I am not a doctor, nor have I played one on TV. But I have experienced similar symptoms. Based on the fact that they did not occur when I was exercising, and my EKG and treadmill tests have been good, I concluded they were probably muscular in nature brought on by swimming, weightlifting, etc. They seem to come and go. It will flare up for a week or two at a time and then nothing for months.

if it is your heart and it is a problem and considering you only really have one of them dont you think rather than getting an online diag from a bunch of internet experts it might simply be worth paying the deductable (sp?) and having a pro look at it?

I did it and ended up in hospital although I am fairly sure had I described the symptoms it would have been put down to panic attacks...

Go see a MD. Obviously it concerns you enough to ask, so I hardly think that any advice you get online is likely to put your mind at rest. Its not like we are discussing the difference between 73 and 75 degrees.................

I've gotten the same thing too but normally they were a year or more between them. They also only happen when I am not exercising. I had an EKG and an untrasound on my heart done and they found no problems. They concluded that they were from anxiety (sp?) and were nothing to be concerned about.

Spend the couple of bucks to have piece of mind.

jaretj

Any history of heart problems in your family? Any shortness of breath? Could be angina. I am not a doctor, but IMHO a pain in your chest is a signal from your body. It is telling you something is wrong. Please don't ignore this and hope it goes away. Go see a doctor as soon as you can.

It's more than likely just mild costal-chondral (the joint between the cartilage and your ribs/sternum) inflammation. You heard it here first. Go to a doctor if you're the least bit concerned. Even mild inflammation in this area can hurt like a bugger, but it's not a heart problem. However, it obviously can scare the beeJesus out of you if you don't know what it is. This advice is worth exactly what you paid for it...if you have any doubts about your health, everyone know this (the internet) ain't the place to get comfort!

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

As a general rule, chest pain is not normal. See a doctor to find out it's cause and degree of severity.

Joe Moya

Absolutely go to the Doctor...

It could be a lot of things but the some of them benign and some of them very much deadly. That is why you should go to your doctor and get things sorted out...

Having said that you should not Panic there are a lot of things that it could be.
- You could be having a atypical Cardiac Chest Pain
- It could be GERD / Heart Burn
- Costo Chondritis
- Variety of GI maladies.

Better to go to the doctor and fins out it is a benign condition than to ignore it, have a heart attack and go through some excruciatign pain.

Good Luck

Hi Joe... good to see/hear you

Come-on, now, taku...you're not going to win any points with the HMO's throwing out all those possibilities for origin of his pain. Hold the EKG, Chest x-ray, cardiac enzymes, barium swallow, cardiac ultrasound, etc. I'll wager a physical exam will demonstrate a single point of tenderness, that can be made to feel like a knife, by putting an index finger firmly on the junction of his sternum and 4th or 5th rib on the left side. The guy doesn't have heart disease causing pain. Not even atypical angina. Once he gets warmed up, he doesn't have pain...and with no other symptoms of decreased cardiac function (he specifically doesn't say he feels more fatigued, feels palpitations, or can't train well, etc...what he doesn't say is as important, if not more important, than what he does say); it isn't his heart. It isn't a gastric problem, either...it isn't worsened with meals or lying down after a meal or spicy food, etc. He's got more chance that it could one of the various cancers or a chest wall tumor...and although some of them are benign, a malignant chest wall tumor is a REALLY bad thing to have...but heart disease or GI problems? Nah. He's just got a sore place where the rib meets the sternum, and maybe an intercostal muscle is strained/inflammed also...they're often seen concomitantly.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

Look I agree with your opinion that this is probably not cardiac. We can't do a physical exam over the internet nor can we do a thorough history over the internet.

Its possible that he has a focal Musculo Skeletal DZ.

IEven though it is not a very good story for CAD your thoughts would change if for example he had a family history of early MI, 30 pack year history,

I am not saying that he should have the million dollar workup but he deserves to consult a physician. There are the easy things to do. A physical exam adn history would clear up the picture.

