Upper chest pain?

[mel717]

I have been bothered by a sharp pain, lasts very few seconds, in my upper right chest above my right breast. Feels like its under my breastbone..... It does not feel as if it is my breast itself. Rather it feels like it is in my chest - possibly my lung? I feel it when I breathe. I am not sure what to do, if anything. It's not very severe though it is a somewhat uncomfortable feeling. I have experienced this on and off for the past few months and I really didn't think much of it at first - thought i may have just bruised myself somehow but now it keeps coming back and it's in the same place in my chest each time.  Any thoughts?

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Thanks for writing to the forum!
With this kind of history it would be wise to have a 12lead EKG when you have pain. Having said this I would also say that the chances of this being angina or heart attack are less.
Chest pain aggravated (felt as a shooting pain) by laughing, yawning and deep breathing goes more in favor of costochondritis. This causes pain and tenderness at points where your ribs attach to your breastbone.  The inflammation around the joint area gives sharp pain on taking a breath. This can also cause tenderness on pressing the area which pains. An orthopedic doctor can diagnose this for you. Pleuritis and Pulmonary embolism are other possibilities causing shortness of breath with chest pain. A CT scan of the chest can rule out both.

Chances are that you have esophageal reflux (GERD), where the food in your stomach is thrown up into your food pipe or esophagus. This also causes burning sensation or discomfort in the chest area and pains like pin pricking—sharp shooting pain. Another possibility is hiatal hernia, where a portion of stomach herniates into the chest cavity through the diaphragm. This along with chest discomfort cause shortness of breath too.

I would strongly recommend you to see your PCP soon about this. It is difficult to comment beyond this at this stage.  Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!

[chee_chee_]

HI.  It sounds like I have the same symptoms as you.  I do not get it too often maybe a few times a week.  I was wondering if you ever found out what was causing the pain.  I'm not a daily smoker but I do hang out with smokers and sometimes I find myself smoking when were having drinks.  I also work out 3 times a week.  I was thinking either of these things could be contributing to my chest pain.  Any suggestions?

[caregiver222]

Sharp pains are generally pleuritic and not heart-related, if that's any consolation. You may have bruised yourself. That's a good guess. This is one of those things that has to be checked out in person by an M.D., which I recommend you do. I would, if I were you. That being said, these problems can be life-threatening, but there is a 98% chance it will be self-limiting and go away.