I am hoping that someone can tell me what a pain in my chest I have been feeling off and on for a few months might be.

I am a 27 year old female. Randomly, I have a sharp, cinching pain in the left side of my chest, sometimes spanning to my sternum. Generally, the pain is pretty close to the surface of my chest, however, occassionally I can feel the pain through to my back. This happens about once a day, sometimes more often and seems to have gotten more frequent over time. The pain lasts from a few moments to several minutes. It doesn't seem to matter whether I am involved in physical activity or not when the pain occurs. I have had my pulse and blood pressure taken regularly and both are normal - no irregular heart beat or high/low blood pressure.

I am wondering if this is actually heart pain or if it might be something else such as an infection or something else. Also, any recommendations on what type of testing may help me would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

You need to have a full EKG which will show the electrical activity in your heart and whether or not it is normal. Only a trained person can "read" an EKG. Ideally, with chest pain as you describe, you should consult a cardiologist. Another test that can reveal much about cardiac function is a cardiac echogram. This is essentially an ultrasound image of your heart (including valves etc) as it is working. However, the EKG can help diagnose most cardiac problems.All the best.
Regards, Excelsior

I have had recurring pain in that side of my chest too. However, I've had 3 EKGs done in probably a 6 or 7 month span... and they showed nothing. I ended up talking to my doctor about wearing a 24 hour heart monitor(ECG). This monitor tracks your hearts beats and such as an EKG would, however the difference is, an EKG only lasts a few seconds, while the ECG lasts 24 hours... that gives a much wider window of statistics. If the EKG ends up showing nothing, talk to your doctor about a heart monitor.

Hope things get better!

My husband , 38 years old very fit, drug and alcohol free, only smokes cigarettes ( alot) has sharp pains in his chest , he says feel like they are thru his heart, had ekg.. normal .. bloodwork normal other than cholesterol was 209, had a stress test ( with the 'radioactive agents' ?? ) Doc called today and said Hey youve had a heart attack, so now we are seeing a cardiologist. so I can only say demand a stress test. I have heard an ekg will only show something is wrong f it happens while you are actually having the ekg.. that info may be wrong but, I for one would demand a stress test or some other tests.
wishing you all well.
fof

Thanks all for replying. I just wanted to keep you informed and ask for further advice.

I went to my doctor yesterday and described all my symptoms. She had me get bloodwork done to check my red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and TSH level for my thyroid. All came back normal. She had concerns it may be my liver or thyroid but I guess that is ruled out now.

Now, she wants me to have an EKG performed. I am skeptical about this because as per the advice I got here, I asked her if it would be unreliable if the pain weren't happening at the time of the EKG and she said yes. So, now this seems dumb and not necessary, but I HAVE to do it.

If that shows nothing, she wants me to wear a Holter heart monitor. This is a monitor I would wear for 24 hours and hit a button to record when the pain occurs.

She says it may be a condition called Mitral Valve Prolapse. Does anyone know anything about this??? Please help me. Thanks.

I had a heart attack 12/2003, I woke in the middle of the night with classic sx. arm, neck, face and crushing chest pain. After waking up hubby to tell him I thought I was having a heart attack, I decided it was just heart burn and went back to bed. Was awake every hour sweating and nauseated. Went to heart hosp 5 hours later, my ekg was fairly normal. Cardiologist said that It was electronically silent, didnt show on the ekg. He felt that I had already had the attack, and straight to the cath lab I went. Had a 99% block of circumflex. Since then I have had 3 episodes of what that call ACS and have been cathed 8 times. I have had 2 restenosis, and several other arteries blocked. Had a restenosis 8 weeks after cath, and got another stent.
I am still having chest pain every day, taking xanax to see if it is anxiety, but still having pain. Now doc's have decided I have sleep apnea, so I had a sleep study this week. During my last cath 2 weeks ago, doc said that left side of heart looked better than ever, but he couldnt get to the right side??? Not sure what that really means, we do now that I had a 50% blockage on right side in april. My cardiologist is one of the best in the state, so I dont want to change docs, but this pain is making me crazy. How can doc say, I was fine without seeing rt side??? I would love some input, and other opinions.
thanks