Chest Pain - Confused

[SherilynWileman1]

Hi all at HU, my name is Sherilyn and I'm a 17 year old girl. A few bits of relevant information about me include:

- I am in a very physically demanding job which involves always moving around and being on my feet

- I often do not get time, or almost "foget" to probably eat as much as I whould. I am slightly underweight but have gained weight since seeing a nutritionist.

- I am Vegetarian.

Anyways, for the past two weeks I have been experiencing insufferable chest discomfort which is not relieved by pain medication. The pain constantly manifests itself in different ways - sometimes it will be a stabbing feeling in my heart, other times a numbness at my neck and other times a burning sensation spreading across to my armpits - each day it is different. The pain is worse when I exercise or when deep breaths are required (eg singing) and I have also been experiencing a painful swelling in my mouth accompanied by dizziness, swollen glands, a red area at the back of my mouth which is painful to the touch (i suspect i may be cuttingg a tooth?) and migraines which are worse in the morning. Any ideas anyone?

I visited the GP and they didn't hear anytjing abnormal from my heart and lungs but booked me in for a precautionary ECG this Tuesday. They also took an oxygen level test which again came back normal. I'm very scared and confused about what this could be and just hope I havent overworked my heart to the point of causing permanent damage.

Thanks guys, all advice and suggestions gratefully received Xx

[Hidden]

Please try not to worry though it's easy to say but very hard to do. Your heart is a lot stronger than that (a normal heart is anyway) and it would take a lot more than that to 'overuse' it. You are much too young to be worrying about that!

I hope you can get to the bottom of this soon.

[Philip]

Hi Sherilyn, some times these happen and it might or not, Sometimes these pains can come from your chest and it can hurt like hell, I know a lot of people on here suffer with something called Costochondtis, maybe speak to your gp and ask him to check it out, good luck with it.

Philip

[cyberbarn]

I would second the suggestion of Costochonditis, especially as you say it hurts more when you take deep breaths. We don't think of our ribs as having joints but they do, and they can get strained like any other joint.

It is good that they are doing an ECG as then you can be assured that your heart is okay, and that will allow you to stop worrying about that and that might help with the pain too, as anxiety can increase pain. And there is nothing more anxious than waiting for an ECG!

[Hidden]

Hi Sherilyn, have you got a temperature? Sounds like it might be some sort of virus. You're right to be in touch with your GP. Hope you recover soon.

[johnsmith]

This may be posture related. If the head is not nicely balanced on top of the spine then muscles will hold the head up. Heads are heavy and muscles holding the head can go into cramp and give you things like migraines.

Also you may be concaving the chest. Very easy to do when posture starts to go awry.

Worth seeing a chiropractor for a second opinion and an Alexander Technique teacher to help with any posture problems you may have.

Hope this is helpful.