CobaltBlue

Dan,

I have had angina, and had something similar to what you are describing, and only brought on when I was running in the morning (and not always, but it will recur during the runs over a few consecutive days). For some reason, I can tense up at times and this occurs only in my left shoulder reason. What makes it difficult for me is that the discomfort is similar to what I felt when I had bona fide angina.

What I was able to figure out, finally, is that it was related to weight gain (as few as 5 lbs) and perhaps a change in posture while I was running. I noticed the pain went away when I stopped running, but I could experience that pain, after cooling down for 15 sec, by jumping in place. That amount of movement approximated the jolt felt by taking steps during my run and was translated to the pain felt in my left shoulder. Once I experienced that I was pretty confident that it was not heart related.

When I did experience angina while running (in between March and July, 2002, when I had my first and second stent, respectively), it would "roll in" within 15 sec of running and stay, usually intensifying over the next 45 sec or so, so that the pain was felt to migrate from the left shoulder to the right one, and also down both of my arms. I couldn't tell you if there was shortness of breath caused by it, because, heck I was running. I do remember that when I stopped, the pain took another 60 sec to subside and "roll out." I use the roll in/out descriptions because the pain did not appear/disappear quickly. If you notice that it occurs like that on and off the treadmill, then the chances are that it is probably not due to ischemia.

In edit: Yes, 33 is a bit young. I did everything wrong that I could of, ate fast food, never exercised, reached 227 lbs, developed hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease, felt angina for 1.5 months before culminating in a heart attack at 35. I play the game of "life" much differently now.