Sternum Feels Bruised - Heart Disorders Message Board

mole76 · 01-04-2008, 06:13 PM

I am a 32 year old male, who had a sore throat a month ago. They gave me anti-botics, which I do not think worked. Anyways, 2 weeks later I started feeling better so I redid my floors...on my hands and knees using a heat gun and scrapper to get everything off. That same night I started getting a really tight feeling in my chest, like someone was behind me crushing me. I put up with it for a week, then went to the ER. They did chest Xrays, bloodwork, and checked my heart. Everything looks good, so they think I have Pleurisy. I can breathe fine, it does not hurt to inhale or exhale, but I read that I should try to cough so I do not get wet pleurisy.
They give me anti-inflammitory meds, and I take them for a week. Nothing changes, so I go to my regular doctor. She thinks it is not Pleurisy, and sends me to a Cardiologist. He wants a stress test done, and says my lungs sound great...no way its pleurisy he says. The problem is my sternum feels bruised to touch in a certain spot, no outside bruising. Could this be from dry coughing, pulled muscles, or something else with my lungs besides pleurisy?
I am getting really fed up with it, and fed up with doctors for that matter. I just want to know what is wrong, so it can be fixed. Any ideas?

kjsykes · 01-05-2008, 07:19 AM

I have been posting on here since Dec 2006 - about a possible heart issue they found in me when I went to the ER for sternum pain (my GP sent me to the ER because the sternum pain would not go away - sitting, standing, lying down - always hurt)...so my chest xrays came up negative as well as the CT scan for lung issues. My pain too did NOT hurt when breathing...but movement hurt it badly. My lungs sounded good as well - but pleurisy is the infection of the lung sac and your lungs can still be working at a good capacity but have this infection around them. It sounds like you and I had the EXACT same symptoms.

They talked to me about my activity because a bruised sternum can happen more easily than you think. If you were on your knees using a heat gun and in an awkward position for your body - this is a possibility. If it hurts to the touch - sounds like its NOT a heart issue, but then again, I am not a doctor and don't want to sound all high and mighty. I was too diagnosed with pleurisy and they gave me the Z-pack medicine (5 day antibiotic) and Predinsone. Felt great in about ~4 days after starting the medicine. What antibiotics did they give you? The Z-pack is good for PNEUMONIA! So, thats why my GP gave it to me for this...knocked the infection right out. Plus the Z-pack stays in your system for 10 days but its only a 5 day medicine, so it keeps working even after you are done with it.

If you stand upright and open your arms wide all the way to the side of your body - if your chest is in pain - I would say its more likely muscular/sternum issues than heart issues.

This is my thought on this

Good luck!

FLFLOWERGIRL · 01-06-2008, 12:33 PM

My son 26 had this same type of problem, job related. When he had his Stress Echo they found (by accident a rare heart tumor) this because of the other problem. His doctor initially told him that at his age it is NOT his heart and it really wasn't. We have been to specialists since then and the say that this is just muscular related thing nothing related to the tumor. He also had palps, I think because of the pain that scared him. This all has gone away. Because of his age they have elected to not go forward with the surgry until symptoms present. The heart specialist said that it takes up to 6 months to heal something like that because he had the same thing before. If you have had all the necessary testing, I would lean towards it being a muscle or something like costocondritis SP sorry, I don't know how to even pronounce it but it is inflammation. Everytime he lifts something heavy it still hurts, you have to let it heal if this is the case. Good luck to you. FLFLOWERGIRL