Hi All,

I'm a bit concerned about some pains I've been having this afternoon (about 5 hours now), which are around the middle of my chest.

I first noticed it when I bent forwards to get my daughter out of the car. Since then I've been getting the pains on and off, usually either when I lean forwards or backwards, or when I breath out. However, occasionally it seems to come on even when I'm sat still. It feels almost like a pulled muscle, but I've not been doing any sort of lifting that I can think of (apart of my daughter) or anything that could have caused this.

I'm 29 years old and have high cholesterol, a relative of mine apparently died of a heart attack due to high cholesterol when he was in his mid-20's a long time ago but always comes to mind when I get any sort of pain in the chest area.

I have had a lot of medical complaints recently which the doctor always puts down to stress (sharp head pains, eye infections, mouth ulcers etc.), could these chest pains also be to do with stress? I'm struggling with debt at the moment, have been doing a job at work that I'm not contracted to do since May due to under-resourcing, and have been working all hours on a project out of hours to try and pay off some of the debts, so am under a lot of pressure at the moment, so I think this may be a cause of the chest pains.

Obviously I don't want to ignore these pains in case they are something serious, but also don't want to look like a complete fool when it turns out its a pulled muscle or trapped wind or something (like when I went to the doctor earlier this week thinking an infection had spread up my arm because I had tenderness in my hand and elbow, only to be told it is just tennis elbow).

I'd appreciate any advice (though I think the best option would be for me to be put down, I have so many things wrong with me at the moment :) ).

Dam
hello there, Sounds like STRESS to me. Easy and youare constantly thinking about your chest. I get them too from lifting. Other times, I think it is also from anxiety so...
I try to relax, think about something else, or go for a short walk.

Good to get it check out
Good Luck

Thanks bb123.

I'm assuming its nothing serious now as although I've still got the pains, if it was anything like a heart attack I expect I would have known by now.

It does feel like something is pushing on the back of my rib cage when I get the pain, which is still mainly when I lean forward and breathe out (especially when I breathe right out), or even occasionally if I just move. Sometimes it even hurts when I shout. I do occasionally get an ache in my left arm, but thats probably to do with the tennis elbow that I was diagnosed with last week as its not constant or regular.

My mum collapsed a couple of times a couple of years ago, which was due to her high cholesterol and she ended up having to have a heart valve replaced so this has added to the worry really whenever I get any pain in my chest.