Chest Pain on Left Side

[TNTOwl]

I'll try to make this short.

Over the past month and a half I've been having chest pain on the left side of my chest. It is not intense, and never lasts long. It's very slight, maybe lasts for about 5-10 seconds, then leaves. I'm a hypochondriac, so I keep thinking it's heart disease, or something affecting my arteries, but the nurse tells me she highly doubts it, and that I'm too young (22 years old.)

I'm not overweight, I'm 6'0 178 lbs, but I just wanted you guys' opinion. I do eat pretty fast, sometimes I feel like I have burps that I can't get out, sometimes I lay down right after eating instead of allowing my food to digest, but it's never seemed to bother me before.

The nurse said that if it were a heart issue, it wouldn't go away so suddenly, it'd probably get worse when I breathe, and it wouldn't be so easy to tell what part of my chest it's affecting. She said heart issues affect the entire chest, and sometimes the back too, but I definitely can't say it's been that wide.

So what do you guys think it is? Can anyone relate?

[hypercat54]

Hi no one on here can diagnose you I'm afraid. If you are so worried about it then go to your doctor and ask for tests. I tend to agree with the nurse though as you are very young to have any heart or lung problems. She wouldn't lie to you either.

I think it's much more likely to be health anxiety so why not post this one of the anxiety sites on here? x

[TNTOwl in reply to hypercat54]

hypercat54 Hello. I appreciate your response to my question. However, I am at Job Corps. They do not allow you to see the doctor if they do not feel your situation is worth the hassle, as the doctor is only in two times a week (tuesday and thursday) and always has their schedule booked.

I am not necessarily looking for a diagnosis, I was just curious of you alls' opinions. I decided to post it here as I felt it would be better fitting for it since it is chest pain after all, and not necessarily something I'm just thinking about.

But thanks anyway. ^^

[hypercat54 in reply to TNTOwl]

Well I did give you my opinion in that I think this is probably health anxiety. You might be surprised at the physical efforts this can have on the body. If you asked your question in an anxiety site you will hear lots of people confirming this and sharing their experiences.

Unless you have known health issues it would be very unlikely at your young age that you have heart or lung problems as furring of the arteries is usually diagnosed in much older people as it takes place over many years.

Similarly lung problems are the result usually of things like age or smoking etc. Again these are usually diagnosed in a much older age group than yours. Try letting your food digest a bit before lying down and eating a bit slower and the symptoms might resolve themselves.

[cyberbarn]

We have lots of muscles and tendons in our rib cage. Where each rib joins the breastbone there is a joint, and sometimes these joints can become inflamed. And sometimes the muscles between the ribs can be strained, just like any other muscle in the body. Does it feel like the pain might be that?

I get a strong but brief pain in the muscles in my chest sometimes. Once it was just after I had my osteopath treatment. I was sitting in the chair writing the cheque out for him, and suddenly winced and said that really hurt. And he said, "Well, if you will sit there with bad posture what do you expect!"

We have known each other for 25 years so he can get away with teasing me like that! But it did bring home to me that often the pain in my chest is nothing to do with the heart or the lungs and everything to do with my posture.

[TNTOwl in reply to cyberbarn]

cyberbarn Thank you so much for your response! I didn't think of it that way, that could very much be the cause of the pain. After all, it is slight-mild, but never severe pain. And it never lasts for more than about 30 seconds to a minute. You actually helped me a lot. ^^