any idea?

[mrstattootoyou]

A 38 year old man has a pain in his chest.
Should he ……
• phone NHS Direct?
• call his GP?
• phone for an ambulance?

[namnam46]

Hi and Welcome to the Pain Management Forum. We are glad that you have found us. Please understand that there are NO Doctors on this Forum. We are ALL CP (Chronic Pain) Patients and help each other with the different things that we have learned in our Chronic Pain Journey.

Has he been eating ANYTHING that is REALLY spicy and would give someone indigestion? If he has chances are it MIGHT be indigestion but still NOT a guarantee!

HOWEVER, if he is having these pains in his chest and has NOT had anything that would cause indigestion then you should NOT think that he is too young to be having a heart attack. He Isn't too young. I know of more than one person who have suffered fatal heart attacks at a much younger age.

If he has been seeing a Dr. you should try to reach him/her and tell them what is going on. If he doesn't you should go to the ER and be sure that EVERYTHING is OK. One young man that didn't check it out, thought that it was only indigestion and died from a heart attack. He was 26 years old!! NEVER had a sign of heart trouble in his life. Please be careful and treat this seriously.

Please keep us updated as to how he is doing....Sherry

[Jaybay]

With NHS, I have no idea.  I'd start with the primary care doc in any case since that's the person who has to deal with things like referrals.  

If the symptoms include left arm and jaw pain, go immediately to the ER.  While it's not impossible for a 38-year-old to have a heart attack, that is not as likely as in an older person.  A possible culprit is severe gastro esophogeal acid reflux (GERD), which can easily mimic the symptoms of heart attack and cause debillitating pain.  IF that's the problem, you don't want to ignore it any more than you would ignore a heart problem.  GERD can eventually lead to cancer of the esophogus if not treated.  Bottom line: get to a doctor and don't wait!