Chest Pain

laurack · September 2012

Since giving birth I have had mild chest pain on and off. It isn't alarming really, not accompanied by shortness of breath, my blood pressure is normal, my heart beat is normal. I can exercise with my heart rate staying in a normal range. I generally don't have pain while exercising. I don't remember ever having to stop exercising due to feeling chest pain. In fact I feel like I "feel" it most when not doing anything much, just sitting at desk (making me think it is anxiety.. the more i think about it the more I feel it)

I mentioned it to my midwife at my check up which was at 7 weeks PP. She said it didn't sound like it was serious in the sense it didn't sound like what would concern them re blood clots and whatnot post partum.

However here I am 4 months PP and i still have chest pain. it isn't in one spot sometimes i feel pain in the very upper rib area, sometimes it is more to the center where the chest bone might be. It does feel a bit like indigestion maybe, but who knows.

I decided I'd book myself in for a physical with my regular doc and lo and behold the next appointment they have is October 2nd so I took that. Today I began to get a bit concerned after googling (never a good idea) so I called them back and am waiting to hear about whether they'll find me a new appointment based on my having chest pains.

I'm a bit confused about what I should do. I don't feel like i should go to the ER, as I said the pain is mild and not accompanied by any of the other symptoms, and from what the MW said, if it were "bad" (Aka heart related) it wouldn't just come and go for months never getting worse. However I also worry that it could be something bad and how would I know?!

anyway just wondering if anyone else has had mild chest pain post partum? I feel like if it weren't for the baby I wouldn't give it a second thought as it isn't bad pain at all, but I am worried about something happening to me and leaving my baby motherless.

I think probably it is anxiety/stress but I don't know as I've never had "anxiety" before...

huahualove · September 2012

I may or may not have what you have, but I had it before pregnancy. Mine is pain in the middle of my chest, sometimes to the left also. I even had xrays done just to make sure it was nothing else. This bone and muscle specialist I was seeing for other pain looked over everything and said that it was the number one reason that woman complain of chest pain, I forgot what it was called though. He said it wasn't a big deal though. I hope that is what you have too, so it is more just annoying to deal with and not an issue at all.

erniebufflo · September 2012

Postpartum anxiety is definitely a possibility.

I'm glad you're taking it seriously and getting checked out. Now that I've had all my complications and landed myself a cardiac diagnosis, I keep thinking back on things I ignored all my life. Strange moments where it felt like my heart was kind of fluttering, not much endurance, getting out of breath easily while exercising. I always wrote it off as me being a wimpy-butt, but it was all really signs pointing to a congenital heart defect we didn't know I had until pregnancy and birth and surgery (CS) stressed my heart to the point I went into failure. I'm not saying all this to scare you, because odds are there's nothing wrong, but it's absolutely important to take your symptoms seriously and see a GP, and, if necessary, get a referral to a cardiologist.

rxbeth · September 2012

huahualove:
I may or may not have what you have, but I had it before pregnancy. Mine is pain in the middle of my chest, sometimes to the left also. I even had xrays done just to make sure it was nothing else. This bone and muscle specialist I was seeing for other pain looked over everything and said that it was the number one reason that woman complain of chest pain, I forgot what it was called though. He said it wasn't a big deal though. I hope that is what you have too, so it is more just annoying to deal with and not an issue at all.

Costochondritis?

laurack · September 2012

The doctor office called back, they will see me on Monday instead of in October, yay. I am glad I called now as I thought there was no point, that they would say either wait til October or go to the ER.

I will probably still feel a bit silly when they check me out and say I'm totally fine, but hey I'd feel sillier if there was something wrong and I kept ignoring it until it was too late. Better safe than sorry I suppose.

thanks for the input guys! Hopefully it is just something like the above suggestion and nothing serious.

huahualove · September 2012

rxbeth:
huahualove:
I may or may not have what you have, but I had it before pregnancy. Mine is pain in the middle of my chest, sometimes to the left also. I even had xrays done just to make sure it was nothing else. This bone and muscle specialist I was seeing for other pain looked over everything and said that it was the number one reason that woman complain of chest pain, I forgot what it was called though. He said it wasn't a big deal though. I hope that is what you have too, so it is more just annoying to deal with and not an issue at all.

Costochondritis?

Yes! I think that is it.

KatFCo · September 2012

erniebufflo:

Postpartum anxiety is definitely a possibility.

I'm glad you're taking it seriously and getting checked out. Now that I've had all my complications and landed myself a cardiac diagnosis, I keep thinking back on things I ignored all my life. Strange moments where it felt like my heart was kind of fluttering, not much endurance, getting out of breath easily while exercising. I always wrote it off as me being a wimpy-butt, but it was all really signs pointing to a congenital heart defect we didn't know I had until pregnancy and birth and surgery (CS) stressed my heart to the point I went into failure. I'm not saying all this to scare you, because odds are there's nothing wrong, but it's absolutely important to take your symptoms seriously and see a GP, and, if necessary, get a referral to a cardiologist.

I have had symptoms similar to what you described. Would you mind PMing me more information?

OP, do you have asthma? When my asthma is bothering me, I sometimes get chest pains. If you have nausea, lightheadedness or fatigue combined with the pain, that's when you need to go to the ER. Signs of severe heart trouble in women often go overlooked and passed off as "stress," because they don't look like the symptoms men have.

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