Armpit Pains???

[MoneyMoney]

Hello. I'm a 23 year old male. Healthy except I suffer from allergys(dust, pollen, cats etc.)
Lately, I been experiencing some sharp/cramping-like pains between my armpit and the start of my chest. They come and go. It's not heartburn, this happens when I dont eat. It's right on the side of my chest and at the end of my armpit, where the muscle is(hard to explain). I do not smoke and I do not have ashma. Any guidance?

[Shoreline]

Hey Money, The Boards are great for info about specific problems, But trying to self DX something isn't what you want to do. You have lymphnodes under your arm and throught your lymphatic system that culd cause pain, that's also where the brachial plexus is. A nerve bundle that travels down the arm to the hand and fingers.
Brachial complex
The nerves to the arm, hand and fingers exit the spinal cord between the bones (vertebrae) of the neck and travel into the arm below the collarbone (clavicle). The nerves to the arm exit high in the neck; those that go to the hand and fingers exit lower in the neck, just above the chest. These nerves branch and join together near where the neck joins the shoulder, in an area called the brachial plexus.
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A brachial injury can cause significant problems, So you have the whole gammit of possible DX's from an insect bite that has caused a lymph node to swell to possible muscle injury or a brachial plexus injury.

If you work out and lift weights many of the upper body excercise from bench press to overhead press can cause a muscle problem, like a tear, or sprain or you could have somethig as minor as as an inflamtory resposne of those lymph nodes to something as serrious as Hodgkins disease or cancer of the lymph system.

There are just too many variables to try to DX a problem by a simple description of where you have pain. I'm not trying to scare you but with your description there is just no telling how minor or how severe a problem could be without actual medical attn and evaluation.

You need to be checked by a doc if it's that bothersome., Otherwise it's really just a guess with little info to suport the guess.

If it's musclular heat and ice may help, If it's a response to a tic bite or spider bite or any infection that would involve the lymph system in that area, warm compress can help swolen nodes drain. But rather than simply treating the pain, it's more important to find the cause.

Good luck, Dave

[Streetcar]

Hey there Money,

Welcome to the pain mgmt board. Dave is absolutely correct about not self Dxing. If the problem is persistant, you NEED to se a dr. I don't want to scare you but pain in the armpit is exactly how my sister-in-law's cancer (non-Hodgkins lymphoma) started out. Fortunately the drs finally have it in remission, but it has been a very rough 2 years for her. Her oncologist told her that probablly the only reason she alive today is that she went to her dr as soon as she knew it wasn't going away in week or so.

Having said that, whatever is causing your pain most likely ISN'T cancer, but only a dr can begin to find out what is causing the pain and the best treatment for it.

Be comfortable!

[MoneyMoney]

Won thanks alot, especially Soreline.
Well, I had a bee sting me couple years ago. Around that EXACT same spot.
What should I do? As for cancer... well, wouldnt the pain be consistant? Takin' all of yall opinions into consideration, so I appreciate this. No I dont lift weights, I work alot thought. The bee sting might play a huge role in this... what damage could that have caused?

[Shoreline]

IF your alergic to bees it wouldn't be abnormal to continue to have hystamine releases and swelling f the lymph nodes in that area. My mom was bit by a brown recluse years ago and every now and then the patch the became necrotic but eventually healed after plsatic sudgery, will raise up and become red and inflamesd. Sometimes all the venom can't be removed and just enough is left inside to cause a problem. The same thing can happen with tic bites when you have a bad reaction. But again, your trying to self DX.

I can tell you how dangerous self DXing is by experience. I called the chesat pain I had for 18 months gerds and reflux and ate tums and took Pecid or zantac, whatever was around and on my 3th bday at midnight I had a heart attack, got o ride in the ambulance, almost died and had had a cardiac cath done and stents placed in my heart by 3 am that morning. I can't really say I had it on my Bday since I arrived after midnight, but but that's what self DXing cxan do .

The blockage was in the left anterior descending artarie, which is fondly known as the widowmaker in most ER's. My cholesterol was only 102 combined but I had lived with outragous BP that went untreated as t was simply atributed to being in pain. Most docs can't imagine being in that knd of pain 34/7 for years so nobody ever asked me to follow up when I was feeling weel to have my BP checked. The fact was, I was always in pain and I never felt well.So my BP was always in the combined 300 range.

Don't dismiss it as an old injury, especially if it doesn't get any better over the next few days.
It's just not worth trying to save a few bucks on medical bills.
Good luck, Dave