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Chest Pain


Chest Pain  

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Mine is severe, but I wouldn't call it sharp, but it's not dull either. It can be pressure or pain; Sometimes it takes my breath away or makes me short of breath. It lasts longer than I would like...hours at times. It's worse when I am sick with cold or flu, but can come at any time when I am symptomatic. I have arrhythmias and a Mitral Valve Prolapse, too...It's my scariest symptom. It feels like I'm having a heart attack!! But I'm still alive :huh:

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Mine is a tightness or a compression feeling like my whole chest is in a vice. It is constantly there. It is thankfully much less severe than it was for the first 18 months of my POTS, but it still flares up badly on occasion.

Along with fatigue It is the first symptom I had with POTS . What started off as a constant niggly uncomfortable sensation in my chest slowly got worse over time.

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I think it is pretty obvious here that a lot of us have sharp pain over the heart that comes and goes and lasts a few seconds at a time. But,,, why? I read somewhere there was a theory about unequal pressures in the heart chambers. What do u guys think?

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I have sharp pain for short periods and bad dull pain for hours every day. Also chest pressure that lasts for hours that is different again.

Sometimes the pain goes down my arm and sometimes it is just in my arm and very painful.

I also get a drawing pain like my blood vessels are empty on the left and right above the level of the heart - this happens when i stand too long and draws me down, I know i have to sit.

This was my first symptom which i complained about for years.

Recently a doc in A&E said it was not cardio pain and was not POTs pain because it continued after sitting or lying.

My POTs doc said nobody knows what causes it.

Judging by what everyone else is saying it does not seem worth pursuing for an answer.

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I was told that it is muscle spasms - but, your heart is a muscle. So????? How much of the spasms is going to affect that muscle? They also said it could be chest wall spasms. I've also had the intense - is this a heart attack type pains. When I have MCAD affect my heart - this is the type of pain I get. It's related to over active histamines. Wonder if histamine release during exercise would affect this too - since exercise can induce mast cell action. Rama?

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Julie, I have low pressure in my left heart chamber (diagnosed via heart cath) but wouldn't call this chest pain sharp. To me it feels more like a baby elephant trying to sit on me.

Recently I'm having very sharp mostly right sided chest pain as well. Totally different from my usual chest pain, not sure what causes it yet.It comes and goes, night and day and makes me want to stand up, at the moment I think it may be stomach related.

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Usually my chest pain always starts as sharp pain, almost a stabbing/tearing if you will. That can last for up to an hour. After that it's just a dull sore ache that won't go away and lasts for a few hours, but no more than 12 or so. I've gone to the ER several times with it but no one's ever been able to come up with a reason/dx. The one time I had an audible clicking with each heartbeat. So loud that people 3-6 feet away could hear it and the docs though I had some sort of artificial heart ticking away in there. I would have loved to have known what was actually going on then.

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Bunny, have you had an echocardiogram to rule out mitral valve issues? It may be completely unrelated to what was happening, but I know that a clicking sound can be audible through a stethoscope if there are mitral valve issues.

I know that must have been very scary for you - I think most people would lose their mind if they experienced what Potsies do on a daily basis. It's crazy.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

AllAboutPeace: I've had a few echos and overall nothing found by the cardiologists. I did find that my heart's ejection fraction (how much blood it's actually pumping each stroke) was substantially lower than normal, which could indicate a valve issue or deconditioning. I did ponder mitral valve prolapse, and pulled the recordings of each echo and went over them in detail myself, but not seeing the valves doing anything unusual. An irregular heart rate, but the actual muscle movement itself was normal, valves appeared to be normal.

I normally don't get scared when my body's acting up, but at that time I was really hurting and the clicking was a new symptom. It only happened that once and that was probably 8 years ago now. Just chalk it up to another strange thing my body decided to do.

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  • 2 years later...

This is something I've been experiencing a lot lately. Some weeks it's almost a constant, crushing pain on the left side under my collar bone. Some weeks it doesn't happen at all, but it's definitely worrisome. My cardiologist suggested that maybe it was all in my head because I had been reading too much on the internet. I wasn't very pleased about it. My electrophysiologist was more understanding but still didn't seem as worried about it as I was. It's very bothersome and it makes me feel very anxious. I wish I knew what was causing it.

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Chest pain can be one of my most bothersome symptoms. When it is at it's worst, it is very difficult to tolerate. The intensity waxes and wanes, but it is always there.

I get a variety of pains. One I am pretty certain is over restriction of my aorta. When I am in the most pain, it throbs the most. It can put on quite a show. This pain radiates to the center of my back, rises from below my breastbone, spreads to my heart, and can radiate into my left arm. It can be very painful.

Some of my chest pain, I believe is nerve pain. I say this because it is accompanied by a burning pain in my feet, legs, stomach, and my chest.

I get some sudden sharp, dull, or crushing pains centered on my heart that I have never come up with a theory for.

Of course I get the orthostatic chest discomfort.

I have had a pretty thorough cardiac work up. Other than mild regurgitation noted, everything has come back normal. Except for a number of misc. arrhythmias.

I have been given no answers as to why I am feeling what I am feeling, only that they are calling it angina.

I believe the majority of it is hemodynamic fluctuations, uneven constriction, and compensatory over restriction. Some of it being nerve pain.

I think figuring it out is a matter of exclusion, which means a thorough cardiac work up. A lot of our clues is in what helps or doesn't help the pain.

I have recently come to the conclusion, thanks to a friend, that managing pain is important for us. Our bodies do not handle stressors very well. It is an important part of finding level ground.

After a thorough cardiac work up, I think we should be talking to our doctors about what would help the pain. A way to manage it.

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Older thread, but still interesting and relevant. Has anyone ever received a plausible explanation for their chest pain? I've been through all sorts of tests, but never have had a good explanation for the cause.

DeGenesis: No, I can't say that I have...but usually when my body's acting up, I try to let it sort it out...and often just take a nap. Naps (or passing out) seems to be like a reset switch for my body.

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Could it be blood pooling? Could it be Costochondritis? Just wondering, because some Fibromyalgia patients have this, and a bunch of us have Fibro, too...Just my scientific theories mulling around on a good brain function day!! :) I like your theory DeGenesis, excess sympathetic activity, because I have a lot of that going on.

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