Hi! back at ya...Taku... Joe

Thanks to everybody for your comments.
It seems like a lot of people have experienced more or less the same thing, which I find reassuring.
However, you are right that I shouldn't take a risk and go see a doctor, so I will.

Ron, try and find someone that has experience with sports, like taku. If you don't know if they have done much more exercise than to get out of their chair, see if you can find pictures of them in a roster, and go the one that has that chiseled and cheerful look...maybe they'll be an athlete.

Athletic doctors are very important to see if you are an athlete. I don't know how many doctor-knuckleheads I've run into that told me I really shouldn't be running at my age because it's bad on my joints. Well, sure, it hurts their joints to jog across the parking lot when they're in their mid-40's, because they haven't done anything that strenuous in a decade or two.

Good luck, but, I don't really think you'll need "good luck" wishes...

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

"We can't do a physical exam over the internet "

If everything else is ruled out, it could possibly be a bit of intercostal neuralgia which quite often radiates around to the sternum area. Chiropractors are often quite successful at treating this.

Yaqui makes a point which is important for everyone athelete or not. I haev spoken to so many friends and relatives who do not listen to their doctors fo think they are full of shit.

Wel this is a two part problem 1. The docotr is not connecting to the pateint for whatever reason... It may be becuase the doctor is not explaining things in a way that the patient can understand. It May be becuase the doctor has not gained the trust of the patient. Maybe the docotr is not addressing the patients question. IT can be a lot of things. 2. The patient does not trust the doctor. This too can be for many reasons.

What I tell people is that they should never stay with a doctor which they do not trust. It is absolutely critical that the patient feel comfortable with the doctors. This is especially true with athletes. Many doctors do not understand people's devotion they have to their sports and the role that sports plays in a person's identity. At the same time there many doctors who do understand things.

I remember I used to be very competative in Judo. Well I had a bunch of chronic injuries. I finally ended up at a sports doctor. Well I was fully expecting him to tell me that the only way to get better is for me to stop doing Judo... when I mentioned this he laughed and said "I would never tell you to do that" I instantly trusted anything that he said. He understood what this meant to be able to continue to do judo.

Everyone deserves to find a doctor they are comfortable with. There are so many docs out there one should never be satisified with something inadequate. Don't stop until you find someone you are comfortable with... your health may depend on it.

I'm not a doctor, but will be in a few years. And this has happened to me a few times as well, and I've asked several MDs about it, and gotten the same answer. It's [b]probably[/b] pleurisy, or inflammation of the lining around your lungs. Or possibly, as has been mentioned already, if it hurts if you press on your chest in that area, costochondritis . The symptoms you describe are very unlikely to be cardiac in nature. But like everyone else, I'd recommend seeing a doctor who will be able to get more information and give you a better informed ansewr.

So, with all the time I had on my hands in the last week, I finally went to see a doctor about these chest pains of mine.
He recognized the sympoms as a cramping of the rib-muscles. These are the muscles that make compress/expand your chest when breathing. He said it was harmless and that I should ignore it.
However, he could not explain to me WHY these muscles would sometimes cramp and why they always do it on the left (=heart) side of my chest.
Anyway, I am now less worried about having a heart attack the next time out.

Thanks for the input, and goodbye

I've had the same thing happen, but it's not limited to the left side. Sometimes it's in the middle, and sometimes on the right.

This first started during an interval swim, but happened again during a hard tempo run. I asked my dad (a cardiologist) and he says it's muscular in nature, so I stopped worrying.

You know, when I think about it, it would be safe to say that chest pain IS NORMAL at some times for almost all athletes.

It's just that the NON-Normal chest pain can signal something that can kill you, so if you're not sure, you'd better get it checked out.

Furthermore, chest pain is Normal in those with certain kinds of heart disease, but, their chest pain...even though it is Normal in this population subset, is dangerous.

That, my friends, is the danger in using the term "Normal". Normal means different things in different circumstances....normal doesn't necessarily mean healthy, either.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)