chest pains (for me) - would you be worried?

Re: chest pains (for me) - would you be worried?

• emabend

  January 2012

  Yes I would be concerned.  Feeling like an elephant was sitting on your chest, painful enough to alter your daily activity, warrants a trip to the doctor.  My first thought would be the possibility of a pulmonary embolism that would need to be treated.

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• AustinBride06

  January 2012

  I've had a handful of episodes very similar to that.  Usually the pain is concentrated on my left side, below my breast.  Lasts between 5 min and 30 min and got to the point once where I was concerned enough to consider the ER.  One or two times, I forced myself to take a deep breath (because I was starting to panic because of the shallow breathing) and felt a tiny pop on my left side and could suddenly breathe better and more and more deeply.  

  I've mentioned it to my doctor but unfortunately it seems like the kind of thing that can't get diagnosed unless it's happening right then and it usually does go away relatively quickly (though it seems like an eternity when I'm gasping for breath). 

  
  
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• Taytee

  January 2012

  MrsMillerTime:

  I woke up this morning and the pain is WAY less than yesterday and really only present when I take a huge deep breath. 

  FWIW: I am a sufferer of HORRIBLE cedar allergies and they kicked my butt yesterday.  My allergies are less bothersome today so I'm inclined to think that it is probably a carryover from my allergies but I've never dealt with anything like this with my allergies before.  WWYD - would you be worried?

  Chest pains that are of a concerning cardiac origin usually have classic associated symptoms - pain that radiates to the neck or arm, shortness of breath, feeling clammy or slightly sweaty, a feeling of impending doom etc. Women more frequently report other vague concerns like nausea (with or without vomiting) and sometimes call their pain more of a burning/stabbing sensation than the elephant/pressure description. If you're at all concered and want an EKG, some fire departments will give you one if you show up on their doorstep. I preface this with the warning that they will encourage you, and rightly so, to then proceed with EMS to the next closest ER because even a good EKG doesn't mean you're not having a heart attack. But you can sign the "no thank you" paper and escape.

  Personally, I would not be worried. I kind of feel like if you were having a heart attack since yesterday, you'd probably be having other symptoms by now and feeling worse, not better. But I've seen every variation of "other" when it comes to heart attacks so... there are no guarantees in life.

  I think it sounds like Costochondritis.  The heavy elephant feeling can be from the more and more shallow breaths you keep taking to avoid the pain associated with breathing too deeply. Like how holding your breath hurts after awhile. Try taking 800mg of Motrin or Advil (ibuprofen). Costochondritis is an inflammatory response which I suppose could be triggered by your Cedar immune reaction. Advil is an ANTI-inflammatory So there you go . If you feel much improved in the next 2 hours, call your family doctor and see what their nurse says. If you still feel crappy, can't take a deep breath or feel short of breath while doing next to nothing, you should at least go to Urgent Care for further evaluation and treatment to rule out the scary stuff.

  

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• FireChiefsBride member

  January 2012

  I would guess it's allergies- definitely go see a Dr, though.

  When I did my allergy testing I had an anaphylactic response that felt like what you're describing.  It got to the point where I could hardly breathe.  I called the fire station- DH was at work but on a call, and the guys told me to take a Benadryl and go back to the Dr. When I was getting ready to head out, it happened all over again.  Embarrassingly enough, my boss told me that one was probably a panic attack. They felt the same to me, but it had been 30 minutes since I'd taken Benadryl. 

  
  

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• A&Jmom

  January 2012

  I wouldn't be too concerned but I would go see a DR about it.  I have similar issues from allergies sometimes.  While I don't have asthma I do have an inhaler prescribed to me that I have to use sometimes when my allergies are so bad it is hard to breathe. (sounds a lot like what you are describing)
  

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