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Can someone in the medical field help me with a weird pain in my chest?
I'm a 33 yo female, in fairly good shape. I quit smoking in July 2008 and before then, had been smoking for about 10, 11 years. Back in September/October, I started to experience shortness of breath. It was so severe, I went to see my doctor, who promptly told me it was stress. He had prescribed some anti-anxiety medication (which I have opted not to take at this time because of their addictive nature). I had a X rays done on my lungs due to my concern about any damage I may have done to them, and they came out clear. My BP and blood work came back normal, and I had a flu shot back during the first week of December.
Despite all of this, I have this weird feeling in my chest. It's isolated to the left side of my body, about an inch below my arm pit, toward my breast. My heart pounds hard; it's as if it's working through a lot of mucus. I feel as if there something at the back of my throat, but I have had no cough/no productive cough. It's like fingers are gently pinching my breast, underneath the skin. I have a sneaky suspicion it may be mucus or some kind of liquid in my lungs/chest, because the feeling I have is what I can only describe as being "thick"; as if the heart is beating through something thick. This started about four, five days ago, so it's fairly recent. I am dehydrated (I haven't been drinking very much water lately), and this past year, I have been drastically reduced my caffeine intake (although this holiday season, I have imbibed in some Coke and coffee).
The feeling is annoying; I can feel it through my back as I'm leaning against a chair. And I'm pretty sure it's not anxiety, because this feels different from what I was feeling back in Sept./Oct. I was planning on calling my cardiologist for an appointment, just to check and to go on a Holton monitor and to follow up on these sudden chest pains I get. And I KNOW that most people will tell me to go to the doctor, anyway, but I was wondering if anyone was familiar with these symptoms and could give me some peace of mind. If I was just sick or whatever, I can deal. But if not . . . Should I push for an emergency appointment asap next week or no? The last time I made an appointment with him, it wasn't for another 2 weeks after I called. . . .
Thanks in advance!
3 Answers
- J BLv 71 decade ago
Keep your appointments but in the meantime, try taking some ibuprofen to see if it makes the chest pain go away. Sometimes, chest pain can be muscular in nature and some activity that you have done might be causing this. It can't hurt - do it for several days. Since you believe you have a mucus problem, this can often be alleviated with dramatically increasing your daily water intake - it may resolve this feeling. The rest of the symptoms need a doctor to decide if they are important or not and then order the appropriate tests.
Source(s): Health care provider - NoneLv 41 decade ago
your body is recovering from all the smoking you did, i know that sounds over simplified but its really probably all thats wrong, i smoked for 14 years and then quit about a year and a half ago, i started having odd sensations in my chest and issues with my vision , sometimes i felt light headed or just spacey, sometimes i felt like i could feel my heart pounding, not necessary fast but just thumping hard, this all started quite a while after quitting too so i didn't relate it straight away, but after about a year it all stopped and nothing came of any of it. the reason why i think it has to do with quitting smoking is that a couple family member who also quit in the past few years had similar issues. most everyone probably does but not everyone worries about every little thing our body does differently so they don't notice really, i definitely notice things. i wouldn't worry about it, if it get worse go to another doctor maybe the one you went to missed something, if it stays the same or gradually gets better i would just leave it be, your body is probably trying to heal your lungs and coping with the nicotine being gone. (it takes over a year before all the nicotine is out of your system, most people don't know that) give it some time.
Source(s): personal experience / mild hypochondriac who researches WAAAAAAAY to much into every creak, pop and itch. if i wouldnt worry you DEFINATLY shouldnt lol.
