Chest Pain-Comes & Goes, 20 yr old

[shay16]

I was just kind of questioning some chest pain.  For the past few years, I've had this chest pain every now and then that just hits like knives at random times.  It's usually on the right side, just under my breast in my chest.  It doesn't stay very long, only a few minutes, and it doesn't usually happen more than once a week at the most.  The intensity also changes with each event, but sometimes it is so painful I have to stop and wince--it was this week.  It gets , very much worse with deep breathing (or even normal breathing) and I usually resort to short breaths until it passed.

I'm 20 years old.  I have never smoked, but my household growing up was smoking household.  I've never had any kind of chest injury, surgery or tests.  I do have a faster heartrate than normal.  I am overweight, but only by 5 or 10 lbs.  I do not have any history of heartburn and have never been pregnant.  I recently spent time both in Europe and Africa.

I'm just wondering if this is something I should have checked out or just ignore it?

Thanks for any help you can give!

[crwstar]

Are your ribs tender to the touch?  I had/have the same issue but on the left side and always thought I was having a heart attack. press down on your ribs on both sides and see if there is a difference. Mine are much more tender on the left side. just a thought - I was just diagnosed with Costochondritis......... its chest wall pain. it took 3 er visits to diagnose.

I've never been on birthcontrol pills long enough so don't know about that. I was put on them in my early twenties and nearly passed out after the first pill.....

Good luck

[shay16]

Ah!  I wanted to add that I am also on birth control, OVCON-35, and have been for three years.