I have been having chest pain on the left side with burning and pain in my left arm and left shoulder blade for about a month now (so naturally I thought heart attack symptoms)-- but I'm a overall healthy 33 yr. old female so the chances of it being heart related are slim. I was recently dx'd with an ovarian cyst in the left side which has been causing me quite a bit of pain and according to the ER doc can cause referred pain to other parts of the body. Also, I pushed something very heavy with my left hand about a month ago so I may have pulled my arm and chest muscles AND to top it all off, I have been under an ENORMOUS amount of stress over the past 6 weeks due to a move across country away from my home town for the first time in 26 years leaving my family and friends. Also, my 11 year old dog is very sick and will most likely have to be put to sleep soon and he is across the country with my family. So I'm stressed out and unhappy. Could all this stress and anxiety cause all this chest pain that is giving me symptoms similar to heart problems? I knew stress was dangerous but this is ridiculous!
These chest pain episodes can be very frightening, but given your age and history, I'd say stress is not causing your symptoms, but certainly is making you feel worse.
The burning you describe plus your recent activities probably caused the problem initially, but your life situation and events are very likely prolonging recovery.
If I were you I'd give it a couple more weeks to subside -- easy to say, but try to relax if you can. Even people with already diagnosed heart conditions are given that advice by physicians and it does help. My non-professional opinion (though I've got lots of experience with arrythmia, angina-like symptoms, heart scans, etc.) makes me think you are OK, just really unhappy and have suffered an injury, as you described. Sorry to hear about your move, and your dog's condition, too!
Hi,
sorry to hear about your personal circumstances.
As to your pains it sounds as if they may be muscular, however should they become more severe and you resulting in shortness of breath i would advise you to check it out at your local hospital emergency department.
Hope this is of some help
I wanted to go to the ER just to get an EKG for piece of mind if nothing else but since I moved and am currently unemployed, I do not have health insurance and going to a county hospital seems kind of scary to me. But of course if I had to go, I would go.
If you listen to people who've had EKG's that didn't indicate a heart problem you wouldn't get the piece of mind that you might think. I've never had an EKG indicate a problem and I've had to have a stent and heart bypass. If you symptoms continue and they occur during exertion and are accompanied by shortness of breath you really should get checked out. Don't let the fact that you are 33 and overall healthy make you believe that you are not at risk for heart disease. It's a real misconception made especially by women because we've not been properly educated.
