Unexplained chest pain issues

[Bmoz]

Hi there. I've just joined the forum. My name's Ben.

Firstly, i'd like to say I don't normally panic when I feel something wrong with myself - and i'm not in a panic about this problem either but I am keen to try and work out what it was.

The problem has only happened twice (in the last 2 years), but the second time it was much worse. I'll explain...

I woke up with a slightly tight feeling in my chest one morning. Throughout the day at work I developed a stabbing pain in my chest too - worsened when breathing in. By the evening the tight feeling was uncomfortable and the stabbing was very painful so I called the emergency 000 number. A paramedic came and monitored my heart rate, said nothing was wrong but said to go to the overnight doctor if it got worse. I took some paracetamol and ibuprofen and attempted to sleep it off but woke up at 5am and it was even worse. I visited the overnight doctor who again monitored my heart rate, couldn't find anything wrong or give an explanation, and so just prescribed some stronger painkillers. By about 3pm the same day the pain was so intense that I could barely walk and was struggling to breathe normally so I went to A&E. Same story, they checked everything they could think of, did an xray & blood tests but couldn't find an explanation. Anyway, after a night sleeping in a chair (it was too painful to lie down) and a couple of days taking it easy I was better but clueless as to what had caused it.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? Or any idea what this could have been?

A couple more things to mention:
1. I consider myself to have a fairly high pain threshold and would describe the pain I was in as 9 out of 10.
2. The incident I've described was the second of the two times it has happened. The first was no where near as bad and so I self-diagnosed the first incident as a strained back muscle that was making my chest feel tight. I do think the second incident could also be related to a strained back muscle but i'm not sure how the pain could been so bad.

Thanks for listening.

[Emilym80]

Hi Ben- I have had similar experiences myself, but far less painful than yours sound. Do you have anxiety? That could definitely cause it. I also currently have a pinched nerve in my neck which is causing all kinds of trouble- pectoral pain/tightness/twitching etc, so it could be that or perhaps a muscle spasm.

In this instance it'd probably be better to see a doctor if you're able and get it checked out more thoroughly but if you have issues with anxiety then it's probably pretty likely to be the cause (but I think it's always best to be sure with chest pain etc). Did it coincide with particularly stressful circumstances?

Best wishes

[Bmoz]

Hi. Thanks for the reply. I wasn't in a stressful time in my life, no. And I don't tend to suffer from anxiety either.

Perhaps i should go for a full check up at the doctor.

[Emilym80]

That's probably a good idea to be on the safe side. It could be caused by a lot of other things too, though- muscle spasms can be very painful- but it's probably better that you get things checked out.