First thing I want to say/request is that, I'd like to not get blanket statements of "go to the ER" or something.
And I'll clarify with the reason I ask that... a complication that is quite frustrating.
I'll clarify that in a minute, but first, I'm curious if anyone has thoughts on the different types of chest pains people can get.
This morning I had a dream that I had been struck by lightning. I'll spare the details. I remember telling someone I was okay but then my chest hurt... when I woke up, my chest did hurt... and there was a thunderstorm. Ha.
Anyway...
I've had a pain like this before. It's in the general area of the heart, but it can be very difficult to pinpoint certain pain locations... :/
Anyway, it was like something poking, like a finger poke, not a "sharp" pain... not quite dull, but not sharp. Very brief. Pain... gone. Pain... gone. Happened off and on for a minute there. The pain lasted about a second at most.
A couple hours later I felt it just two more times, a few minutes apart. Felt it again a couple times this evening.
I took my blood pressure earlier today. Not first thing, but that later occurrence. 118 over 78. Pulse 61. Fairly normal. No other symptoms that would justify an ER trip.
So first... thoughts on what could cause that?????
Now for the clarification. I've had different types of chest pains throughout my life. I'm 48. I eat a bit too much sweets... have what looks like a beer belly... years of ice cream. I've cut back drastically... working on healthier snacking options. (why is it so hard to not snack???)
No smoking. No drugs or alcohol. Can count all the drinks I've even just tasted in my life on one hand. Took one long drag off a cigarette when I was 12-14 years old when my big sister "made" me try it. Burned like crazy and never tried it again. (why do people do that?) I don't get enough exercise but I'm not in horrible shape.
I do have mitral valve prolapse. I also have pectus excavatum. My chest sinks in. It looks bad... and it was "repaired" back when I was about 7 or 8. Not the greatest job... it's sunk in a bit all the way across, not just in the middle. I wonder if it didn't heal well? (they have more efficient methods of treating it these days. Back then, it involved breaking the breast bone...( hmmm. maybe, I can't find any description of the OLD technique. I had no metal inserted into me... no plates or rods. They've updated their techniques a lot. Wish I had it repaired better when I was a kid. Has been hard on my self esteem, as well as stamina when it comes to exercise.
)
In college, I bumped into someone that went to elementary school with me. He somehow remembered my chest, and that I could put a tennis ball in it and it would stay there.
My lung capacity is diminished because of my chest. My heart is a bit turned and to the side from where it normally would be.
A decade or more ago I had tests done. Probably some since then but it's been a while. Stress test. Ekgs and echos and what not. (they found the mitral valve prolapse in there somewhere).
One time I was in there because the chest pains I was getting were different, and sharp... they found nothing. My doctor said it might be just because of my chest wall. I asked/said that maybe this would make it hard for me to ever know if I was having a heart attack. He said, yes...
I was in another time because my heart was skipping beats. After it skips a beat, the next beat is bigger and, you can feel it... it's weird.
That first happened over 20 years ago... It was so infrequent, and it would only happen once... that I never could catch it to be sure of what was happening.
But one year, it started happening a lot. I took a halter monitor home. They found nothing troubling. The doctor said that even if it skipped every other beat, that would be "normal."
ugh... no... that's not normal. Blah... doctors.
Anyway...
I get heartburn once in a while... not often. It's debilitating(if I'm diagnosing myself correctly) when it happens. OUCH... earlier on, I didn't know that's what it was, so I just suffered til it went away. I found that, SOMETIMES, sucking air in as if you were making yourself burp could help. Sometimes water helped. My son has heartburn now(more than I) so we have antacids around, and I have discovered that particular pain was heartburn because, well, the tums(generic) helped. That's not often though, and that pain is specific.
This is something else.
But, I can't afford to run to the doctor or ER every time my chest hurts. They'd get sick of me and my insurance... I'm on Medicaid. I've had BIG issues with them at times... have had to fight for things at times.
Anyway...
This pain today has been uncomfortable... but, very brief. Pain... gone... that quick. It's unsettling... but, I don't think there's any tests they could run that would find anything.
I've been to enough doctors to know how they work. They might run some tests and then tell you, everything looks okay... go home.
yay...
