'm really glad that you were able to have the heart related tests done to rule out any serious problems.

Because of the phlem and the fact that the heart tests were normal, it makes me think that you have an infection that has set up in the chest wall. Infections such as these resemble heart related problems and that has been ruled out. Sometimes these infections can take a while to clear. If your not feeling better in a couple of weeks then I would make another appt. with your Doc. Please keep us informed as to the outcome of the chest pain. Take care and good luck,
Molly Rae

[1Abeer]

i was also diagnosed with pharyngitis a month ago. during the same time, there was some traveling and shifting to do so it didn't actually get better but the phlegm kept on producing. is there a chance the mucous settled over the chest area, possibly bronchitis? hope not, just asking to be on the safe side.