There was the pain again... very brief... gone... Blah.
And I'll clarify with the reason I ask that... a complication that is quite frustrating.
I'll clarify that in a minute, but first, I'm curious if anyone has thoughts on the different types of chest pains people can get.
This morning I had a dream that I had been struck by lightning. I'll spare the details. I remember telling someone I was okay but then my chest hurt... when I woke up, my chest did hurt... and there was a thunderstorm. Ha.
Anyway...
I've had a pain like this before. It's in the general area of the heart, but it can be very difficult to pinpoint certain pain locations... :/
Anyway, it was like something poking, like a finger poke, not a "sharp" pain... not quite dull, but not sharp. Very brief. Pain... gone. Pain... gone. Happened off and on for a minute there. The pain lasted about a second at most.
A couple hours later I felt it just two more times, a few minutes apart. Felt it again a couple times this evening.
I took my blood pressure earlier today. Not first thing, but that later occurrence. 118 over 78. Pulse 61. Fairly normal. No other symptoms that would justify an ER trip.
So first... thoughts on what could cause that?????
Now for the clarification. I've had different types of chest pains throughout my life. I'm 48. I eat a bit too much sweets... have what looks like a beer belly... years of ice cream. I've cut back drastically... working on healthier snacking options. (why is it so hard to not snack???)
No smoking. No drugs or alcohol. Can count all the drinks I've even just tasted in my life on one hand. Took one long drag off a cigarette when I was 12-14 years old when my big sister "made" me try it. Burned like crazy and never tried it again. (why do people do that?) I don't get enough exercise but I'm not in horrible shape.
I do have mitral valve prolapse. I also have pectus excavatum. My chest sinks in. It looks bad... and it was "repaired" back when I was about 7 or 8. Not the greatest job... it's sunk in a bit all the way across, not just in the middle. I wonder if it didn't heal well? (they have more efficient methods of treating it these days. Back then, it involved breaking the breast bone...( hmmm. maybe, I can't find any description of the OLD technique. I had no metal inserted into me... no plates or rods. They've updated their techniques a lot. Wish I had it repaired better when I was a kid. Has been hard on my self esteem, as well as stamina when it comes to exercise.
)In college, I bumped into someone that went to elementary school with me. He somehow remembered my chest, and that I could put a tennis ball in it and it would stay there.
My lung capacity is diminished because of my chest. My heart is a bit turned and to the side from where it normally would be.
A decade or more ago I had tests done. Probably some since then but it's been a while. Stress test. Ekgs and echos and what not. (they found the mitral valve prolapse in there somewhere).
One time I was in there because the chest pains I was getting were different, and sharp... they found nothing. My doctor said it might be just because of my chest wall. I asked/said that maybe this would make it hard for me to ever know if I was having a heart attack. He said, yes...
I was in another time because my heart was skipping beats. After it skips a beat, the next beat is bigger and, you can feel it... it's weird.
That first happened over 20 years ago... It was so infrequent, and it would only happen once... that I never could catch it to be sure of what was happening.
But one year, it started happening a lot. I took a halter monitor home. They found nothing troubling. The doctor said that even if it skipped every other beat, that would be "normal."
ugh... no... that's not normal. Blah... doctors.
Anyway...
I get heartburn once in a while... not often. It's debilitating(if I'm diagnosing myself correctly) when it happens. OUCH... earlier on, I didn't know that's what it was, so I just suffered til it went away. I found that, SOMETIMES, sucking air in as if you were making yourself burp could help. Sometimes water helped. My son has heartburn now(more than I) so we have antacids around, and I have discovered that particular pain was heartburn because, well, the tums(generic) helped. That's not often though, and that pain is specific.
This is something else.
But, I can't afford to run to the doctor or ER every time my chest hurts. They'd get sick of me and my insurance... I'm on Medicaid. I've had BIG issues with them at times... have had to fight for things at times.
Anyway...
This pain today has been uncomfortable... but, very brief. Pain... gone... that quick. It's unsettling... but, I don't think there's any tests they could run that would find anything.
I've been to enough doctors to know how they work. They might run some tests and then tell you, everything looks okay... go home.
yay...
There was the pain again... very brief... gone... Blah.
